Fare Evasion GTR intention to prosecute

[rabbitfoot09]

Hi all,

I'm posting here to seek some guidance regarding my recent incident. Long story short I was caught in May shorting a ticket at Farringdon because I got on at Hackbridge and haven't tapped in since there are no barriers and was given an intention to prosecute receipt by one of the GTR staff, I've been evading fares from Hackbridge to Elephant & Castle from January to April since I'm a struggling student and I know that upon investigation they will find out about this. I am fully aware of my mistake and is willing to pay any fine to settle this out of court. I've checked a few posts on here saying that GTR usually settles out of court but I'm still really worried since my fare evasions are over a lengthy period of time and I don't want a criminal record or anything that could affect my degree or chances of getting a job, how likely are GTR going to be to settle things out of court?

 

[30907]

Hi all,

I'm posting here to seek some guidance regarding my recent incident. Long story short I was caught in May shorting a ticket at Farringdon because I got on at Hackbridge and haven't tapped in since there are no barriers and was given an intention to prosecute receipt by one of the GTR staff, I've been evading fares from Hackbridge to Elephant & Castle from January to April since I'm a struggling student and I know that upon investigation they will find out about this. I am fully aware of my mistake and is willing to pay any fine to settle this out of court. I've checked a few posts on here saying that GTR usually settles out of court but I'm still really worried since my fare evasions are over a lengthy period of time and I don't want a criminal record or anything that could affect my degree or chances of getting a job, how likely are GTR going to be to settle things out of court?

Provided you engage with them when they contact you, it is still pretty certain that they will offer a settlement, but it may cover all the trips from Elephant.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

If you've been caught without a valid ticket then GTR are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news for you is they are normally willing to offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them, and who haven't come to their attention before.

What happens next is they will write to you saying they have received a report but asking for your version of events before they decide how to proceed. When the letter arrives post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you.

If you are offered a settlement expect to have to pay the cost of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate plus an admin fee, typically £150. It is possible that they will search your online ticket purchase history and if this indicates a history of purchasing invalid tickets they will factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement cost. Settlements have to be paid in full within a few days of being offered, payment plans aren't normally offered, so if money is tight think about how you will raise the money required at short notice.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Welcome to the forum!

If you've been caught without a valid ticket then GTR are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news for you is they are normally willing to offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them, and who haven't come to their attention before.

What happens next is they will write to you saying they have received a report but asking for your version of events before they decide how to proceed. When the letter arrives post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you.

If you are offered a settlement expect to have to pay the cost of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate plus an admin fee, typically £150. It is possible that they will search your online ticket purchase history and if this indicates a history of purchasing invalid tickets they will factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement cost. Settlements have to be paid in full within a few days of being offered, payment plans aren't normally offered, so if money is tight think about how you will raise the money required at short notice.

I see, thank you for your reply. After I have paid the settlement will this appear on my record or affect any visas I'm going to apply to in the future?

 

[30907]

I see, thank you for your reply. After I have paid the settlement will this appear on my record or affect any visas I'm going to apply to in the future?

No, as the legal system has not been involved.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Hi there, I still haven’t received any letter from GTR, how long does it usually take for them to process this?

 

[Titfield]

Hi there, I still haven’t received any letter from GTR, how long does it usually take for them to process this?

It can take weeks if not months. We have seen some letters arrive within a very short time of the 6 month deadline for papers to be placed before a Court for prosecution. Most TOCs have quite a back log to process.

You will just have to wait and be patient.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Hi all, I just received my letter, however they didn't seem to find suspicious tickets from my journeys back in January and only mentioned the one time I got caught in Farringdon, I have drafted my response as follows:
Reference Number: xxx

Dear Thameslink Prosecution Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident on 6th May 2025.

I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. On that day, I was running late and made the very poor decision to board without tapping in. I wrongly thought I could purchase a short ticket from Blackfriars to Farringdon instead, which was the ticket that I later showed to the officer at Farringdon Station, but I now understand this was unacceptable and a clear breach of the rules.

I fully accept responsibility and regret my actions. This was a lapse in judgment and I assure you it will not happen again. I now make sure I will always have the correct ticket before starting my journey.

I kindly ask if this matter could be settled without court action. I am willing to pay the full fare owed, along with any reasonable administrative costs incurred by GWR.

Sincerely,
xxx

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all, I just received my letter, however they didn't seem to find suspicious tickets from my journeys back in January and only mentioned the one time I got caught in Farringdon, I have drafted my response as follows:
Reference Number: xxx

Dear Thameslink Prosecution Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident on 6th May 2025.

I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. On that day, I was running late and made the very poor decision to board without tapping in. I wrongly thought I could purchase a short ticket from Blackfriars to Farringdon instead, which was the ticket that I later showed to the officer at Farringdon Station, but I now understand this was unacceptable and a clear breach of the rules.

I fully accept responsibility and regret my actions. This was a lapse in judgment and I assure you it will not happen again. I now make sure I will always have the correct ticket before starting my journey.

I kindly ask if this matter could be settled without court action. I am willing to pay the full fare owed, along with any reasonable administrative costs incurred by GWR.

Sincerely,
xxx

Read this thread esp from
Post #31

Govia prosecution - is there any circumstance in which they don't settle?

Just got an email from the Fraud Team: Please see the attached correspondence regarding GTR's ongoing investigation of your fraudulent rail travel. I am aware your were recently contacted by GTR's Prosecutions Department in relation to the offence committed on 22nd April 2025, however, it has...

www.railforums.co.uk

As you’ll see you can’t eliminate the possibility of them still finding other historical evasion.

That’s not a reason to admit it now but think how your excuse about running late for the train looks if they do find that out. Because it looks to me like a a bit of a lie. Ie what’s your excuse for all the other occasions they might find?

You run late every day and never buy a ticket as a result?

And it’s not plausible to ‘think that you could buy a short ticket instead’. Read that back to yourself. It’s like saying ‘I went to the shop and thought it was ok to just pay for a quarter of the things I took home but only now do I realise that was wrong’
No one would think that was what you can do! Re write the relevant paragraph.

Better to drop the unbelievable excuse and simply ‘apologise for not having a valid ticket when your ticket was inspected’.

That isn’t a lie and it’s not a lame excuse.

If there is something you can do to legitimately reduce your fares like buy a railcard or a season ticket you could buy one and tell them you have done so to help show you’ve changed your ways.

If you make some edits you’ll have a much better reply to send.

They may yet ask about other occasions but best to wait until they do but remain prepared for that.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Read this thread esp from
Post #31

Govia prosecution - is there any circumstance in which they don't settle?

Just got an email from the Fraud Team: Please see the attached correspondence regarding GTR's ongoing investigation of your fraudulent rail travel. I am aware your were recently contacted by GTR's Prosecutions Department in relation to the offence committed on 22nd April 2025, however, it has...

www.railforums.co.uk

As you’ll see you can’t eliminate the possibility of them still finding other historical evasion.

That’s not a reason to admit it now but think how your excuse about running late for the train looks if they do find that out. Because it looks to me like a a bit of a lie. Ie what’s your excuse for all the other occasions they might find?

You run late every day and never buy a ticket as a result?

And it’s not plausible to ‘think that you could buy a short ticket instead’. Read that back to yourself. It’s like saying ‘I went to the shop and thought it was ok to just pay for a quarter of the things I took home but only now do I realise that was wrong’
No one would think that was what you can do! Re write the relevant paragraph.

Better to drop the unbelievable excuse and simply ‘apologise for not having a valid ticket when your ticket was inspected’.

That isn’t a lie and it’s not a lame excuse.

If there is something you can do to legitimately reduce your fares like buy a railcard or a season ticket you could buy one and tell them you have done so to help show you’ve changed your ways.

If you make some edits you’ll have a much better reply to send.

They may yet ask about other occasions but best to wait until they do but remain prepared for that.

Thank you for your reply, does that mean they can still investigate even after I have replied and take me to court with the other fare evasions? And if so would they take me to court because I‘ve been buying short tickets? I’m confused as to when their investigation stops

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you for your reply, does that mean they can still investigate even after I have replied and take me to court with the other fare evasions? And if so would they take me to court because I‘ve been buying short tickets? I’m confused as to when their investigation stops

Basically they will decide whether to take you to court or not based on your reply now and what they find in their investigation which might include looking into evidence of other evasion.

But from what we see here what is far more likely is that if they find evidence of other suspicious ticket buying (like tickets bought between Farringdon and elephant on a regular basis) they are likely to want charge a correct fare for all those occasions and make that part of the sum they ask for as any out of court settlement they might offer you. If you then pay that settlement they would not prosecute you.

When they deal with your reply they will write back to you and then you will get an idea on what they are going to do.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I kindly ask if this matter could be settled without court action. I am willing to pay the full fare owed, along with any reasonable administrative costs incurred by GWR.

Just to correct a typo - you want to say GTR rather than GWR.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Basically they will decide whether to take you to court or not based on your reply now and what they find in their investigation which might include looking into evidence of other evasion.

But from what we see here what is far more likely is that if they find evidence of other suspicious ticket buying (like tickets bought between Farringdon and elephant on a regular basis) they are likely to want charge a correct fare for all those occasions and make that part of the sum they ask for as any out of court settlement they might offer you. If you then pay that settlement they would not prosecute you.

When they deal with your reply they will write back to you and then you will get an idea on what they are going to do.

I see, I've just seen comments under other threads that says they won't settle out of court for cases including fraud, and since I've been not only getting short tickets but refunding them through trainline on some occasions during January to April, but I don't have the exact dates anymore since they're over 90 days, I'm just panicking they won't settle and I'll end up with a criminal record as a student.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Sep 2025 ==

Just to correct a typo - you want to say GTR rather than GWR.

Yep I noticed that as well, corrected it now. Thanks for letting me know

 

[AlterEgo]

I see, I've just seen comments under other threads that says they won't settle out of court for cases including fraud

Where have you seen this on this forum? The company settles basically every time.

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Where have you seen this on this forum? The company settles basically every time.

That's great to hear, it was a comment by Titfield under this thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ircumstance-in-which-they-dont-settle.285179/ , but the case hasn't been updated so I'm not sure how it's been settled
This is my second draft, please let me know if I should amend anything:

Reference Number: xxx

Dear Thameslink Prosecution Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident on 6th May 2025.

I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. On that day, I made the very poor decision to board without tapping in and did not have a valid ticket for travel when being inspected at Farringdon Station.

I fully accept responsibility and regret my actions. It was a stupid decision and I recognise that I have not followed the correct procedure when travelling. I am committed to making sure this never happens again to ensure I always have the correct ticket before starting a journey.

I kindly ask if this matter could be settled without court action. I am willing to pay the full fare owed, along with any reasonable administrative costs incurred by GTR.

Sincerely,
xxx

They've also given me a link to upload, should I give my railcard details and the short ticket I've bought even if it was photographed by the inspector on 6th May

 

[WesternLancer]

They've also given me a link to upload, should I give my railcard details and the short ticket I've bought even if it was photographed by the inspector on 6th May

I think the upload link is for cases where people have in fact got a railcard but were unable to show it on the day so have the chance to show it later - but in your case that wasn't the issue that was picked up from what you have set out (?) - so I don't think you will be uploading anything on there

You will be posting your reply back to them hard copy (make sure you send it tracked postage from a post office by the way, so you can prove they received it if you need to, and take a copy of every page you send back to them). You could enclose a copy of your Railcard in what you send back to show you have one I suppose.

I assume the inspector noticed you only had a ticket for part of the journey (a short fare) and you admitted this to them when questioned? If so you could essentially address this in your draft by tweaking this sentence a little bit eg

"....and did not have a valid ticket for my complete journey travel when being inspected at Farringdon Station."

(which means you can't be accused of not addressing they main thing you have done wrong)

Apols if I have any of this incorrect however

 

[rabbitfoot09]

I think the upload link is for cases where people have in fact got a railcard but were unable to show it on the day so have the chance to show it later - but in your case that wasn't the issue that was picked up from what you have set out (?) - so I don't think you will be uploading anything on there

You will be posting your reply back to them hard copy (make sure you send it tracked postage from a post office by the way, so you can prove they received it if you need to, and take a copy of every page you send back to them). You could enclose a copy of your Railcard in what you send back to show you have one I suppose.

I assume the inspector noticed you only had a ticket for part of the journey (a short fare) and you admitted this to them when questioned? If so you could essentially address this in your draft by tweaking this sentence a little bit eg

"....and did not have a valid ticket for my complete journey travel when being inspected at Farringdon Station."

(which means you can't be accused of not addressing they main thing you have done wrong)

Apols if I have any of this incorrect however

Thank you for your help, I'll tweak that and send it to them asap

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you for your help, I'll tweak that and send it to them asap

make sure the ref number of the case (and ideally your name and address) is on every page you send them in the post etc so stuff does not get separated and lost their end

 

[rabbitfoot09]

make sure the ref number of the case (and ideally your name and address) is on every page you send them in the post etc so stuff does not get separated and lost their end

I see, thank you

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Hi all, I got another email today from Thameslink, however they did not mention the specific fares they would like me to explain, should I just explain the online purchase from my Trainpal account since that's what they probably investigated and other occasions I didn't tap in I honestly don't remember all the dates of them just a rough time period but I don't want that to come off as dishonesty.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all, I got another email today from Thameslink, however they did not mention the specific fares they would like me to explain, should I just explain the online purchase from my Trainpal account since that's what they probably investigated and other occasions I didn't tap in I honestly don't remember all the dates of them just a rough time period but I don't want that to come off as dishonesty.

well - this issue is you don't 100% know what they know in terms of the extent of your evasion so it might not be wise to start talking / emailing to them about what might be just one aspect of this (ie your trainpal records)

Better to reply in a cooperative manner, but in more general terms - eg

- almost certainly you now need to acknowledge that you have not paid for fares on other occasions (they know this after all), and that you regret it, that it was a serious error of judgment and you want to co-operate with their investigation in the hope it can be resolved out of court.

- You can ask them if they would be able to send you a list of occasions when they think you may not have paid the correct fare so that 'you can try to check this against your own records of travel' and 'so that you can pay for any fares that you owe' them.

That then means that you will have an idea of what they believe you have not paid for / evaded and start to get an idea of the sort of sum that will be involved if they agree to settle it out of court. And if you think they are wrong, and can ideally provide some evidence that supports they might be wrong that they would find convincing, then it might result in a lower charge from them.

The general advice on here is to try and resolve this via written exchanges rather than via a discussion or meeting since you can avoid saying things you might not wish to say if it's not done verbally.

Again, you may wish to draft up a response for review before sending if you think that would help (also suspect there have been some other recent examples of similar messages and replies etc if you want to check other threads)

 

[rabbitfoot09]

Here's the first draft, advice appreciated thanks
Dear Mr xxx,

Ref:xxx

Thank you for your email. I acknowledge that I need to address the other incidents rather than the single one in May.
I admit that I made a serious error of judgment by not paying the correct fare on the journey when your member of staff stopped and questioned me about my ticket. I apologise, and regret to say that I have also done this on other occasions. There is no excuse for what I did and I am ashamed of my actions. This was a much needed wake up call for me to adjust my behaviour.
I intend to be entirely honest and transparent with my actions and is willing to co-operate with your investigation in the hope it can be resolved out of court.
However since they are dated quite a while back I no longer remember every incident, would it be possible for the fraud team to provide a list of the occasions where they think the correct fare was avoided so that I can check this against my own records and pay the correct fare owed?

Yours sincerely,
xxx

 

[WesternLancer]

Here's the first draft, advice appreciated thanks
Dear Mr xxx,

Ref:xxx

Thank you for your email. I acknowledge that I need to address the other incidents rather than the single one in May.
I admit that I made a serious error of judgment by not paying the correct fare on the journey when your member of staff stopped and questioned me about my ticket. I apologise, and regret to say that I have also done this on other occasions. There is no excuse for what I did and I am ashamed of my actions. This was a much needed wake up call for me to adjust my behaviour.
I intend to be entirely honest and transparent with my actions and is willing to co-operate with your investigation in the hope it can be resolved out of court.
However since they are dated quite a while back I no longer remember every incident, would it be possible for the fraud team to provide a list of the occasions where they think the correct fare was avoided so that I can check this against my own records and pay the correct fare owed?

Yours sincerely,
xxx

some suggestions for you - mostly just re-organised it a bit mostly


Dear Mr xxx,

Ref:xxx

Thank you for your email. I acknowledge that I need to address the other incidents rather than the single one in May. There is no excuse for what I did and I am ashamed of my actions. This was a much needed wake up call for me to change adjust my behaviour.

I admit that I made a serious error of judgment by not paying the correct fare on the journey when your member of staff stopped and questioned me about my ticket. I apologise, and regret to say that I have also done this on other occasions.

I intend to be entirely honest and transparent with my actions and am is willing to co-operate with your investigation in the hope it can be resolved out of court by paying the fares that I owe and your administrative fee for investigating this.

However since these incidents they are dated quite a while back I no longer remember every incident, would it be possible for the fraud team to provide a list of the occasions where they think the correct fare was avoided so that I can check this against my own records and pay the correct fare owed?

Yours sincerely,
xxx

 

[rabbitfoot09]

some suggestions for you - mostly just re-organised it a bit mostly


Dear Mr xxx,

Ref:xxx

Thank you for your email. I acknowledge that I need to address the other incidents rather than the single one in May. There is no excuse for what I did and I am ashamed of my actions. This was a much needed wake up call for me to change adjust my behaviour.

I admit that I made a serious error of judgment by not paying the correct fare on the journey when your member of staff stopped and questioned me about my ticket. I apologise, and regret to say that I have also done this on other occasions.

I intend to be entirely honest and transparent with my actions and am is willing to co-operate with your investigation in the hope it can be resolved out of court by paying the fares that I owe and your administrative fee for investigating this.

However since these incidents they are dated quite a while back I no longer remember every incident, would it be possible for the fraud team to provide a list of the occasions where they think the correct fare was avoided so that I can check this against my own records and pay the correct fare owed?

Yours sincerely,
xxx

Thank you, just sent it, will update once I hear back

 

[SillyMe]

@rabbitfoot09 do you have any updates??

 

[jfollows]

@rabbitfoot09 do you have any updates??

@rabbitfoot09 has not been back to the forum since 26 September; if you have any issues of your own please start your own thread after reading https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/please-read-before-posting-in-disputes-prosecutions.77759/

 

[John R]

@rabbitfoot09 has not been back to the forum since 26 September; if you have any issues of your own please start your own thread after reading https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/please-read-before-posting-in-disputes-prosecutions.77759/

Silly Me did so last evening.