Report for prosecution for short fare at Waterloo

[helpplease45]

Hi all, I was stopped by a guard after scanning out at Woking earlier last week. I had travelled from Worplesdon but accidentally bought a ticket from Woking (one station closer to London). I admitted to this and he reported me for a short fare.

This was fully unintentional, I usually travel from Woking and hadn’t changed the start station when I bought my ticket. My travel history is a mix of travelling mostly from Woking and sometimes from Worplesdon. It looks like I have bought the correct ticket for other travel (I have sometimes bought an extra ticket from Woking to Worplesdon when travelling on a return ticket to Woking).

How much trouble am I in here? It was an honest mistake but I’m not sure how to prove this to SWR. I’ve had a lot of problems with paper tickets not working in barriers (I’d pick it up outside Woking, then it wouldn’t let me through the barriers) so I’m a little worried they’ll be suspicious of ticket history if they can see that. Maybe they can see I pick up the ticket outside Woking?

Sorry for the long question! I’d appreciate any advice. Maybe I can preemptively email SWR before they contact me?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Nov 2025 ==

More details as per the pinned post:

- It was a barcode ticket, the guard could see I hadn’t scanned in at woking
- I have a valid railcard, the guard checked
- I had purchased the ticket before travelling
- I was confused at first when talking to the guard, as my ticket took a while to load and I thought he was checking if I bought it at the barrier.
- I have bought tickets after getting on trains before, always from the correct station. It felt like a harmless action while rushing for a train but I understand now that this isn’t allowed. Possibly they will ask about this too now they’re looking through my history.
- A few years ago I forgot to purchase a ticket on travelling to Southend, I paid a fine on the train.

I understand I (even if unintentionally) broke the rules and am okay with paying a fine, I’m very worried they will try to prosecute me.

Thank you!

 

[MotCO]

The usual advice is wait for the rail company to contact you, providing you have given them your correct address. The reasons are:
1. You will be given a case number; writing to them before you have this will make it difficult for them to match your plea with their case notes.
2. They may decide not to take any further action (unlikely, but why put your head above the parapet?).

If you engage positively with them, and if you were polite throughout your conversation with the guard, then you should be offered an Out of Court settlement of the full cost of an Anytime ticket plus around £150 admin fees.

 

[John R]

Your first paragraph doesn’t appear to make sense. You were scanned out at Woking, but the ticket you bought was from Woking?

 

[Starmill]

Your first paragraph doesn’t appear to make sense. You were scanned out at Woking, but the ticket you bought was from Woking?

It sounds like it's just a mix up of Ws and it was actually at London Waterloo?

 

[John R]

It sounds like it's just a mix up of Ws and it was actually at London Waterloo?

I wondered that, but I think it’s important to get clarity from the OP as to exactly what happened.

 

[helpplease45]

Sorry - yes i was stopped after scanning out at Waterloo

 

[SuspectUsual]

Sorry - yes i was stopped after scanning out at Waterloo

So you travelled from Worplesdon to Waterloo, but had a ticket from Woking, and were stopped at Waterloo?

I'm a bit puzzled as to how someone at Waterloo would know you'd committed an offence, unless they detected no scan at Woking and/or that the ticket was bought after departure.

Is there any other information we don't yet know?

(I assume Worplesdon doesn't have barriers??)

 

[helpplease45]

Yes there are no barriers at Worplesdon, there are at Woking. My ticket wouldn’t load for a long time at the barrier so maybe the guard waiting at the other side thought I looked suspicious. He scanned my ticket after I walked through the barrier and could see I hadn’t scanned in at Woking

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It was an honest mistake...

Was it? Fares are cheaper from Woking to London Waterloo than they are are from Worplesdon. Seems you didn't have a valid ticket for your entire journey. SWR might consider that any other journeys originating from Woking, where there has been no entrance scan at Woking, are possibly also other occasions of 'short faring'. Could make any settlement offer more expensive.

 

[helpplease45]

It was yes. I’ve bought many tickets from Worplesdon, and it doesn’t look like I’ve done this on any other occasion.

I’m feeling quite anxious about it, doesn’t look good if people here don’t believe me

 

[SuspectUsual]

I’m feeling quite anxious about it, doesn’t look good if people here don’t believe me

Please try not to. And it isn't a question of whether or not we believe you, its more a question of (i) understanding exactly what happened and (ii) trying to look at the situation as a slightly cynical investigator who has heard it all before might do

 

[helpplease45]

Thank you, yes I understand that, that is why I posted here. Thank you all for helping

 

[swt_passenger]

I’ve had a lot of problems with paper tickets not working in barriers (I’d pick it up outside Woking, then it wouldn’t let me through the barriers) so I’m a little worried they’ll be suspicious of ticket history if they can see that. Maybe they can see I pick up the ticket outside Woking?

Can you explain what you mean here? What sort of ticket are you ‘picking up’ outside Woking, and why?

 

[helpplease45]

Paper tickets I’d collect from the ticket machine after buying on my phone. I’m staying between my parents (Wickford) and my girlfriend’s parents (Woking) at the moment so travelling in and out of London a lot.

I quite often buy tickets from Woking to Wickford etc. - I’ve been using uber recently as they give 5% off, previously LNER (and sometimes Trainline if these apps don’t work). It has been confusing using so many apps, I think that’s why I made the mistake earlier this week.

These are paper tickets I assume to go through the underground. They quite often wouldn’t let me through the barrier right after picking them up at Woking, or at Waterloo after getting off (it would say “seek assistance”).

I asked a guard at the barrier once in Waterloo and they said it’s because they want to check railcards?

 

[Haywain]

I quite often buy tickets from Woking to Wickford etc.

You seem to have a particular liking for stations beginning with W!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Nov 2025 ==

They quite often wouldn’t let me through the barrier right after picking them up at Woking, or at Waterloo after getting off (it would say “seek assistance”).

This may be to check railcards, or just because the magnetic strip on the ticket has not been encoded correctly. It's nothing to worry about (as long as you have a valid railcard, obviously).

 

[John R]

You mention sometimes buying tickets from Woking to Worplesdon to complete a journey where you only had a ticket to Woking. These might well look like short fares, so hopefully for each of those you can also show on your account a ticket as far as Woking?

 

[swt_passenger]

Paper tickets I’d collect from the ticket machine after buying on my phone. I’m staying between my parents (Wickford) and my girlfriend’s parents (Woking) at the moment so travelling in and out of London a lot.

I quite often buy tickets from Woking to Wickford etc. - I’ve been using uber recently as they give 5% off, previously LNER (and sometimes Trainline if these apps don’t work). It has been confusing using so many apps, I think that’s why I made the mistake earlier this week.

These are paper tickets I assume to go through the underground. They quite often wouldn’t let me through the barrier right after picking them up at Woking, or at Waterloo after getting off (it would say “seek assistance”).

I asked a guard at the barrier once in Waterloo and they said it’s because they want to check railcards?

So by ‘outside Woking’ did you mean at a Woking TVM on entering the station from the street? I took it as buying it on a train near Woking, hence my question. Buying tickets while ‘en route’ but just before you leave a station is always going sound a warning bell to the TOCs, they’ll generally see it as suspicious.

 

[helpplease45]

You seem to have a particular liking for stations beginning with W!

Yes I thought this was funny at first but I think it has confused me here!

You mention sometimes buying tickets from Woking to Worplesdon to complete a journey where you only had a ticket to Woking. These might well look like short fares, so hopefully for each of those you can also show on your account a ticket as far as Woking?

Yes I would have a ticket for the rest of the journey from Waterloo, I would have used that to get through the barrier. It’s possible this would be a paper return ticket so might be a little tricky to prove now

So by ‘outside Woking’ did you mean at a Woking TVM on entering the station from the street? I took it as buying it on a train near Woking, hence my question. Buying tickets while ‘en route’ but just before you leave a station is always going sound a warning bell to the TOCs, they’ll generally see it as suspicious.

Yes from the machine on the street outside.

 

[John R]

Yes I would have a ticket for the rest of the journey from Waterloo, I would have used that to get through the barrier. It’s possible this would be a paper return ticket so might be a little tricky to prove now

OK, this is important. Do you mean that the paper ticket was bought online and collected at a ticket machine (TVM), or that the transaction was carried out at the station, either at a ticket office or a TVM?

If the latter, then that is going to look very suspicious, as all they will be able to find on your ticketing accounts is the short ticket, and they may well jump to a conclusion that you didn't pay for the Woking to Waterloo leg.

 

[helpplease45]

I mean bought online and collected at the ticket machine. I buy all my tickets online so there should be history.

The bit I’m concerned about is I buy return tickets (Woking to Wickford return etc.). I might be returning with a paper ticket that says Wickford to Woking, and buy a ticket on Trainline from Woking to Worplesdon if I’m travelling further. It might be hard to prove I had the ticket.

For example, on the 27th I had a ticket from Woking to Nottingham (bought through LNER) and I bought a ticket from worplesdon to Woking.

On the 6th I was returning on the ticket I bought on the 5th, and travelled further than the return so bought a ticket from Woking to Worplesdon.

 

[Haywain]

The bit I’m concerned about is I buy return tickets (Woking to Wickford return etc.). I might be returning with a paper ticket that says Wickford to Woking, and buy a ticket on Trainline from Woking to Worplesdon if I’m travelling further. It might be hard to prove I had the ticket.

If all the tickets are bought online, there will be a trail of those.

 

[John R]

I mean bought online and collected at the ticket machine. I buy all my tickets online so there should be history.

Phew. So long as the "longer" ticket has been bought online you will be fine. Don't close any account though (eg the LNER one) in case you need to refer to it to find the corresponding tickets.

 

[Starmill]

It looks like your history will show mostly scans on entry at Woking with tickets from Woking, tickets collected at Woking which say Woking on them in the "from" part, and where there's a ticket between Woking and Worplesdon but no entry or exit at Woking, you can match it with the evidence of the other ticket to or from Woking?

In that case I suspect you don't need to worry unnecessarily. SWR will probably offer to settle the matter for you for the fare from Worplesdon to London plus an "administration fee". You may need to explain the above about your data trail to them if you are asked. If you're confident there wasn't another similar occasion to this week that should not be too difficult.

I assume you still have all of the email confirmations in your email box, across each different online retailer you have used? It may be of benefit for you to go through and PDF them all and save that in a safe place to use as evidence. That may be premature though especially if you think it's a very large number of emails.