GTR Intention to prosecute- not sure what to do!

[cybervenus]

I have received a letter from GTR yesterday giving me 14 days to respond with my account of events which occured all the way on the 16th of June.

I have problems with my memory so I am completely unsure if I'm remembering what happened correctly, and am super worried they may take this as me being unthruthful.

I was travelling from Finsbury Park to Hitchin at 6:35am, having come from the underground line (not quite sure which stop)- and was going to short ticket my journey however my phone had either died or wasn't working properly, I'm not sure which.

At Alexandra Palace, I was asked by a train inspector to provide a ticket, at which point I panicked and said that I had a ticket but my phone was dead/not working- they said to send the ticket to a website but didnt specify any deadline.

I am a student living in poverty so Ive had 3 previous fines (all paid on time) due to not having a ticket, I had short ticketed at the time but they are not aware of this.

Any help would be appreciated as I really dont want a criminal record.

Here is a draft of a letter to write to GTR:

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing to you to sincerely apologise and take responsibility in regards to an incident which occured on 16th of June 2025 at Alexandra Palace.

My phone had died and I was under the impression that I had purchased a ticket for my journey earlier in the day, which I had told the inspector. However, upon inspection later on I realised I had not purchased any ticket at all which was a dishonest and unacceptable lapse in judgement which I regret deeply.

I understand this behaviour is completely unacceptable and that it caused a grave loss to the railway and undermined the trust placed in passengers. I have reflected on my actions since and I am determined to never make such an abhorrent mistake again.

I'm writing to respectfully inquire as to whether you would be open to resolving this issue out of court. I agree to pay any outstanding fare as well as any settlement or administrative expenses you deem necessary.

Thank you for considering my explanation. I appreciate your time and the opportunity to make amends.

 

[30907]

I have problems with my memory so I am completely unsure if I'm remembering what happened correctly, and am super worried they may take this as me being unthruthful.

There is no harm in mentioning that your memory may be faulty, though I am not sure it is relevant. You appear to be untruthful, see next item.

...and I was under the impression that I had purchased a ticket for my journey earlier in the day, which I had told the inspector.

This isn't what you said upthread - memory issues or no, lying is not advisable

However, upon inspection later on I realised I had not purchased any ticket at all which was a dishonest and unacceptable lapse in judgement which I regret deeply.

I understand this behaviour is completely unacceptable and that it caused a grave loss to the railway and undermined the trust placed in passengers. I have reflected on my actions since and I am determined to never make such an abhorrent mistake again.

I'm writing to respectfully inquire as to whether you would be open to resolving this issue out of court. I agree to pay any outstanding fare as well as any settlement or administrative expenses you deem necessary.

Thank you for considering my explanation. I appreciate your time and the opportunity to make amends.

The rest is good enough, though I detect use of the Thesaurus tool (or Chat GPT).

General response:
1. GTR normally settle when people engage with them.
2. You must expect them to have investigated your purchase history and identify previous short-fares (you have implied that you do this anyway) - they may increase the settlement amount accordingly.

 

[John R]

So first things first, we recommend that you are completely honest, if you want them to believe what you are saying.

I was under the impression that I had purchased a ticket for my journey earlier in the day,

That doesn't appear to be true given what you said above. Especially as you then go on to say that it was dishonest behaviour.

I had short ticketed at the time but they are not aware of this.

Well they have caught you for something, so you will have three black marks against your name, so I would not assume that they don't know about it. It will obviously make it more difficult to persuade GTR that you will not reoffend again, which means they could be less likely to offer you a settlement. You'll have to wait and see.

I wouldn't use the word abhorrent. It means disgusting or loathing, which isn't quite what you are trying to say. Similarly I am not sure "grave" is the right word.

 

[cybervenus]

Hello!

Thank you so much for the responses, what amendment would I need to make to take accountability for the short ticketing? Im not sure how to word this at all. I haven't short ticketed since this incident and the fines were last year, I'm not sure if this makes any difference though.

I wrote the draft of the letter before realising I was probably short ticketing my journey, so I'll definitely change that bit. Apologies for the thesaurus help, Im not familiar with writing formal letters so I'll take those out as well!

 

[John R]

If you post a copy of the letter you received (suitably anonymised) then we can advise further, but in general I would keep it to the facts on the day. You were caught without a ticket of any description. That's it. If they go looking for short ticketing on your account (likely, but not certain) then you address that point if they raise it.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Apologies for the thesaurus help, Im not familiar with writing formal letters so I'll take those out as well!

My day job involves reading formal appeal-type letters (although not for the railway). And please let me tell you that long words don't make me take what is being said any more seriously.

Write the clearest English you can, and try to use the right word rather than a grand one. So if you think what you have done is serious, say that rather than digging out 'grave'. Even better, think whether you need an adjective at all - it may be fine to talk about 'a loss' rather than a'a grave loss'. Similarly, I think that you don't need to say 'abhorrent' or anything like it - although it's your letter so it's your call.

The main thing you are trying to do is to get your message across to the appeal handler. So keep it simple!

 

[cybervenus]

Hello!
Thank you for the advice.
In the letter they did not provide any further details than what I included.
This is the updated version of my response-

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing to you to sincerely apologise and take responsibility in regards to an incident which occured on 16th of June 2025 at Alexandra Palace.

I did not hold a valid ticket before the start of my journey and when asked to present one, I had stated truthfully that my phone was dead, but not the fact I did not hold a valid ticket, which was a dishonest and deliberate act that I regret deeply.

I understand this behaviour is completely unacceptable and that it caused a loss to the railway and undermined the trust placed in passengers. I have sincerely reflected on my actions since and I am determined to never make such a mistake again.

I'm writing to respectfully ask as to whether you would be open to resolving this issue out of court. I agree to pay any outstanding fare as well as any and every settlement or administrative costs you deem appropriate.

Thank you for considering my explanation. I appreciate your time and the opportunity to make amends.

Kind regards,

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hello!
Thank you for the advice.
In the letter they did not provide any further details than what I included.
This is the updated version of my response-

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing to you to sincerely apologise and take responsibility in regards to an incident which occured on 16th of June 2025 at Alexandra Palace.

I did not hold a valid ticket before the start of my journey and when asked to present one, I had stated truthfully that my phone was dead, but not the fact I did not hold a valid ticket, which was a dishonest and deliberate act that I regret deeply.

I understand this behaviour is completely unacceptable and that it caused a loss to the railway and undermined the trust placed in passengers. I have sincerely reflected on my actions since and I am determined to never make such a mistake again.

I'm writing to respectfully ask as to whether you would be open to resolving this issue out of court. I agree to pay any outstanding fare as well as any and every settlement or administrative costs you deem appropriate.

Thank you for considering my explanation. I appreciate your time and the opportunity to make amends.

Kind regards,

I think that's fine,