SWR Prosecutions Letter - Kindly suggest a reply please

[DuckyDuck]

Hi all,

I was stopped by SWR staff at Waterloo in October and was issued with a Report for Prosecution. I’ve been anxious since then and I’ve been reading many threads on here to try to understand what might happen. I’m very grateful for everyone’s contributions here that help me understand about this better.

My usual commute is from Hampton to Waterloo and on the day in question I was using an invalid ticket which was a Wimbledon to Waterloo return. Unfortunately, I had been doing this for several months, roughly 70+ trips. I know this was completely wrong and I feel genuinely ashamed and regretful about it. Also not so smart ideas trying to save money by buying incorrect tickets. Since the incident I have been tapping in/out and paying the correct fare every time.

I have now received the initial letter asking for my explanations and I would really appreciate any guidance on how best to respond. I’m very worried so any help on this would mean a lot.

I’m unsure about the following:

• I should only address the incident on the day right? The letter also mentioned ‘without having previously paid the fare’ so I’m not sure.
• Is it acceptable to reply only by email? (I’m moving soon and worried about missing letters.)
• Should I state in my reply that I would like to settle the matter out of court and that I’m willing to pay any outstanding fares and admin costs?
• The letter says to “complete all details below”, the only thing I see is a personal details form printed on the back so I assume that are the details they need me to complete?

I’ve drafted a reply email to SWR and would be very grateful if anyone could review before I send it. Thank you so much for taking your time to read my post, your advice will help a lot. I truly regret the mistake I made. Thank you again.

-------------

Ref - SWRxxx

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing this email to respond to your letter dated xx regarding the incident at Waterloo on xx.

I sincerely apologise for travelling with an invalid ticket. I fully acknowledge that I failed to pay the correct fare for my journey from Hampton to Waterloo and I deeply regret my actions. I understand the seriousness of this matter. I have learned my lessons and I ensure that this will never happen again.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide my explanations. I would be very grateful if you would allow me to resolve this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to pay any administrative costs associated with the case and any outstanding amounts I owe.

Please find my personal details below as requested:

xxx

Once again, I am very sorry for my actions. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
Name

 

[30907]

Looks OK to me apart from "I ensure" which should be "I will ensure..." (though they might ask how?)

I wonder if you should add "Please contact me if you require further information" - that doesn't incriminate you, but pre-empts them coming back with a spreadsheet which they may well do.

Send a paper letter AND email and advise them of an impending house move.

BTW are (correct) individual tickets rather than Oyster the cheapest option?

 

[WesternLancer]

On your specific questions

I’m unsure about the following:

• I should only address the incident on the day right? The letter also mentioned ‘without having previously paid the fare’ so I’m not sure.

You can address that incident - just don't use wording that could be interpreted as / implies there only being one incident if that is not true.
SWR are pretty hot on checking any records they can access about other occasions - so you should assume they will do this and ask you about them in due course potentially.

• Is it acceptable to reply only by email? (I’m moving soon and worried about missing letters.)

If it says you can reply by e-mail that's fine (but if you want to be sure you can always print the e-mail off - hand write 'as sent by e-mail on it' and pop it in post to the address they give

• Should I state in my reply that I would like to settle the matter out of court and that I’m willing to pay any outstanding fares and admin costs?

Yes

• The letter says to “complete all details below”, the only thing I see is a personal details form printed on the back so I assume that are the details they need me to complete?

Presumably - they want more details if they need to escalate anything (ie inform a court or debt collector) - but you need to be co-operating to get a settlement so probably best to give them the details they want unless you have good reason not to do so

 

[DuckyDuck]

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the feedback! @30907 and @WesternLancer I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

I’ve never used an Oyster card before and I didn’t realise that both single and round-trip tickets cost more than using contactless at peak times.

I made some changes to my draft based on your suggestions. Could you revise my letter please and if I need to remove or add anything else?

Thank you so much!

P.S. I will write ‘As sent by email’ on the letter
-----------
Ref - SWRxxx

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing this email to respond to your letter dated xx regarding the incident at Waterloo on xx.

I sincerely apologise for travelling with an invalid ticket. I fully acknowledge that I failed to pay the correct fare for my journey from Hampton to Waterloo. I am truly sorry and recognise the seriousness of this matter. I understand how my actions could have contributed to revenue loss for the company. I have learned from the incident and will ensure that this will never happen again.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain the situation. I would be extremely grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to cover any administrative costs associated with the case and any outstanding amounts I owe.

Please find my personal details below, as requested:

xxx

Additionally, I wanted to let you know that I will be moving house soon. As I am concerned I might miss any important letters by post during this time, I would really appreciate it if you could contact me via email for any future communications.

Once again, I am very sorry for my actions. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
Name

 

[WesternLancer]

Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the feedback! @30907 and @WesternLancer I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

I’ve never used an Oyster card before and I didn’t realise that both single and round-trip tickets cost more than using contactless at peak times.

I made some changes to my draft based on your suggestions. Could you revise my letter please and if I need to remove or add anything else?

Thank you so much!

P.S. I will write ‘As sent by email’ on the letter
-----------
Ref - SWRxxx

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing this email to respond to your letter dated xx regarding the incident at Waterloo on xx.

I sincerely apologise for travelling with an invalid ticket. I fully acknowledge that I failed to pay the correct fare for my journey from Hampton to Waterloo. I am truly sorry and recognise the seriousness of this matter. I understand how my actions could have contributed to revenue loss for the company. I have learned from the incident and will ensure that this will never happen again.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain the situation. I would be extremely grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to cover any administrative costs associated with the case and any outstanding amounts I owe.

Please find my personal details below, as requested:

xxx

Additionally, I wanted to let you know that I will be moving house soon. As I am concerned I might miss any important letters by post during this time, I would really appreciate it if you could contact me via email for any future communications.

Once again, I am very sorry for my actions. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
Name

Looks ok to me.

If you are moving in the near future it’s good to ask for e mail contact but state your e mail address in that para for their ease of reference

If you know a move date and new postal address then include that (or a stable address with a family member perhaps).
You should also consider a Royal Mail postal redirect when you move, tho of course there is a cost to that. But probably less cost than the possible consequences of missing important mail perhaps.

Let us know how things develop.