Please help: used child Oyster card to get through barriers

[masaaasa]

About 3 weeks ago I boarded a train to Brighton and used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers, and I got asked for my ticket on the train. I lied saying I bought one and it fell on the tracks; the woman said they’re gonna check cameras, so then I said I didn’t buy one she then gave me a slip where it said it was passed on to the prosecution team.

I have always bought a child ticket to a closer stop to my station to open the barriers, and I’ve used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers.

I am gut worries that they wil catch me and god know what will happen. I’ve used trip.con to buy the tickets the child tickets and I’m worried I’ll get caught I’ve done all this out of impulse due to my ADHD and autism, and since then I’ve always paid for my ticket but I also don’t want to own up to this to them when I get a letter.

Does anyone know what will happen and how much longer I have to wait?

When I got caught and issued the slip I spoke to them and they told me that i'll just have to explain my side of the story to them and I’ll get a fine and nothing more will happen has anyone got any ideas on what could happen

 

[furlong]

Firstly, how old are you?

 

[z444z]

About 3 weeks ago I boarded a train to Brighton and used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers and I got asked for my ticket on the train I lied saying I bought one and it fell on the tracks the woman said they’re gonna check cameras so then I said I didn’t buy one she then gave me a slip where it said it was passed on to the prosecution team I have always bought a child ticket to a closer stop to my station to open the barriers and I’ve used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers I am gut worries that they wil catch me and god know what will happen. I’ve used trip.con to buy the tickets the child tickets and I’m worried I’ll get caught I’ve done all this out of impulse due to my adhd and autism and since then I’ve always payed for my ticket but I also don’t want to own up to this to them when I get a letter does anyone know what will happen and how much longer I have to wait
When I got caught and issued the slip I spoke to them and they told me that il just have to explain my side of the story to them and I’ll get a fine and nothing more will happen has anyone got any ideas on what could happen

GTR will write to you in the next few months, possibly as long as 6 months. They are very likely to offer you an out of court settlement, but it may be expensive. They will likely charge you the anytime fares for any journeys they suspect you’ve made without a valid ticket (Farrington to Brighton is £31.80 each way).

Our experience is that GTR always looks into travel history, but whether or not they have a data sharing agreement with trip.com I’m not sure. Given that they didn’t scan a ticket and only have the oyster card, it is possible that they will only bother checking some ticket retailers and may not check trip.com. That would work in your favour so it’s in your interests to only answer the questions they ask of you.

That all being said, there is nothing you can do until the letter arrives, other than obviously paying the correct fare for your travel. Come back to us when the letter arrives and we will help.

 

[masaaasa]

Firstly, how old are you?

21

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

GTR will write to you in the next few months, possibly as long as 6 months. They are very likely to offer you an out of court settlement, but it may be expensive. They will likely charge you the anytime fares for any journeys they suspect you’ve made without a valid ticket (Farrington to Brighton is £31.80 each way).

Our experience is that GTR always looks into travel history, but whether or not they have a data sharing agreement with trip.com I’m not sure. Given that they didn’t scan a ticket and only have the oyster card, it is possible that they will only bother checking some ticket retailers and may not check trip.com. That would work in your favour so it’s in your interests to only answer the questions they ask of you.

That all being said, there is nothing you can do until the letter arrives, other than obviously paying the correct fare for your travel. Come back to us when the letter arrives and we will help.

They don’t have the Oyster card as I didn’t tell them I just told them that I didn’t pay but I’m scared they’re gonna check cameras in the station and seen I used my little sisters Oyster card to get through barriers

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

GTR will write to you in the next few months, possibly as long as 6 months. They are very likely to offer you an out of court settlement, but it may be expensive. They will likely charge you the anytime fares for any journeys they suspect you’ve made without a valid ticket (Farrington to Brighton is £31.80 each way).

Our experience is that GTR always looks into travel history, but whether or not they have a data sharing agreement with trip.com I’m not sure. Given that they didn’t scan a ticket and only have the oyster card, it is possible that they will only bother checking some ticket retailers and may not check trip.com. That would work in your favour so it’s in your interests to only answer the questions they ask of you.

That all being said, there is nothing you can do until the letter arrives, other than obviously paying the correct fare for your travel. Come back to us when the letter arrives and we will help.

How long does letters normally take to arrive

 

[z444z]

They don’t have the Oyster card as I didn’t tell them I just told them that I didn’t pay but I’m scared they’re gonna check cameras in the station and seen I used my little sisters Oyster card to get through barriers

If they don’t find out about the Oyster card and don’t check your ticketing accounts then you may get away with just paying the £31.80 for this one journey plus a roughly £150 admin fee. If they only find out about one but not the other, they’ll charge you for the suspicious journeys on the oyster or online account. If they find both then obviously will charge you for all of the times you’ve short ticketed or bought a child ticket as well as charging you for any journeys on the Oyster that they suspect are yours.

How long does letters normally take to arrive

Recent experience on the forum suggests GTR are currently taking roughly 4-5 months to send initial letters out.

 

[masaaasa]

On the 18th November I got CUAGHT not paying for my train ticket and I used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers from King’s Cross and I got given a witness statement and also lied about what station I got on at and they said to me they’re gonna check cameras I after l lied saying my ticket fell on the tracks to then I admitted not paying for my ticket , they gave me a witness statement and sad I’ll get sent a letter will gtr check cameras that I used my little sisters Oysters Oyster card to get through barriers in King’s Cross and find out I bought child ticket from trip. Com from hove to Brighton to get me through the barriers at Brighton
Please can someone give me advice if they’ll find out I use my little sisters Oyster card I also spoke to the train inspectors in Brighton station they said they check everything but idk if they say that to scare me

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jan 2026 ==

Can someone please advice me

 

[WesternLancer]

On the 18th November I got CUAGHT not paying for my train ticket and I used my little sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers from King’s Cross and I got given a witness statement and also lied about what station I got on at and they said to me they’re gonna check cameras I after l lied saying my ticket fell on the tracks to then I admitted not paying for my ticket , they gave me a witness statement and sad I’ll get sent a letter will gtr check cameras that I used my little sisters Oysters Oyster card to get through barriers in King’s Cross and find out I bought child ticket from trip. Com from hove to Brighton to get me through the barriers at Brighton
Please can someone give me advice if they’ll find out I use my little sisters Oyster card I also spoke to the train inspectors in Brighton station they said they check everything but idk if they say that to scare me

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Jan 2026 ==

Can someone please advice me

You need to wait for the railway company to write to you before anything can be done. Usually hard copy post but also possibly e mail so watch you post and spam.

It’s vital you respond to that when you receive it with advice from here. Nothing you can do until they write.

It may be 10 to 12 weeks before they write.

Did you give them a correct postal address and your personal details correctly?

 

[masaaasa]

Yes

 

[MotCO]

The only thing you can really do now is make sure that you pay the correct fare for each and every journey from now on. When they write to you, they want to make sure that you understand that what you did was wrong, and that you havd learnt your lesson, and won't do it again. By buying the right tickets now will help evidence this.

Also, have you thought about buying a 16-25 Railcard https://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/? There are some restrictions - £12 minimum fare applies Monday to Friday between 04:30 and 09:59, you must always carry your card when you travel, and you must remember to renew it in good time (put a reminder on your phone: no-one else will remind you.) A Railcard will also show your willingness to learn from your errors.

 

[masaaasa]

I used my sisters Oyster card to get thru the barriers from King’s Cross and I get a ticket from hive to Brighton to open the barriers in Brighton I got caught then lied saying my ticket fell of the train and lied about my start of destination and then ended up just saying I didn’t pay will they find out I used my sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers and find out I short fared on trip. Com can someone please help this happened on 18 November and I haven’t got the letter yet will they find out through trip.com and also find out about me using my sisters oyster card I’m so gut worried

 

[Kite159]

You will need to wait for the letter from Thameslink (I presume) to arrive

 

[masaaasa]

Can someone please respond to this

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jan 2026 ==

You will need to wait for the letter from Thameslink (I presume) to arrive

What do you think will be the outcome will they find out

 

[Titfield]

Whilst lying is not good (obviously) Train Companies experience this all the time. They will be more concerned that you engage with them ie reply to their letter and are truthful and contrite. Did they record your contact details correctly try? If so all you can do is wait for the letter and then seek advice on this forum. There are considerable back logs at the moment. Letters can take anything from a fortnight to a few months to arrive. In the meantime try not to panic about this. It will all come out in the wash.

 

[z444z]

We saw a similar case recently where GTR did not investigate the Oyster card that had been used, but we cannot guarantee anything. GTR do routinely investigate online purchasing history but recently we have seen some cases where they haven’t done this despite the OP telling us that GTR would find suspicious purchases if they looked, so you might get lucky.

You are lucky that GTR caught you and not TfL. GTR will most likely settle out of court for between £50-£150 admin costs and the fares that they’ve detected have been avoided at the Anytime rates. TfL would have prosecuted you.

Just wait for the letter, come back for further help when you get it. It’s likely to be 2-4 months with GTR at the moment.

 

[Trainman40083]

Isn't Brighton the station where the barriers are in different sections? By that I mean, if you got off a Thameslink train, it would be a different set of barriers, that may be programmed to reject certain destinations.

 

[Haywain]

will they find out I used my sisters Oyster card to get through the barriers

How could they possibly find out, other than by you telling them?

 

[Mattplans]

Isn't Brighton the station where the barriers are in different sections? By that I mean, if you got off a Thameslink train, it would be a different set of barriers, that may be programmed to reject certain destinations.

Yes - that seems highly likely to me. A passenger from Hove would not really use any barriers except those near platforms 1-3 whereas someone coming from London would use 3-8



== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jan 2026 ==

 

[Hadders]

Moderator Note - we had two threads about the same case so they have been merged to keep everything related to the case in one place and avoid confusion.

 

[z444z]

How could they possibly find out, other than by you telling them?

TfL CCTV and gateline data? Not that we have seen it happen, but it’s certainly not impossible.

 

[Haywain]

TfL CCTV and gateline data? Not that we have seen it happen, but it’s certainly not impossible.

Not impossible but very highly unlikely. If they don't know which station the OP boarded at it would be looking for a needle in a haystack without any certainty that it's there to start with.

 

[Mattplans]

I'm having difficulty understanding everything that has been written - but from my understanding, it doesn't even look like the OP presented the trip.com ticket to the inspectors? Instead they made up an excuse about their ticket falling on the track.

My understanding of events

• OP is stopped (presumably at Farringdon) on the train (not at the barriers) with no ticket. They gained access by going though King's Cross St Pancras with by using their sister's child oyster zip card..
• The inspector says they will check CCTV, probably to confirm whether this ticket fell on the track
• OP eventually tells the inspector they do not have a ticket
• OP is issued a witness statement and sent on their way
• OP is worried because they routinely short fare using trip.com, and they're worried about GTR checking CCTV to see how they entered Farringdon or St Pancras

@masaaasa Is this correct?

Can you confirm if you told/showed the inspector

• your trip.com ticket or;
• your (sister's) child oyster zip card

Assuming all of the above is true & correct and nothing is left out, in the letter OP just needs to say that they didn't purchase a ticket for their trip between Farringdon and Brighton.

And of course, OP needs to be warned about their short-faring/child ticketing habits. GTR may flag your history in the future because it's blatant short-faring. At the moment, GTR doesn't seem to be one of the companies that does this at the moment, though.

 

[masaaasa]

My letter from prosecution hasn’t arrived yet
On the 13th November I used my little sisters Oyster card to get through barriers in King’s Cross’s et Pancras
Ticket inspector came on the train and asked for my ticket I lied saying that it fell on the train tracks, I then said my phone ran out of charge so I can’t show you my ticket, I then just said I didn’t get a ticket and I got on at Farringdon. However I got on King’s Cross St Pancras

Since then I still did the same thing and then buy a ticket from a station closest to Brighton to get through barriers, but on my account it doesn’t show a short fare ticket from London as I use my sisters Oyster card. On my account there’s just trips from hove to Brighton but no trips from London on the dates. However the trips from hove to Brighton are child ticketsz

Will they find out I use my little sisters Oyster card to get though the barriers and still find out I short fare even though on my trip.com account only showed one trip on the dates.

I have not short fared or anything since November and have learned my lesson even though I stil did a few times after due to me being neurodivergent I was being impulsive

Please can someone tell me what could happen

 

[saismee]

Were you stopped by GTR (Thameslink) or TfL staff?

 

[z444z]

I have not short fared or anything since November

Ok…

I stil did a few times after

So you did short fare after the incident.

This isn’t likely to be disastrous, GTR are one of the easiest companies to settle with, but will mean that it will cost you more money. Short faring after being reported for prosecution is possibly the daftest fare evasion as it’s basically guaranteed that they’ll charge you for those journeys, costing you more money than you saved evading the full fare.

It is not surprising that you haven’t heard from them yet, GTR are working on cases from September-October at the moment. Just keep waiting.

 

[masaaasa]

Were you stopped by GTR (Thameslink) or TfL staff?

Gtr

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2026 ==

Ok…

So you did short fare after the incident.

This isn’t likely to be disastrous, GTR are one of the easiest companies to settle with, but will mean that it will cost you more money. Short faring after being reported for prosecution is possibly the daftest fare evasion as it’s basically guaranteed that they’ll charge you for those journeys, costing you more money than you saved evading the full fare.

It is not surprising that you haven’t heard from them yet, GTR are working on cases from September-October at the moment. Just keep waiting.

How would they know can they check trip.com purchases but they only know I went from hove to Brighton I don’t have any tickets that are from London those days cuz I use my sisters Oyster card

 

[z444z]

can they check trip.com purchases

Yes

but they only know I went from hove to Brighton

I think they might suspect you’ve made a longer journey than that.

You just need to wait until they write to you.

 

[masaaasa]

Would they find out I have used my little sisters order card and how would they know ive made longer journeys
I am so worried ive lost my appetite for months

 

[30907]

Would they find out I have used my little sisters Oyster card

No

and how would they know ive made longer journeys.

They will review your ticket history. They know you travelled from London on this occasion. If there are lots of fares from Hove or similar, but none from London, and you have an address in London, they will be suspicious.

when they contact you, come back for advice - but in general we don't recommend that people admit to offences they haven't been asked about.

 

[masaaasa]

I was CUAGHT in mid novemeber not paying for my ticket and I am waiting my prosecutor letter after being given a witness statement. Still haven’t received any letter does anyone know the approx time it will be sent like from today

 

[z444z]

Based on other cases I’d say you’ll probably hear from them by the end of the month. Although we have recently seen GTR, up against the 6 month deadline in a few cases that for whatever reason haven’t been dealt with in order, begin court proceedings without getting in touch first, but even then contacting them asking to settle has worked.