Fear of prosecution for fare evasion

[graylow48753]

Hello, today we was stopped at London Victoria train station and asked to present my ticket. I had travelled from Polegate and had a ticket from Polegate to Gatwick Airport and a ticket from Clapham Junction to London Victoria (therefore basically missing out east Croydon station in the middle). In addition, my Clapham Junction ticket had a 16-17 saver railcard whereas I have a 16-25 railcard. The Fraud Officer took all my details and said I would receive a letter and that either I might pay a penalty fare or there also might be further investigation. I’m very worried because I have travelled in this way fairly regularly (about once a week) over the past year or so and so in a panic I deleted my Trainline account. I thoroughly regret this and know it’s entirely my fault. I’m now worried that they will conduct an investigation and that I may be liable for fraud charges and will be convicted. I’ve been reading a lot of other people’s cases and have also started reaching out to solicitors however I would appreciate advice. Should I employ a lawyer now? It seems like all I can do now is wait for Govia Thameslink (who are on the witness receipt) to get in touch with me but I’m worried they may progress straight to a court summons. Does anyone know whether this is sometimes the first option or do they normally give people a chance to settle outside of court first? And will settling outside of court be put on my permanent record? Is it worth getting legal representation now or should I wait for a letter to come through? I’ve seen that other people in similar situations have handled it themselves but not sure how it will play out and I’m desperate to avoid any sort of conviction as I fear this would put my job at risk. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[SussexMan]

...and so in a panic I deleted my Trainline account.

What you have done is removed your access to the account. It still exists and the Trainline will be able to see you have "deleted" it. But, you are not the first to have done this.

 

[30907]

Hi. Don't panic.

GTR deal with loads of (apparent) fare evasion cases including doughnutting and incorrect railcards. They almost always offer a settlement out of court if you engage with them. There is no need to involve a solicitor.
If it does end up in court, it will not be under the Fraud Act 2006 (that would be almost unheard of).
I am afraid you will have to be patient until their letter arrives (and put up with the stress) - we'll be happy to advise at that stage.

 

[John R]

Definitely don't panic, but start saving, as if GTR spots (as they are likely to) that you have done this once a week for a year, they are going to ask you to pay for all the missing journeys as part of any settlement offer to keep it out of court. At roughly £50 for each day (assuming they only charge you for the "hole" in the middle - GTR often do this, as opposed to charging again for the full journey), that would be around £2,500, which you would need to find a few days to avoid them prosecuting you.

Make sure you look out for any letter post on a daily basis from now on, and also make a habit of reviewing any spam or junk email boxes, as it's important that you reply quickly to any letter you receive.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello, today we was stopped at London Victoria train station and asked to present my ticket. I had travelled from Polegate and had a ticket from Polegate to Gatwick Airport and a ticket from Clapham Junction to London Victoria (therefore basically missing out east Croydon station in the middle). In addition, my Clapham Junction ticket had a 16-17 saver railcard whereas I have a 16-25 railcard.

You are of course using different ways to minimise what you pay and this is of course deliberate evasion which they will spot.

The Fraud Officer took all my details and said I would receive a letter and that either I might pay a penalty fare or there also might be further investigation.

Penalty Fares can only be issued on the spot at the time. You will not be receiving a £100 Penalty Fare for this.

I’m very worried because I have travelled in this way fairly regularly (about once a week) over the past year or so and so in a panic I deleted my Trainline account.

It was unwise to delete your account because the railway can still access your purchase details, which they will be very likely to do but you can no longer do so which puts you at a disadvantage if they accuse you of travel with incorrect tickets on occasions when you may in fact have had a correct ticket.... but it's too late now.

I thoroughly regret this and know it’s entirely my fault. I’m now worried that they will conduct an investigation and that I may be liable for fraud charges and will be convicted. I’ve been reading a lot of other people’s cases and have also started reaching out to solicitors however I would appreciate advice. Should I employ a lawyer now?

Probably not. You may be able to resolve this yourself

It seems like all I can do now is wait for Govia Thameslink (who are on the witness receipt) to get in touch with me but I’m worried they may progress straight to a court summons. Does anyone know whether this is sometimes the first option

It's very unusual for that to be the first option from what we see here

or do they normally give people a chance to settle outside of court first?

You get a chance to explain yourself first and you can use that as an opportunity to ask them if they will be kind enough to let you settle out of court

And will settling outside of court be put on my permanent record?

No, not if you mean a criminal record - an out of court settlement is between you and the railway as a private agreement.
The railway will keep a record however, so if you then continue to evade they would be more likely to conjsider prosecuting you because they can see you have not learned a lesson.

Is it worth getting legal representation now or should I wait for a letter to come through? I’ve seen that other people in similar situations have handled it themselves but not sure how it will play out and I’m desperate to avoid any sort of conviction as I fear this would put my job at risk. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Here is some good advice from another forum member to give you an idea what to expect:

Firstly, you committed a criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and the railway company are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is they will normally offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them and who haven't come to their attention before.

Next, what happens is GTR / Southern will write to you at the address you gave. It is extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have 14 days to do so.

When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Southern will probably offer you an out of court settlement. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. They will also audit your online ticket purchase history and if this shows you've purchased other suspicious tickets they will factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement. Depending on how many journeys you've made this could end up being expensive.

Settlements usually have to be paid in full within a few days of them being offered so if money is tight you might want to think about how you will raise the sum required at short notice.

 

[graylow48753]

Hi all - thank you very much for your helpful words which really helped to put my mind somewhat at ease at the time. I've now received the letter from Govia and I would be incredibly grateful for your review of my proposed response:

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for your letter. I want to begin my taking full responsibility for my actions - I am incredibly sorry that the I did not purchase a valid ticket for my travel. I am grateful to you for highlighting the cost of travelling without a valid ticket to the rail industry and I am sincerely sorry to have contributed to this cost. I fully recognise that this was a significant lapse in my judgement and that there are no excuses for travelling without a valid ticket. I have committed to never travel without proper payment of a ticket again.

I am keen to resolve this matter at your earliest convenience and I would be incredibly grateful if you could provide me with information regarding the occasions you believe I may have avoided rail fares. I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter as soon as possible and I am willing to pay any outstanding travel fares, as well as covering the administrative expenses associated with reviewing this case. I respectfully ask that this be taken into consideration so that this matter can be resolved promptly and without any further action.

Thank you for your consideration of my response.

Yours sincerely,
xxx

 

[Haywain]

Seems like a good response to me.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all - thank you very much for your helpful words which really helped to put my mind somewhat at ease at the time. I've now received the letter from Govia and I would be incredibly grateful for your review of my proposed response:

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for your letter. I want to begin my taking full responsibility for my actions - I am incredibly sorry that the I did not purchase a valid ticket for my travel. I am grateful to you for highlighting the cost of travelling without a valid ticket to the rail industry and I am sincerely sorry to have contributed to this cost. I fully recognise that this was a significant lapse in my judgement and that there are no excuses for travelling without a valid ticket. I have committed to never travel without proper payment of a ticket again.

I am keen to resolve this matter at your earliest convenience and I would be incredibly grateful if you could provide me with information regarding the occasions you believe I may have avoided rail fares. I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter as soon as possible and I am willing to pay any outstanding travel fares, as well as covering the administrative expenses associated with reviewing this case. I respectfully ask that this be taken into consideration so that this matter can be resolved promptly and without any further action.

Thank you for your consideration of my response.

Yours sincerely,
xxx

slightly different approach from them than usual - asking to discuss it with you - tho I think we've seen a few of those - it's not in your interests to meet up or discuss it if that can be avoided

Your reply blooks OK - hopefully they will just send you a list

Have you prepared your own list of tickets they may think are suspicious so you can compare? If not, worth getting on to that after you send in your reply to them.

 

[Haywain]

slightly different approach from them than usual - asking to discuss it with you - tho I think we've seen a few of those - it's not in your interests to meet up or discuss it if that can be avoided

This seems to be the approach when there are many multiples of fares evaded, but they usually respond well to a suitable letter.

 

[WesternLancer]

This seems to be the approach when there are many multiples of fares evaded, but they usually respond well to a suitable letter.

Points well made - I don't suppose they actively want to spend time meeting up with people who are prepared to pay them the money they are seeking

 

[graylow48753]

Many thanks for everyone's review and comments. I sent my response and received a response this morning offering a settlement, which is a massive relief to me and I'm incredibly grateful that they have offered this. However, they note in their response 'Please note, no type of railcard discount can be applied to the fares used to calculate a fare evasion settlement.' In my case, this has significantly increased the cost of the settlement which I do find a touch unfair as I have always had a valid railcard and so whilst they state 'the correct fares would have been X amount', the correct fares for me would have actually been substantially lower.

I realise that I may sound ungrateful and that is not my intention - I am grateful that they have offered a settlement figure but I was just wondering whether anyone has been successful in noting that they have a railcard and asking for an adjustment to be made on that basis?

 

[mikeg]

I doubt it. Even if you’re not prosecuted: if you board a train while ticket buying facilities are available you can’t use your railcard to pay on the train, even if they let you pay on the train . It’s all part of the t and cs. So it’s a similar situation. To get the railcard discount you need to buy before you board. As you didn’t do this for part of your journey, no railcard discounts can apply.

 

[jfollows]

It’s normal to ask for full, undiscounted fares to be used in a settlement. They can ask for what they want, you can then choose what to do.
The thinking is generally that if you get a discount you’re more likely to do it again.

 

[Spaceship323]

Many thanks for everyone's review and comments. I sent my response and received a response this morning offering a settlement, which is a massive relief to me and I'm incredibly grateful that they have offered this. However, they note in their response 'Please note, no type of railcard discount can be applied to the fares used to calculate a fare evasion settlement.' In my case, this has significantly increased the cost of the settlement which I do find a touch unfair as I have always had a valid railcard and so whilst they state 'the correct fares would have been X amount', the correct fares for me would have actually been substantially lower.

I realise that I may sound ungrateful and that is not my intention - I am grateful that they have offered a settlement figure but I was just wondering whether anyone has been successful in noting that they have a railcard and asking for an adjustment to be made on that basis?

Have they charged you an admin fee?

 

[graylow48753]

Have they charged you an admin fee?

Yes I have been charged an admin fee

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Mar 2026 ==

@Hadders i have been told you have a deep level on insight into these issues, would you be able to opine please?

 

[Haywain]

I was just wondering whether anyone has been successful in noting that they have a railcard and asking for an adjustment to be made on that basis?

Not that I can recall seeing in a case such as yours, no. You are just going to have to suck this one up.

 

[WesternLancer]

Yes I have been charged an admin fee

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Mar 2026 ==

@Hadders i have been told you have a deep level on insight into these issues, would you be able to opine please?

My advice would be not to challenge this I'm afraid.

The thinking is that if it was discounted with the railcard when they 'caught you' no one would pay correctly before boarding as they would just pay the discounted fare on the occasions they were caught - the usual policy is (or should be according the way the rules are usually set out ) that if they do permit buying on board (and the government want the rail industry to phase that out totally anyway) you should get charged the full Anytime fare with no discounts available - eg no off peak or railcard fares.

Clearly there is an element of the 'punitive' price wise about this but this is presumably deliberately to incentivise people to buy the correct ticket before they get on the train and check they have done this.

There are exceptions to this but they would not generally apply on the sort of journey you were on from the stations you mention.

They are reasonable, but I suspect if you challenge it they will just say no.

But there is the potential risk of them withdrawing the offer and reverting to 'see you in court where you can discuss it with the magistrate' (where you would lose because it's a strict liability offence. I don't think GTR would do this (but I cant guarantee it) - but some other train companies we see probably would.

 

[z444z]

I realise that I may sound ungrateful and that is not my intention - I am grateful that they have offered a settlement figure but I was just wondering whether anyone has been successful in noting that they have a railcard and asking for an adjustment to be made on that basis?

This is very standard and I would suggest not questioning it. Your railcard provides a discount on tickets for travel, not a discount on a settlement when you’ve been evading fares.

What’s the amount they’re charging for admin fee? If this is unreasonably high you’d have more grounds to challenge it.

 

[graylow48753]

This is very standard and I would suggest not questioning it. Your railcard provides a discount on tickets for travel, not a discount on a settlement when you’ve been evading fares.

What’s the amount they’re charging for admin fee? If this is unreasonably high you’d have more grounds to challenge it.

It’s £250 so not unreasonably high I’m assuming

 

[z444z]

That doesn’t sound too crazy for the amount of evasion involved, but you could ask them for a breakdown of their admin costs to demonstrate it complies with 9.3 NRCoT:

The Train Company shall be entitled to recover its costs of this follow up (including claim or prosecution costs) from you whenever such costs are incurred. The sum claimed will not exceed the actual costs of such follow up steps taken.

There’s some risk in asking this that you’ll aggravate them and they’ll withdraw the settlement offer, but GTR are generally reasonable and I’d think this would be unlikely. However it’s worth considering whether a potential saving of I’d think at most £100 is worth this risk.

If you want to do this, please let us know and wait for other members to weigh in, and have us check your response before you send it.

 

[MrJeeves]

That doesn’t sound too crazy for the amount of evasion involved, but you could ask them for a breakdown of their admin costs to demonstrate it complies with 9.3 NRCoT:

The other thing to consider is that asking them for this will take more of their time, and thus the "costs of such follow up steps taken" will also increase!

 

[z444z]

The other thing to consider is that asking them for this will take more of their time, and thus the "costs of such follow up steps taken" will also increase!

A good point but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed or even likely thst GTR would actually increase the settlement if this was asked.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

A good point but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed or even likely thst GTR would actually increase the settlement if this was asked.

The general assumption around here is that trying to negotiate an offered settlement down won't be successful. But of course, if we stick with that advice, we'll never know if negotiating down does actually work.

 

[Haywain]

It’s £250 so not unreasonably high I’m assuming

Is that the total settlement or just the admin fee?

 

[graylow48753]

Is that the total settlement or just the admin fee?

That’s just the admin fee

 

[John R]

Given the extent of your fare evasion over the past “year or so” £250 doesn’t sound an excessively high fee to investigate it, so I’m not sure I’d be taking any risk in questioning it and quoting the relevant section of the NRCoT. If I was an investigator I’d regard it as a very cheeky ask.

 

[z444z]

The general assumption around here is that trying to negotiate an offered settlement down won't be successful. But of course, if we stick with that advice, we'll never know if negotiating down does actually work.

I didn't necessarily recommend it, just mentioned the option and outlined the biggest risk, as the OP seemed to be looking for ways to reduce the cost. However I agree with what you've said, just clarifying

 

[graylow48753]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think I am inclined to pay the whole settlement figure as I am keen to put this all behind me and I don’t want to take any risks. Does anyone have any advice on what form of words I should use to respond? Is it wise to seek further assurance from the company that they will not take any further action?

 

[jfollows]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think I am inclined to pay the whole settlement figure as I am keen to put this all behind me and I don’t want to take any risks. Does anyone have any advice on what form of words I should use to respond? Is it wise to seek further assurance from the company that they will not take any further action?

I suggest you post the letter offering the settlement first, suitably redacted of course. We can’t easily advise a reply if we don’t know what you’re replying to.

 

[graylow48753]

Please see letter attached. I am considering responding something along the lines of ‘Thank you for your letter, I am very grateful for this opportunity to pay a settlement amount and am happy to do so as soon as possible. Could you please confirm payment of the below amount will settle this matter and GTR will take no further action.’