Thameslink SJPN - No prior contact received? - Expired railcard

[Brightoner96]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice on a Single Justice Procedure Notice I received today from Thameslink.

Basically, in October 2025 I took a train from Brighton to Gatwick and when they checked my ticket at the gate at Gatwick I realised my railcard was expired by a month. I was then pulled aside by the inspector and he took my details and everything and told me they would contact me about a fine.

I'm confused by the single justice procedure as I never received any letters, emails or any form of contact from Thameslink prior to this. Which is odd as I gave them my address in the moment.

My Questions:

1. Is it common for Thameslink to move straight to an SJPN without any prior letters?
2. Given that I didn't receive the chance to settle this early, what are the chances of Thameslink agreeing to an out-of-court settlement at this late stage?
3. Has anyone had success contacting their prosecutions department once the court is already involved?

I'm worried about a criminal record, looking for any advice or experience anyone has had. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[30907]

This has come up twice in the last couple of weeks. Skip to this longer thread:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...onths-later-what-do-i-do.300502/#post-7737062

 

[Brightoner96]

This has come up twice in the last couple of weeks. Skip to this longer thread:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...onths-later-what-do-i-do.300502/#post-7737062

Amazing stuff - thank you! Exactly the same issue with solutions, thanks again

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice on a Single Justice Procedure Notice I received today from Thameslink.

Basically, in October 2025 I took a train from Brighton to Gatwick and when they checked my ticket at the gate at Gatwick I realised my railcard was expired by a month. I was then pulled aside by the inspector and he took my details and everything and told me they would contact me about a fine.

I'm confused by the single justice procedure as I never received any letters, emails or any form of contact from Thameslink prior to this. Which is odd as I gave them my address in the moment.

My Questions:

1. Is it common for Thameslink to move straight to an SJPN without any prior letters?
2. Given that I didn't receive the chance to settle this early, what are the chances of Thameslink agreeing to an out-of-court settlement at this late stage?
3. Has anyone had success contacting their prosecutions department once the court is already involved?

I'm worried about a criminal record, looking for any advice or experience anyone has had. Thanks in advance for any help!

They are not obliged to send you any letters before this and we do see this happening when they look like they are running out of time to put the case to court. Unfortunately.

I can’t conveniently type it up here but I suggest urgently following the advice in this thread from a few days ago. But if you have any questions on what to do post them in This thread, along with your draft which you are going to need to post next day delivery by Friday afternoon and e mail too.

I hope this is clear

What’s the deadline to return court papers from the SJPN? Don’t return them for as long as possible as per advice in other thread.

Advice for SJPN - Byelaw 18(1)

Hi everyone, Back in October 2025, I was travelling from Cambridge (CBG) to London St. Pancras (STP), operated by Thameslink. Prior to the train journey I bought an Advance Single ticket going the same route for the 5pm train. But because of a schedule change and I was carrying a lot of...

www.railforums.co.uk

Answer to your question 3 is yes. But you need to work fast.

Obv in your case the context is different but you just need to say things assuming they are true and accurate. Do not under any circumstances lie about this.

- it was an oversight that your railcard had expired without you being aware
- you had no intention to evade paying the correct fare.

If you renewed your railcard after the incident let them know that (and quote the new railcard ref number).

Head here with any questions or your draft letter for checking

Good luck

 

[Brightoner96]

@WesternLancer massive thanks for the advice here. I'm following the guides you've given in the other threads.

My deadline is the 29th April so have some time for them to respond before sending a guilty plea.

My email was fairly similar to the others you helped out, however, I received an auto reply saying that they don't deal with these enquires via email, so I've sent them a handwritten note with the same message to the address found here.

Just want to say thanks again @WesternLancer , can see you've helped a massive amount of people on this forum with thorough responses and advice, doing lots of us a massive service .

Will (hopefully) update on here with their response (and my initial message if it's accepted), so any future visitors can get more of an understanding on this situation too.

 

[WesternLancer]

@WesternLancer massive thanks for the advice here. I'm following the guides you've given in the other threads.

My deadline is the 29th April so have some time for them to respond before sending a guilty plea.

OK - plot a timeline from that date backwards

Basically you need to post papers back to the court tracked postage on sat 25th April or the following Monday at the latest

If you have not heard from the railway by say 20 or 21 April I think you should send a polite reminder to Thameslink, enclosing a copy of what you have sent today

My email was fairly similar to the others you helped out, however, I received an auto reply saying that they don't deal with these enquires via email, so I've sent them a handwritten note with the same message to the address found here.

Yes, that is the normal auto reply - but they do sometimes act on the e-mail for things like this but you can't rely on it.

I can't quickly see a postal address on that link - but basically you need to send your response to

Prosecutions Department, Govia Thameslink Railway, Eastside Offices, Kings Cross Railway Station, London N1C 4AX.

Did you keep a copy of what you wrote by hand and sent? (presumably yes and it was just the same as what you e-mailed) - if it was to any other address I strongly suggest handwriting neatly another letter the same (with all the ref numbers on) and get it to a Post Office before about 11am Saturday (tomorrow) and post it Guaranteed Next day delivery tracked to this Kings Cross address

Monitor the tracking on line to see it is delivered correctly on Monday - keep a pdf of the tracking result from the Royal Mail link.

Just want to say thanks again @WesternLancer , can see you've helped a massive amount of people on this forum with thorough responses and advice, doing lots of us a massive service .

Thanks for those words - of course many others on here doing the same and my advice given is learned from them too

Will (hopefully) update on here with their response (and my initial message if it's accepted), so any future visitors can get more of an understanding on this situation too.

Thanks

Also - read the other linked threads and check you understand the idea behind pleading 'not guilty' on the court paperwork to seek an in person curt hearing - if you do not get a response from Thameslink/ GTR by the date at which you have to post the court papers back to the court.

If you are not clear in your mind about the reasons for doing that ask here - as it's vital you understand the reason for that and are happy with doing so. Obv a while to think about doing that yet.

 

[Brightoner96]

Good news! Apologies for the delayed response. So...

On the 20th April Monday 9am, I called the number you provided in the other thread @WesternLancer: 0204 566 9166, to which the person said they have recieved my email, but didn't clarify if my letter had been received. The person said they'll contact the person who is in charge of emails to have a look. I didn't receive any emails that day.

On the 21st April Tuesday 9am, I called them again, and the person said my case is being looked into by the legal team and they can't discuss anything over the phone. About 20 minutes after the call I then received an email from ThamesLink asking for an out-of-court settlement! (£146.50)

Happy days!

Just want to say thanks again for the help @WesternLancer, along with @z444z and @Puffing Devil from the other threads. Thanks again to all of you for massively helping out all the visitors to this forum. (and best of luck to @ebolo in the other thread)

Hopefully any future visitors that have the same situation come across this thread and can use this guidance.

 

[WesternLancer]

Good news! Apologies for the delayed response. So...

On the 20th April Monday 9am, I called the number you provided in the other thread @WesternLancer: 0204 566 9166, to which the person said they have recieved my email, but didn't clarify if my letter had been received. The person said they'll contact the person who is in charge of emails to have a look. I didn't receive any emails that day.

On the 21st April Tuesday 9am, I called them again, and the person said my case is being looked into by the legal team and they can't discuss anything over the phone. About 20 minutes after the call I then received an email from ThamesLink asking for an out-of-court settlement! (£146.50)

Happy days!

Just want to say thanks again for the help @WesternLancer, along with @z444z and @Puffing Devil from the other threads. Thanks again to all of you for massively helping out all the visitors to this forum. (and best of luck to @ebolo in the other thread)

Hopefully any future visitors that have the same situation come across this thread and can use this guidance.

OK - good news indeed and thanks for heading back with the update and useful info

I think there are some final steps you should now take to confirm / make sure that the court process has actually been stopped

- ie get written confirmation from GTR to confirm the court action has been withdrawn
- make sure the court know this

Some draft written stuff to do that which you could make use of is in this other thread, along with some other things for you to do to make sure this is all closed down as it should be

See - Post #23 here

Travelled without railcard, received GTR SJP a few months later. What do I do?

Good afternoon, I was caught travelling using a discounted ticket without the appropriate railcard. At the time I was stopped I claimed I could not provide my 26-30 railcard due some diffulty on my phone and was issued a witness statement with a request to provide the claimed railcard within...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Brightoner96]

Good news! Short and sweet from Thames link, I emailed them on the 2nd of May Saturday and they responded on the 5th of May Tuesday:

Good afternoon,

An email was sent to the court on the 28th April advising them to withdraw the case.


Regards,

GTR Prosecutions Team

Thank you again for the help here @WesternLancer !

 

[WesternLancer]

Good news! Short and sweet from Thames link, I emailed them on the 2nd of May Saturday and they responded on the 5th of May Tuesday:



Thank you again for the help here @WesternLancer !

Great.
I guess it might be worth getting that confirmed from the court to be completely safe. I assume that’s not too tricky to do.

Keep copy of that statement obviously.