Made a mess, preparing for intent to prosecute letter

[abave]

Hi Everyone a few weeks ago I got caught by a ticket controller for short ticketing and I made such a mess I think I made things a lot worse for myself, and wanted some advice

For context: I bought a ticket from brighton to Preston park, then saw they were checking tickets and immediately bought a train from hassocks to haywards heath.

My ticket was checked between preston park and hassocks and so the controller quickly noticed something didn’t add up. After I tried to save myself and failed miserably The controller asked what my final destination was and I said Farringdon. He then asked to see my train history and noticed a fairly long history of (43) train tickets between brighton and Preston park and no return tickets from London to brighton.

They also asked a few questions. I don't remember all of them but am sure they asked if I indented to evade (I didn't answer) and whether I had enough money to pay for the ticket (I said yes)

I now am expecting a letter with intent to prosecute and am wondering what is the best way to own up to this (my desire is to get a out of court settlement and just cry and pay). does anyone have suggestions?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi Everyone a few weeks ago I got caught by a ticket controller for short ticketing and I made such a mess I think I made things a lot worse for myself, and wanted some advice

For context: I bought a ticket from brighton to Preston park, then saw they were checking tickets and immediately bought a train from hassocks to haywards heath.

My ticket was checked between preston park and hassocks and so the controller quickly noticed something didn’t add up. After I tried to save myself and failed miserably The controller asked what my final destination was and I said Farringdon. He then asked to see my train history and noticed a fairly long history of (43) train tickets between brighton and Preston park and no return tickets from London to brighton.

They also asked a few questions. I don't remember all of them but am sure they asked if I indented to evade (I didn't answer) and whether I had enough money to pay for the ticket (I said yes)

I now am expecting a letter with intent to prosecute and am wondering what is the best way to own up to this (my desire is to get a out of court settlement and just cry and pay). does anyone have suggestions?

Welcome

The standard advice usually given on the forum will tell you what to expect and what is the best course of action for you to do to seek to avoid being prosecuted in the magistrates court. I have copied it below. You can't do much until you hear from them but you could rigorously check your purchasing history for things they will find suspicious - which by the look of it is quite a few things...and save that money up

The only other thing you could do now is to actively do something that will help persuade them you have changed your ways - if it stacks up to do so buy a season ticket for your correct journey for example - that's the sort of thing you can then say tot hem you have done after this incident. They don't really want to prosecute you - they want to
a) get the money you should have paid in the first place
b) stop you doing this any more



Firstly, you committed a criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and railway companies 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 the railway company will write to you. The letter will go to the address that you gave them / on any of your ID they checked so you need to be able to access hard copy post at that address as they often send things that way (but also check e-mail and spam). It is extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have a limited time to do so (often 14 days from the date on their communication).

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 and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare(s) and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter

The railway 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 tickets that were not valid (eg railcard discounted tickets when you did not have a valid railcard, or tickets for only part of the journey, or tickets bought after boarding the train you travelled on ) they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement offer. Depending on how many journeys you've made over the period concerned 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.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@abave. Welcome to the forum. My advice would be to start saving. An Anytime Day Single from Brighton (or Preston Park) to Farringdon (= London Thameslink) is £31.80. Over forty separate occasions of similar short-faring and you're looking at well over a grand's worth of incorrectly paid / underpaid fares. More on top, once the return journey is factored in. Plus there's the admin fee that @WesternLancer has already mentioned. Good luck sorting!

 

[z444z]

Good advice above - come back to us when they contact you, or in 5-6 months if they haven’t so we can help you figure out what might be going on.

GTR tend to take a few months to get in touch so you have a bit of time to save but it would be sensible to aim to have the funds ready within 2 months I’d say.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Hello @abave

In addition to the good advice offered in these above posts, I recommend you dedicate some time to go back through all of your digital ticket-buying history and make a list of each and every instance where you did not buy a valid ticket for your entire journey.

For each and every journey, use GTRs website / app (or third-party app), to calculate the full Anytime Single standard fare. It will give you an indication of how much GTR might seek to recover from you (plus GTR's standard administration costs)

 

[Swedenorer]

@abave. Welcome to the forum. My advice would be to start saving. An Anytime Day Single from Brighton (or Preston Park) to Farringdon (= London Thameslink) is £31.80. Over forty separate occasions of similar short-faring and you're looking at well over a grand's worth of incorrectly paid / underpaid fares. More on top, once the return journey is factored in. Plus there's the admin fee that @WesternLancer has already mentioned. Good luck sorting!

I make that possibly not far shy of £3000 in fares alone if they assume unpaid return journeys for which no payment of any kind shows so what Sun Chariot advises is dead right the OP has to do an honest trawl of any history to get some idea of what they might come back with. (Mind you if its any comfort that's only about twice what it cost to have a new clutch fitted this week.)

 

[z444z]

I make that possibly not far shy of £3000 in fares alone

£2734.80 assuming the OP’s 43 number was return journeys.

if they assume unpaid return journeys for which no payment of any kind shows

GTR are unlikely to take any fares paid into account.

 

[choochoo100]

If it was £3k worth of fare evasion, would GTR generally still settle out of court? Or is this high enough to go straight to court? Also any update on this OP?

 

[SECR 65]

If it was £3k worth of fare evasion, would GTR generally still settle out of court? Or is this high enough to go straight to court? Also any update on this OP?

Hi there,

We would ask you to start a new thread if you'd like advice, as it helps keep everything organised.

We're unlikely to hear from the OP on here now given the length of time it has been since the thread was last posted.

There are lots of other GTR threads on the forum, so it's worth looking at those.

In answer to your question, yes, GTR would still normally settle even with a large amount of fare evasion e.g. £3000 worth.

We'll be happy to give more details on a thread of your own - I can try to (but I don't have much time this week) but there are loads of helpful people on here.