Help/advice on lack of replies from gwr

[ieu4n]

Hi everyone,

Basically I got done for not having a rail card. I never get trains and just quickly booked the ticket on the way to the station. turns out I didn’t take my railcard off the Trainline app as it had expired and the ~£4 I saved on that ticket is now going to cost me >£100 in fines.

Once I got the email from gwr, I read over it and there were some things I was confused about so I was emailing them back and forth with a couple questions of how they came up with the prices.

Most of it made sense apart from they charged me with ‘two anytime day singles’ when I bought an open return (only the return on an open return is anytime and the outbound is at a fixed time) so I emailed asking where they got this from.

Now all of a sudden they haven’t been replying, I have sent follow up emails just asking for a reply and I have still heard nothing.

The issue is that when I checked for a reply about an hour ago (still nothing), I realised the initial smaller ‘settlement fee’ deadline has passed.

Now I’m a bit worried I’m going to get slapped with a bigger fine which I don’t really think is fair, but I also want to get an answer on why they charged me what they charged me.

Any advice on what I should do would be great, as I don’t fancy going to court because I don’t think it’s fair that I should pay the extra ‘admin fee’

Thanks everyone

 

[z444z]

We need more information. Please look at the pinned post in this section of the forum.

Most importantly when did this happen?

 

[ieu4n]

Hi everyone,

Basically I got done for not having a rail card. I never get trains and just quickly booked the ticket on the way to the station. turns out I didn’t take my railcard off the Trainline app as it had expired and the ~£4 I saved on that ticket is now going to cost me >£100 in fines lol.

Once I got the email from gwr, I read over it and there were some things I was confused about so I was emailing them back and forth with a couple questions of how they came up with the prices. Most of it made sense apart from they charged me with ‘two anytime day singles’ when I bought an open return (only the return on an open return is anytime and the outbound is at a fixed time) so I emailed asking where they got this from. Now all of a sudden they haven’t been replying, I have sent follow up emails just asking for a reply and I have still heard nothing.

The issue is that when I checked for a reply about an hour ago (still nothing), I realised the initial smaller ‘settlement fee’ deadline has passed. Now I’m a bit worried I’m going to get slapped with a bigger fine which I don’t really think is fair, but I also want to get an answer on why they charged me what they charged me.

Any advice on what I should do navy would be great as I don’t fancy going to court because I don’t think it’s fair that I should pay the extra ‘admin fee’

Thanks everyone

Adding to the above

The journey was Newport (south wales) to Cheltenham spa on 11/03/2026

Email states ‘MG11 intentional offence’

I am willing to pay the initial admin fee, then willing to pay the additional fees if they are justified (hence the one part about two anytime day singles I am confused about)

Let me know if there is anything else needed, thanks

 

[z444z]

I think it would be really helpful to see all of the correspondence that’s happened so far. Redact any personal details though.

 

[ieu4n]

I think it would be really helpful to see all of the correspondence that’s happened so far. Redact any personal details though.

i have tried to add them all in chronological order to make it easier.

 

[WesternLancer]

i have tried to add them all in chronological order to make it easier. View attachment 202148View attachment 202149View attachment 202150View attachment 202151View attachment 202152View attachment 202155View attachment 202156

You’re not in a position to negotiate with them over this they are essentially offering you an out of court settlement. If you don’t pay the sum they are asking they can escalate this to a criminal prosecution if they wish in the magistrates court.

That would mean a fine from the court as punishment for the offer travel without a valid ticket, and a criminal record.

This isn’t like a penalty fare (as per the signs you see at stations for £100) and they would charge an Anytime single fare for each way.

 

[Darandio]

You’re not in a position to negotiate with them over this they are essentially offering you an out of court settlement. If you don’t pay the sum they are asking they can escalate this to a criminal prosecution if they wish in the magistrates court.

Coupled with the fact that in arguing back and forth it has resulted in the deadline now being passed with another £90 being added to the total due to the administration fee rising from £110 to £200.

 

[ieu4n]

You’re not in a position to negotiate with them over this they are essentially offering you an out of court settlement. If you don’t pay the sum they are asking they can escalate this to a criminal prosecution if they wish in the magistrates court.

That would mean a fine from the court as punishment for the offer travel without a valid ticket, and a criminal record.

This isn’t like a penalty fare (as per the signs you see at stations for £100) and they would charge an Anytime single fare for each way.

Oh okay, do you know if I’m still going to be able to pay the initial offer. Or will they still come asking for the £100 on top since that date had passed?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Apr 2026 ==

Essentially all I’m hoping now is do I have a leg to stand on regarding the initial settlement offer as I was attempting to get in contact.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Apr 2026 ==

Coupled with the fact that in arguing back and forth it has resulted in the deadline now being passed with another £90 being added to the total due to the administration fee rising from £110 to £200.

Yeah, I just followed the link to where I would pay and it’s asking for the ~£229. Have I got any chance in being able contact them in order to pay the initial ~£139?

 

[z444z]

Thanks for the screenshots. What they’re charging you is standard and you aren’t in a position to negotiate.

I would suggest replying to their email apologising for travelling without a valid ticket, thanking them for the information they’ve provided and the offer to settle the matter out of court but are wondering if the £139 amount might still be available, as the delay was simply due to the need to ask clarifying questions and the waiting for them to be responded to (careful how you phrase this as you don’t want to come across as blaming them).

I do think there’s a chance, but prepare yourself mentally and financially for the answer to be that the £229 is due, in which case you just need to pay it imo.

 

[ieu4n]

Thanks for the screenshots. What they’re charging you is standard and you aren’t in a position to negotiate.

I would suggest replying to their email apologising for travelling without a valid ticket, thanking them for the information they’ve provided and the offer to settle the matter out of court but are wondering if the £139 amount might still be available, as the delay was simply due to the need to ask clarifying questions and the waiting for them to be responded to (careful how you phrase this as you don’t want to come across as blaming them).

I do think there’s a chance, but prepare yourself mentally and financially for the answer to be that the £229 is due, in which case you just need to pay it imo.

Okay, thankyou

 

[z444z]

Might be a good idea to run your response past us before sending it to GWR.

Also do you know if there’s a deadline to pay this higher amount? Really need to avoid delaying much further or you might find a court summons arrives in the post.

 

[ieu4n]

It just says this in the initial email

‘
What could happen after 21 days:

Please be aware that if your payment has not been received by 02/04/2026, then our administration fee will increase to £200.00on top of the outstanding fare.



If your case is not resolved with us, we may arrange for a court summons to be sent to you. This could have a significant effect on your personal and professional life, which is why we are keen to settle with you before it comes to that.’

Appreciate that also, I will write it up now and attach it below

 

[z444z]

Honestly I wouldn’t wait any later than Monday evening for a reply before paying the full amount. Depending on your appetite for risk and analysis of risk/reward here it may even be best to just pay the full amount now. This could get a whole lot trickier and more expensive if court proceedings begin, and you may or may not be able to avoid a conviction but if you do it’ll almost certainly cost even more than this £229.

 

[ieu4n]

Might be a good idea to run your response past us before sending it to GWR.

Also do you know if there’s a deadline to pay this higher amount? Really need to avoid delaying much further or you might find a court summons arrives in the post.

‘Hi,

Going along with the above email, I was confused as to where the ‘any time day single’ pricing for both journeys came from.

I can imagine you are very busy and I was not trying to be a pest in any way so I attempt to do some of my own research. In doing so I found a forum where I was able to find answers as to why that price was set.

I hope that, also seeing that I have not argued any of the reasoning you had given to me questions/queries, you were able to see that it was from a query/confusion standpoint.

Given that, I would firstly like to apologise for being a ‘time waster’ of a sort, that was not my intention.

During the emails back and forth, the deadline for the initial settlement fee has passed and when I attempted to pay the fine earlier today, it was at the higher settlement fee of £229.10.

I was wondering whether it would be a possibility that I could still pay the initial settlement fee of £139.10? If so, that would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks, ‘

How is that?

 

[ieu4n]

update, I got a reply yesterday evening. They mentioned what was mentioned above in the thread how the prices are always going to be set like that (They were replying to more than one email since quite a while had passed). But they said that they can offer me the initial reduced fee, which was a pretty pleasant surprise. Thanks for the help prior to this everyone