GWR revenue protection question

[Azarenka1579]

Hi all,

Just going to be completed to the point and make no excuses as I have done other than making stupid decision!
Where I live does not have ticket barrier, so I got on train (GWR) and then brought a ticket for just 1 stop in order to leave at Reading
I have done this about 12 times in total over the last 6 months
Its absolutely pathetic as the "saving" is about £4 a day.....so in total about £50-60

Anyway today I got caught doing this and gave me name / address to a ticket officer on the train who told me he was reporting this to the revenue protection team
It was flagged because I quickly brought the right ticket on the train and machine was notified the ticket had just been purchased

I am now really worried as I asked what would happen, he said it was out of his hands and was sent to the relevant team
I have researched this online and it looks like its called "Short tripping"
Needless to say, I have learnt my lesson and will never be so stupid to do this again over something so trivial (£60ish and now so much worry / anxiety)

I am assuming they will be able to check this other types due to similar history on trainline app that my ticket was purchased on?

Please can anyone give me any advice on what is likely outcome and anything I can do in mean time

Thanks all!

 

[30907]

Please can anyone give me any advice on what is likely outcome and anything I can do in mean time

Briefly: GWR will contact you. They may (or may not) ask about previous short faring (the usual term, not that it matters!). If you engage with them they will almost certainly agree to an out-of-court settlement, but they will ask for the full fare for the journey or journeys plus an admin fee.

Meanwhile:
1. try and identify all the journeys, and the fares involved (look at BRFares.com).
2. when the letter eventually arrives, which may be some months, come back for advice.
3. make sure that any letter will reach you (eg if you change address)
4. start saving

 

[Azarenka1579]

Briefly: GWR will contact you. They may (or may not) ask about previous short faring (the usual term, not that it matters!). If you engage with them they will almost certainly agree to an out-of-court settlement, but they will ask for the full fare for the journey or journeys plus an admin fee.

Meanwhile:
1. try and identify all the journeys, and the fares involved (look at BRFares.com).
2. when the letter eventually arrives, which may be some months, come back for advice.
3. make sure that any letter will reach you (eg if you change address)
4. start saving

will I definitely be sent a letter and get a chance to respond - is there ever a risk they would just automatically go to court.

It is advisable not to contact them first, my plan was to email them to ensure the individual recorded my correct address, as I didn't have ID on me, I had to tell him my post code and door number and now worried that he wrote it incorrectly
Sorry but my anxiety is just spiralling to worse case scenario at the moment

 

[WesternLancer]

You may find it helpful to read the GWR policy that covers all this. See link below.

There is nothing to stop you writing to them to confirm your correct address. But that should be limited to just doing only that. If you want it checking before you send your proposed wording here for people to check. Obviously without your actual address included.

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/revenue-protection-policy/GWR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023-v2.pdf

 

[RPI]

I'm assuming Reading West? Others have given good advice, I think there is a perception amongst the general public that the railway doesn't know about these little fare evasion opportunities, detecting these kind of short offers are bread and butter for local Revenue Protection teams.

 

[MikeWh]

will I definitely be sent a letter and get a chance to respond - is there ever a risk they would just automatically go to court.

Unless there is a problem with your address they will write to you. In the unlikely event that the matter goes to court without you knowing, and the court then track you down, you make a statutory declaration that this is the first you've heard about the proceedings which resets things back to the beginning. You then communicate speedily with the train company and ought to be able to avoid it going back to court. If you need to make a statutory declaration then come back here for advice at the time, because there are a few pitfalls if you don't do it the right way.

 

[Azarenka1579]

Unless there is a problem with your address they will write to you. In the unlikely event that the matter goes to court without you knowing, and the court then track you down, you make a statutory declaration that this is the first you've heard about the proceedings which resets things back to the beginning. You then communicate speedily with the train company and ought to be able to avoid it going back to court. If you need to make a statutory declaration then come back here for advice at the time, because there are a few pitfalls if you don't do it the right way.

Thanks!

Is there any benefit of me reaching out to their email now to express how sorry I am, be honest and ask for out of court settlement?

I have seen that the guidance seems to be against this on here but I can’t live with the anxiety? (Didn’t sleep at all last night as worried about record)

 

[John R]

Thanks!

Is there any benefit of me reaching out to their email now to express how sorry I am, be honest and ask for out of court settlement?

I have seen that the guidance seems to be against this on here but I can’t live with the anxiety? (Didn’t sleep at all last night as worried about record)

No. You’ll effectively be trying to queue jump, and they will want to go through cases in order.

GWR have a policy of settling out of court if possible, so bear that in mind as you wait to be contacted.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks!

Is there any benefit of me reaching out to their email now to express how sorry I am, be honest and ask for out of court settlement?

I have seen that the guidance seems to be against this on here but I can’t live with the anxiety? (Didn’t sleep at all last night as worried about record)

Doing this may of course help with your anxiety but it won’t actually make any difference to progressing it.
But the chances of it going directly to court without you knowing about it are pretty much zero so long as you watch your post email and spam.

If it gets to 4 months from the incident and you’ve not heard come back here for our advice on action to consider taking.

 

[Azarenka1579]

Hi all,
I have gone back and auditing my trainline app

I have not had a full valid ticket for all of my journey for 13 return trips
The total difference in my ticket prices of what I paid vs what I should have is around £80 across all the trips

I am aware that this is a fairly small sum however will the fact that I have a history of this ~13 times count against me
The single anytime rate for one of these trips is £7.50 (so £15 return)

I can't stop worrying and panicking over this and am very concerned
Should I be instructing a solicitor at this point for assistance?

Thanks all,

 

[walkingsophie]

GWR almost always settle out of court even without a solicitor, so it is unlikely to be necessary.

In the out of court settlement, they will most likely ask for the full anytime fare for all of your journeys plus a low 3 digit admin fee, so make sure you have enough money saved for that.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all,
I have gone back and auditing my trainline app

I have not had a full valid ticket for all of my journey for 13 return trips
The total difference in my ticket prices of what I paid vs what I should have is around £80 across all the trips

I am aware that this is a fairly small sum however will the fact that I have a history of this ~13 times count against me
The single anytime rate for one of these trips is £7.50 (so £15 return)

I can't stop worrying and panicking over this and am very concerned
Should I be instructing a solicitor at this point for assistance?

Thanks all,

I don’t see any great point in instructing a solicitor before they have even contacted you. You have not yet been accused of anything.

 

[Azarenka1579]

GWR almost always settle out of court even without a solicitor, so it is unlikely to be necessary.

In the out of court settlement, they will most likely ask for the full anytime fare for all of your journeys plus a low 3 digit admin fee, so make sure you have enough money saved for that.

but if there is history of multiple times, won't they just take that straight to court?
Has there been any examples of where GWR are willing to settle by including more than 1 journey?

 

[WesternLancer]

I have not had a full valid ticket for all of my journey for 13 return trips
The total difference in my ticket prices of what I paid vs what I should have is around £80 across all the trips

I am aware that this is a fairly small sum however will the fact that I have a history of this ~13 times count against me
The single anytime rate for one of these trips is £7.50 (so £15 return)

They might not request / accept the difference - they may want full price for completely new tickets for the whole journey (thus can vary between different trains companies as to their approach so you should budget for the higher amount to be on the safe side)

so: £7.50 x 26 plus £150 admin

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Jun 2026 ==

but if there is history of multiple times, won't they just take that straight to court?

No - they have plenty of incentives to settle out of court - eg less work for them (don't have to prepare court papers etc) / don't have to pay the increased costs of taking a case to court / receive all the money paid in the settlement (if a case goes to court the fine goes to the court service, not the railway company), an out of court settlement all goes to the railway company as it's a private agreement between you and them.

Has there been any examples of where GWR are willing to settle by including more than 1 journey?

Many - search the forum. It's a regular outcome seen on here with GWR and indeed all the other railway companies (apart from TfL)

 

[Azarenka1579]

Does anyone know if i contact a solicitor, can they start the ball rolling before I receive letter and hopefully get a settlement just so I can put my mind at rest....

 

[RPI]

They might not request / accept the difference - they may want full price for completely new tickets for the whole journey (thus can vary between different trains companies as to their approach so you should budget for the higher amount to be on the safe side)

so: £7.50 x 26 plus £150 admin

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Jun 2026 ==


No - they have plenty of incentives to settle out of court - eg less work for them (don't have to prepare court papers etc) / don't have to pay the increased costs of taking a case to court / receive all the money paid in the settlement (if a case goes to court the fine goes to the court service, not the railway company), an out of court settlement all goes to the railway company as it's a private agreement between you and them.


Many - search the forum. It's a regular outcome seen on here with GWR and indeed all the other railway companies (apart from TfL)

They will offer credit for fares paid.

 

[Azarenka1579]

They will offer credit for fares paid.

Do you think there is a chance they will offer me an out of court settlement - I am just worried as I have done this more than once on trainline history
Such stupid error of judgment !

 

[SuspectUsual]

Do you think there is a chance they will offer me an out of court settlement - I am just worried as I have done this more than once on trainline history
Such stupid error of judgment !

Have a read of GWR's revenue protection policy - there's a link to it here ==> https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/penalties-and-enforcements

This bit might help reassure you a bit:

We’ll do our best to settle out of court.
Prosecution can have serious consequences on your personal and professional life. So, if you don’t pay your fare, we will do everything we can to avoid taking you to court.
We’ll probably send you an offer to settle out of court – usually asking you to pay an amount to cover your fare and our costs.

From what they say in their policy, and what we have seen in the past, if you cooperate with them, and answer their questions honestly and fully, they will almost certainly settle with you out of court

Fundamentally they want two things - their money back * and for you not to do it again

Obviously that means if you come to their attention a second time you might not be so lucky

* the amount of money can be debatable

 

[walkingsophie]

Do you think there is a chance they will offer me an out of court settlement - I am just worried as I have done this more than once on trainline history
Such stupid error of judgment !

GWR basically always settle out of court for cases like these if you are cooperative with them.

 

[WesternLancer]

They will offer credit for fares paid.

Thanks - this will be helpful to the OP (I suppose my general approach is to suggest people save to cover a worst case scenario settlement offer, then anything less is a bonus, but of course it's helpful to clarify this as yo have done).

 

[SuspectUsual]

Thanks - this will be helpful to the OP (I suppose my general approach is to suggest people save to cover a worst case scenario settlement offer, then anything less is a bonus, but of course it's helpful to clarify this as yo have done).

Perhaps @RPI can clarify - is this a policy, or is it based on what we've seen in a couple of recent similar cases also involving GWR?

 

[WesternLancer]

Perhaps @RPI can clarify - is this a policy, or is it based on what we've seen in a couple of recent similar cases also involving GWR?

FWIW I think we have seen it pretty reguallry with GWR cases wheer people have updated us, IIRC dating back over soem years.
Which suggests it may well be a policy - but if not it's probably fair to say it's a consistent approach.

Not all trains companies do this however, from what we see here.

 

[Azarenka1579]

Is there any benefit of reaching out to a solicitor who specialises in fare evasion and getting them to reach out to the train company on my behalf to try to come to an out of course settlement?
Not sure I can handle the anxiety of waiting for a letter to arrive

 

[AlterEgo]

Is there any benefit of reaching out to a solicitor who specialises in fare evasion and getting them to reach out to the train company on my behalf to try to come to an out of course settlement?
Not sure I can handle the anxiety of waiting for a letter to arrive

The way things are going with GWR it may take a couple of years to come by which time they'll have been nationalised. Keep your head down and monitor your post. They can't prosecute you after 6 months. It's not in your interests to reach out to them.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Is there any benefit of reaching out to a solicitor who specialises in fare evasion and getting them to reach out to the train company on my behalf to try to come to an out of course settlement?
Not sure I can handle the anxiety of waiting for a letter to arrive

This is essentially a matter of what matters most to you - the anxiety of waiting for GWR to contact you, or the cost of employing a solicitor. That's something that only you can judge, but essentially there isn't a pain-free way out of the position that you're in.

 

[Azarenka1579]

bit of a weird one
I got in contact with GWR to ask them to confirm my name and address as I was worried the revenue officer wrote my details down wrong (didn’t have ID) so had to verbally give details

They have replied today saying your name has not been found on our system, this usually takes a couple of days

This incident took place 2 weeks ago, bit worried now that my details have been taken incorrectly, not sure how my name could be taken wrong as it was copied from my internet banking (because I didn’t have ID)

What would next steps be, as I’m worried I could be prosecuted now if I never receive a letter to reply to

 

[WesternLancer]

bit of a weird one
I got in contact with GWR to ask them to confirm my name and address as I was worried the revenue officer wrote my details down wrong (didn’t have ID) so had to verbally give details

They have replied today saying your name has not been found on our system, this usually takes a couple of days

This incident took place 2 weeks ago, bit worried now that my details have been taken incorrectly, not sure how my name could be taken wrong as it was copied from my internet banking (because I didn’t have ID)

What would next steps be, as I’m worried I could be prosecuted now if I never receive a letter to reply to

How did you get in contact to ask them this?
Phone?
E mail?
Who responded to you?
Customer services?

Please give us a bit more information.

 

[Azarenka1579]

How did you get in contact to ask them this?
Phone?
E mail?
Who responded to you?
Customer services?

Please give us a bit more information.

Got in contact via email
GWRProsecutions@gwr.com

I was responded to by :
Prosecutions Administration Officer
Thanks,

 

[WesternLancer]

Got in contact via email
GWRProsecutions@gwr.com

I was responded to by :
Prosecutions Administration Officer
Thanks,

Ok. Thats good as if it was in writing from them I would think its authoritative.

Not sure where this leaves you however. Unless just that they’ve got a backlog of just placing cases on their systems.

I wonder if others here have any thoughts?

 

[AlterEgo]

OP was initially worried they didn't have the right address and now it turns out GWR don't have their correct name either. Perhaps the OP could try to remember again if they gave correct details.