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I got caught short fairing from Vauxhall to Waterloo instead of my zone 3 station. A very stupid thing to do considering the minimal amount it saved me (not anymore) and I didnt know the consiquences. This is the first time I was caught, looking back I did it about 30 times but after getting caught and the anxiety of it safe to say I will never do it again.
My only other run in was once was caught on another train traveling to a station outside contactless I had tapped and honestly didnt know it wouldnt work at the other end, the inspector on the train let me buy a full price fair on the train but I can't remember if he took my details it wasn't an SWR train.
I got the TIR and it has my correct address but my email isn't written on it. The officer said I might be contacted by email and I am a bit worried they got my email wrong as I havent recieved anything in 3 weeks. I have checked my spam etc.
Could someone please let me know if SWR always send a letter by post first or is it sometimes by email?
Unlike many other operators, SWR are usually happy to converse back-and-forth by email. HOWEVER looking at other SWR cases on the forum most of them seem to have an initial postal letter. (To be honest I haven't looked thoroughly, but that's from what I remember.)
Three weeks is not very long when it comes to railway companies dealing with fare evasion. SWR have less of a backlog compared to other operators, but agin, it is perfectly likely to be months that we're talking about here. If you haven't heard anything in 4-5 months, come back here and members can suggest possible follow-up steps. In the meantime, let us know if you have any further questions.
I got caught short fairing from Vauxhall to Waterloo instead of my zone 3 station. A very stupid thing to do considering the minimal amount it saved me (not anymore) and I didnt know the consiquences. This is the first time I was caught, looking back I did it about 30 times but after getting caught and the anxiety of it safe to say I will never do it again.
My only other run in was once was caught on another train traveling to a station outside contactless I had tapped and honestly didnt know it wouldnt work at the other end, the inspector on the train let me buy a full price fair on the train but I can't remember if he took my details it wasn't an SWR train.
I got the TIR and it has my correct address but my email isn't written on it. The officer said I might be contacted by email and I am a bit worried they got my email wrong as I havent recieved anything in 3 weeks. I have checked my spam etc.
Could someone please let me know if SWR always send a letter by post first or is it sometimes by email?
Could easily be 6 to 8 weeks before they contact you. They will be investigating your purchase history for other occasions when you have done this as they know the time you were caught was unlikely to be the first time you did this.
Search some other threads for SWR cases on here to get a timeline idea.
Maybe just search’ Vauxhall’.
Does anyone please have recent advice on how long it took to recieve the first letter from SWR? It has now been 7 weeks, I live in a shared house, some people have moved in and out and Im worried the letter could have been missed by me and accidentally binned, unlikely but possible.
Does anyone please have recent advice on how long it took to recieve the first letter from SWR? It has now been 7 weeks, I live in a shared house, some people have moved in and out and Im worried the letter could have been missed by me and accidentally binned, unlikely but possible.
Hi, thanks you, I have been not so many with complete timeliness but will keep digging. I am worried that I was too open when stopped, I admitted everything, and was thanked by the officer. Do you think this will increase my chances of prosecution?
Here are some - it seems to vary which may relate to workload or the complexity of cases (if a lot of evasion discovered or admitted to I suspect they seek info from external on line retailers (esp Trainline) and that will take some time to get the data for them to study - so if you have done a lot of short faring they will certainly be checking this from what we see with SWR - tickets bought Vauxhall to Waterloo is an almost guarantee of it as far as they are concerned so they will almost certainly be seeking other data about you - this could take them a bit longer
Some other cases:
I was reported by SWR in January 2026 after travelling using a Railcard-discounted ticket without holding a valid Railcard. I received a Travel Irregularity Report at the time. Over four months later, I have now received an email from an SWR Investigator stating that they have identified...
www.railforums.co.uk
This one today is nearly 6 months (case similar to your perhaps?)
Hello all, In need of general support / information with the current situation I have put myself in! On Jan the 12th of this year I was stopped at Waterloo with an incorrect 16-17 railcard, when questioned I admitted to using the wrong railcard & the dude took my details down etc etc. Fast...
www.railforums.co.uk
This - stopped on 29 April - got letter 19 may (v quick!)
Hi all I have received a letter from SWR after its Travel Irregularity Report after an incident in April. The letter says "Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof." The context is here that I found a discounted oyster card at start...
I have recieved the letter below from SWR. I have already responded via email but I am wondering whether I need to still send the letter back with the information completed on the back? Or whether because I have already responded in an email I no longer need to do anything with the physical...
Hi. Urgent help pls My wife got caught short faring in Nov. Professional person , v sorry , no excuse blah blah. V embarrassing So SWR sent her a dump today of all journeys over 5 yrs We have whittled it down to 100 journeys where she short fared. The cost of these would be £1100 full price...
I am worried that I was too open when stopped, I admitted everything, and was thanked by the officer. Do you think this will increase my chances of prosecution?
Not really from what we usually see - the fact you admitted to stuff means that it could be argued you were co-operative, which in general terms is a pre-requisite to a strong chance of out of court settlement from what we see.
The increased chance of prosecution is most likely to be because people have not received / ignored a letter sent to them - not what they actually did
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Personally I'd probably wait a few more weeks until contacting them (if at all - so long as you are reasonably confident about your post some would argue it's rather in your interests not to contact them on the - probably slim - chance they might forget about you within 6 months)
BUT - if you do want to contact them I'd suggest something as per below - keep it minimal:
----------------------------
Prosecutions Department
SWR (We can find the correct e-mail / postal address for you off other threads)
Date:
Dear Sir/ Madam
I was stopped on x date at y location and questioned about the validity of my rail ticket.
I was given this ref number xxxxx [If you were given a ref number - otherwise delete this line]
I was advised by the member of staff who spoke to me that I would hear from you in due course. Since some time has gone by since that date I would be grateful if you could let me know if there is any further action related to this that I need to respond to.
Thank you for your help this far. I got the below via email on Wednesday last week (inside 6 months). Should be responding to this with an apology and request for an out of court settlement? Or is this just a check I gave them the correct email?
Dear xxxx,
Ref: xxxx
On xxxx May 2026, you presented ticket number xxxx at London Waterloo to a member of Revenue Protection. Upon questioning, it was established that you had purchased a Vauxhall to London Waterloo ticket when you claimed that your actual journey was between xxxx and London Waterloo. You were issued a Report for Prosecution, number xxxx.
Further investigation of your online account has highlighted other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.
Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you and initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to our case management team.
Please respond to this letter via email to: xxxx within 7 days quoting the reference number xxxxx in the subject field.
Yours sincerely,
What I am thinking to send is below:
Dear xxxx,
I am writing in response to your letter ref xxxx. I am very sorry I did not have the correct ticket and for my previous offences. I now understand how serious this matter is, the impact it has on operation of the rail network, and unfair consequences for other rail users. Since I was stopped I have always made sure to purchase the correct tickets and will ensure that I do so for my future rail journeys.
I am very worried about having a criminal record and would be very grateful if you would consider a resolution without legal proceedings. I will promptly pay the correct fairs and administration costs if there is the opportunity to.
Thank you for your help this far. I got the below via email on Wednesday last week (inside 6 months). Should be responding to this with an apology and request for an out of court settlement? Or is this just a check I gave them the correct email?
Dear xxxx,
Ref: xxxx
On xxxx May 2026, you presented ticket number xxxx at London Waterloo to a member of Revenue Protection. Upon questioning, it was established that you had purchased a Vauxhall to London Waterloo ticket when you claimed that your actual journey was between xxxx and London Waterloo. You were issued a Report for Prosecution, number xxxx.
Further investigation of your online account has highlighted other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.
Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you and initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to our case management team.
Please respond to this letter via email to: xxxx within 7 days quoting the reference number xxxxx in the subject field.
Yours sincerely,
What I am thinking to send is below:
Dear xxxx,
I am writing in response to your letter ref xxxx. I am very sorry I did not have the correct ticket and for my previous offences. I now understand how serious this matter is, the impact it has on operation of the rail network, and unfair consequences for other rail users. Since I was stopped I have always made sure to purchase the correct tickets and will ensure that I do so for my future rail journeys.
I am very worried about having a criminal record and would be very grateful if you would consider a resolution without legal proceedings. I will promptly pay the correct fairs and administration costs if there is the opportunity to.
Also I wouldn’t actively talk about ‘offences’ that you have committed in the way you do. Say eg ‘and for other occasions when my ticket may not have been correct’
It might be worth asking them for a list if such occasions. They usually would supply one. Eg you could make such a request ‘to check against your own records in the interests of cooperating with their investigation’ or some such wording.
Unless you think there is little point in asking for that.
Thank you for your advice. Ive updated the below if anyone else wants to chip in.
Dear xxxx,
I am writing in response to your letter ref xxxx. I am very sorry I did not have the correct ticket and for other occasions where my ticket was not correct. I now understand how serious this matter is, the impact it has on operation of the rail network, and unfair consequences for other rail users. Since I was stopped I have always made sure to purchase the correct tickets and will ensure that I do so for my future rail journeys.
I am very worried about having a criminal record and would be very grateful if you would consider a resolution without legal proceedings. I will cooperate with any investigation and promptly pay the correct fairs and administration costs if there is the opportunity to.
Yours sincerely
xxxx
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
I am writing in response to your letter ref xxxx. I am very sorry I did not have the correct ticket and for other occasions where my ticket was not correct. I now understand how serious this matter is, the impact it has on operation of the rail network, and unfair consequences for other rail users. Since I was stopped I have always made sure to purchase the correct tickets and will ensure that I do so for my future rail journeys.
I am very worried about having a criminal record and would be very grateful if you would consider a resolution without legal proceedings. I will cooperate with any investigation and promptly pay the correct fares and administration costs if there is the opportunity to.
I suspect they are not really looking for you to state an explanation / reason for the evasion in each entry (as in your motivation for not paying correct fare) - I imagine in reality they want you to state the detail of the station you actually boarded at so they can calculate the correct fare owed.
And I would guess if that station was near the home address they have for you they won't need any further explanation (but you could say eg 'Boarded at x, which is the station near my address').
But if on some occasions you started your journey from a different station (and want to advise them of this because it's genuinely the case and it was perhaps closer to London than your home station, lets say, with a lower fare), they probably want you to explain in very short detail why that is - for example 'I commenced my journey at x on this date which is the closest station to my parents address and I had been visiting them prior to taking the train to London'
In such an example you may wish to provide the parents address and also be mindful that they could potentially ask you for proof of that address etc, or even, perhaps in theory, ask for a corroborative statement, - so of course under no circumstances lie or make up things like that in order to reduce the sum they will ask for.
Basically I imagine that if you are telling them about travel that commenced (or ended if you short fared in both directions) anywhere else other than where you live they are going to want to see a plausible explanation for it.
If there are occasions where you can not recall what happened then you should probably state that.
It may be that your short faring was always for travel from / to the same local station in which case every entry you will make on their list will be the same.
Does this make sense in the context of the form you have to complete?
Yes thank you, you think they are looking for the journey itself to be explained rather then the reason for the incorrect ticket on that journey. I'll keep it to just responding with the correct journeys rather than any explanation for having the incorrect ticket.
Yes thank you, you think they are looking for the journey itself to be explained rather then the reason for the incorrect ticket on that journey. I'll keep it to just responding with the correct journeys rather than any explanation for having the incorrect ticket.
Yes, that's what I think they are looking for - based on advice I have seen given in other threads to people who have been asked to complete these sorts of spreadsheets from SWR in the past.
You could also send it back with a covering message that says along the lines of eg 'I have completed this to the best of my recollection of travel on the occasions concerned. If you need any further information please let me know and I will do my best to provide it if I can'.
