Second offence Greater Anglia - Roydon to Harlow

[131411deletw]

Hello, I am looking for advice on a Greater Anglia revenue protection case. I was travelling from Roydon to Harlow Town on my day off. I did not buy a ticket before boarding. When I arrived at Harlow, I saw ticket officers at the exit barrier. I quickly bought a ticket online on my phone before reaching them. The officers stopped me, checked my ticket, and saw the digital timestamp showed I bought it just minutes prior at the station.

I gave them my honest details. However, this is my second time being stopped. My first offence was in August 2025, where I settled out of court for £175.
Greater Anglia has suspended my details on their system. They have also contacted my workplace. I do not actually have a company travel card or benefit, but my employer has a corporate scheme with them. When I call Greater Anglia, the agents tell me they are waiting for a manager's decision. I have not received a formal letter in the post yet.
What should I expect next, and how should I handle both the railway and my workplace? Thank you.

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== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jul 2026 ==

UPDATE: I called IRCAS (Arkas) and they confirmed they have my details on file. The phone agent told me it will 'most likely be a penalty fine', but the Greater Anglia system still shows my name as suspended pending a manager's decision

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[Kite159]

It won't be a penalty fare as those can only be issued at the time and not retrospectively

 

[SECR 65]

Being second time around, you are more likely to be prosecuted, I'm afraid to say. You could try searching the forum for GA cases to see if you can find any relevant ones.

Do you regularly travel without a ticket? They are almost certain to trawl through your ticket purchase history. I don't know how it works if you haven't purchased tickets at all!

Second time around they will have much less reason to believe you have learnt your lesson. It could be worth seeking legal advice; this would come at a cost. We can provide a list of firms who users on the forum have previously used.

What happened on your first offence last year? What sort of offence was committed? Ticket purchased after boarding? Short fare? etc

 

[SuspectUsual]

They are almost certain to trawl through your ticket purchase history. I don't know how it works if you haven't purchased tickets at all!

If there’s no ticket at all then there’s nothing that can be found. I suppose for historic offences no ticket is better than the wrong ticket if you didn’t get caught at the time

 

[Kite159]

If there’s no ticket at all then there’s nothing that can be found. I suppose for historic offences no ticket is better than the wrong ticket if you didn’t get caught at the time

I guess it will depend how many other tickets from Roydon to Harlow Town are on the account where they were purchased a minute before exiting the station

 

[Fredtheshred]

The workplace contact may be more concerning, unless I have misunderstood?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello, I am looking for advice on a Greater Anglia revenue protection case. I was travelling from Roydon to Harlow Town on my day off. I did not buy a ticket before boarding. When I arrived at Harlow, I saw ticket officers at the exit barrier. I quickly bought a ticket online on my phone before reaching them. The officers stopped me, checked my ticket, and saw the digital timestamp showed I bought it just minutes prior at the station.
I gave them my honest details. However, this is my second time being stopped. My first offence was in August 2025, where I settled out of court for £175.
Greater Anglia has suspended my details on their system. They have also contacted my workplace. I do not actually have a company travel card or benefit, but my employer has a corporate scheme with them. When I call Greater Anglia, the agents tell me they are waiting for a manager's decision. I have not received a formal letter in the post yet.
What should I expect next, and how should I handle both the railway and my workplace? Thank you.

---

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jul 2026 ==

UPDATE: I called IRCAS (Arkas) and they confirmed they have my details on file. The phone agent told me it will 'most likely be a penalty fine', but the Greater Anglia system still shows my name as suspended pending a manager's decision

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Do you know why they have contacted your employer and what they are asking your employer to do?

 

[AlterEgo]

Unless your home address is in Roydon they're not likely to believe you were travelling only one stop. Roydon to Harlow Town is a classic.

 

[Swedenorer]

Unless your home address is in Roydon they're not likely to believe you were travelling only one stop. Roydon to Harlow Town is a classic.

That's right - when will some people realise that they have seen it all before? They might just prosecute you for this one offence but I fear they'll trawl whatever data they can first in order to offer a settlement where they get all the profit. But I'm with D1027 here - what possible reason, or indeed right, could they have for contacting your workplace. Please elucidate.

 

[WesternLancer]

That's right - when will some people realise that they have seen it all before? They might just prosecute you for this one offence but I fear they'll trawl whatever data they can first in order to offer a settlement where they get all the profit. But I'm with D1027 here - what possible reason, or indeed right, could they have for contacting your workplace. Please elucidate.

Of course Greater Anglia are at the forefront of trawling data records of suspicious tickets even when they have not stopped anyone. So they will almost certainly do it when they’ve actually caught someone.

I’d still think there’s a chance of a Settlement but the op is sailing close to the wind having been caught before for some sort of infringement.

 

[Haywain]

Greater Anglia has suspended my details on their system.

What do you mean by this? Which 'system'?

They have also contacted my workplace. I do not actually have a company travel card or benefit, but my employer has a corporate scheme with them.

Why would they contact your workplace - are you working for a rail company or a company that supplies people or services to Greater Anglia?

What should I expect next, and how should I handle both the railway and my workplace?

Without a better understanding of how your workplace is involved it's difficult to say. However, you need to wait to hear from GA.

 

[DarloRich]

Why would they contact your workplace -

I THINK Greater Anglia administer several corporate season ticket schemes. It was something Abellio did for a while.

 

[Haywain]

I THINK Greater Anglia administer several corporate season ticket schemes. It was something Abellio did for a while.

Unless those schemes require the business to be liable for the fare dodging of their employees, that doesn’t explain why the business would be contacted.

 

[131411deletw]

Thank you all for the replies. To give you the complete picture, here are all the specific details regarding my history, the workplace link, the journey, and the exact timeline:

I live in Harlow, but my employer has a corporate travel scheme with Greater Anglia. I regularly buy 3-month corporate season tickets through this scheme to commute to work. Greater Anglia cross-referenced my personal details with their corporate season ticket database, which is why my corporate profile/account is now suspended and they contacted my employer.

I know Greater Anglia will closely scrutinise the gap in my ticket history, but there is a clear reason for it:

• My previous 3-month corporate ticket expired on 22nd June.
• I did not renew it because I went abroad on holiday right after.
• I returned to the UK on 2nd July.
• I was caught on this specific trip on 7th July (which was my day off).
  If they trawl my data, they will not find daily commuting journeys between June 22nd and July 2nd because I was physically out of the country.

On the day I was caught (7th July), I was visiting a friend in Roydon. My friend had picked me up by car from Harlow the day before. I was simply taking the train back home from Roydon to Harlow Town on my day off.

My first offence last year was the exact same issue. I bought a ticket online on my phone just as I was arriving at the station and seeing inspectors. I paid a £175 out-of-court settlement and had genuinely not done it again until this incident.

If Greater Anglia looks back through my purchase history on the corporate scheme, they will see that I regularly bought 3-month corporate season tickets for the Stansted Airport to Bishop's Stortford route, rather than Harlow or Roydon.Because these tickets were checked manually by gate staff at Harlow rather than scanned electronically, I am incredibly worried about what happens next.If their back-office audit flags this pattern alongside my recent incident on 7th July, how will Greater Anglia calculate the total amount owed? Is an out-of-court settlement still a realistic possibility for an escalation of this scale, or will this proceed directly to a criminal prosecution summons?

I called IRCAS (Arkas) and they confirmed they have my details on file. The phone agent told me it will "most likely be a penalty fine," but the Greater Anglia system still shows my name as suspended pending a manager's decision, and I have not received a formal letter in the post yet.
Given this specific timeline showing I was away on holiday for most of the ticket gap, what are my realistic chances of securing a second out-of-court administrative settlement? How should I handle my workplace in the meantime? Thank you all.

 

[AlterEgo]

If Greater Anglia looks back through my purchase history on the corporate scheme, they will see that I regularly bought 3-month corporate season tickets for the Stansted Airport to Bishop's Stortford route, rather than Harlow or Roydon.Because these tickets were checked manually by gate staff at Harlow rather than scanned electronically, I am incredibly worried about what happens next.

I'm confused. Why would your season ticket between Bishop's Stortford and Stansted be checked manually at Harlow?

Do you mean checked manually at Bishop's Stortford? Why would a gateline assistant at Harlow (further away from Stansted than Bishop's Stortford) be manually checking your season ticket and allowing you access when it isn't valid from Harlow?

Let's just cut to the chase. Does your season ticket cover your full commute into work, yes or no?

How should I handle my workplace in the meantime? Thank you all.

Are you in a union? Have you checked your contract of employment? Has your employer contacted you about the matter?

 

[Swedenorer]

I called IRCAS (Arkas) and they confirmed they have my details on file. The phone agent told me it will "most likely be a penalty fine," but the Greater Anglia system still shows my name as suspended pending a manager's decision, and I have not received a formal letter in the post yet.
Given this specific timeline showing I was away on holiday for most of the ticket gap, what are my realistic chances of securing a second out-of-court administrative settlement? How should I handle my workplace in the meantime? Thank you all.

It will not be a PF. I'd say reading between the lines that you'd be lucky to be simply prosecuted for this one offence.

If you live in Harlow and have been using a Season that does not cover that station as mentioned above then you are in trouble.

You must tell us what the facts are.

You asked what a settlement might be. It's invariably based on the number of anytime singles they think you have avoided. No credit is given for any fares paid Let's, purely as an example you understand, take over travelling on a three month season where the anytime single is 7.60. A season is valid for seven days a week so call it 3x28x2x£7.60 £1276 plus say a £150 admin fee. (Last time you had to pay them the equivalent of 60 Roydon Harlow singles to make it go away. It won't be that cheap this time whatever happens.)

But that it seems to me might be the least of your worries.

 

[WesternLancer]

Op could consider getting a rail fares evasion solicitor to help resolve this if it would negatively impact on their employment.
Tho the fact employer may already know might not help in that regard.
Certainly would be sensible to seek union advice at work. If a member.