Cross country fraud department contacted me

[joie266]

I am sorry for this long post but please bear with me as I desperately need your help and guidance.

On 3rd June I travelled from Basingstoke to Manchester Piccadilly via cross country. My ticket was checked and I was told that I bought the ticket on wrong railcard (26-30 railcard). I had already bought a network railcard before expiry of my 26-30 railcard. My mistake was that I didn’t know that I had to switch the railcard while buying the tickets. I was a frequent traveller on SWR and realized that by mistake I have been buying the tickets on the wrong railcard (26-30 railcard) for the past 7 months. I have only travelled once before on Cross Country but It was on a valid railcard.

Now I have received an email from Cross Country fraud department which is as follows :



“On 3rd June 2026 you were spoken to by a member of the Revenue Protection Team employed by CrossCountry Trains, in relation to a contravention of the Railway Regulations.

In order for us to be able to look into the matter further, we would request that you send a copy of your identification, along with evidence of any currently valid and all previously purchased railcards to assist us in this matter.


* Please send any documentation to us with the case reference shown at the top of this letter.
* You may send requested documents via post or email with the details at the bottom of this letter.
* Please send the requested documents within 7 days from the date of this letter”.

I am worried that I have not been asked to tell my side of the event. I am very anxious as I want to avoid any criminal record and want to settle the matter out of court. Please help me how should I respond to this email?

 

[MotCO]

You say that your ticket was checked and they noted that you did not have the correct railcard. Did they take your details, or give you any paperwork? Did they allow you to continue your journey with no other comment?
Do not contact them until you receive further advice from this forum.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Unfortunately, having 26-30 Railcard discount option applied to your tickets, instead of Network Railcard, means that your travel for those seven months was with invalid tickets.

However...

You mentioned your Network Railcard validity started shortly before your 26-30 Railcard validity ended. Do you have digital or email evidence of both cards? That is a key info to provide with your first response to XC. Is your Network Railcard still valid?

The letter you received asks you about 3-June's ticket check. You are not obliged, at this stage, to tell of any others at all. So keep your first response focused solely upon that 3-June incident; and evidence your Railcards - past and present - to help corroborate your explanation.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is a Network Railcard (if that's what's now held?) valid for the entirety of a journey from Basingstoke to Manchester Piccadilly?

 

[joie266]

You say that your ticket was checked and they noted that you did not have the correct railcard. Did they take your details, or give you any paperwork? Did they allow you to continue your journey with no other comment?
Do not contact them until you receive further advice from this forum.

Yes, he took my details, my valid ID, took photos of both my valid and expired rail cards and issued me a TIR.
He also mentioned that you will receive a letter in 2 weeks time

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2026 ==

Unfortunately, having 26-30 Railcard discount option applied to your tickets, instead of Network Railcard, means that your travel for those seven months was with invalid tickets.

However...

You mentioned your Network Railcard validity started shortly before your 26-30 Railcard validity ended. Do you have digital or email evidence of both cards? That is a key info to provide with your first response to XC. Is your Network Railcard still valid?

The letter you received asks you about 3-June's ticket check. You are not obliged, at this stage, to tell of any others at all. So keep your first response focused solely upon that 3-June incident; and evidence your Railcards - past and present - to help corroborate your explanation.

Yes I still have the valid network card, I have it on my app, but I only have screenshot of the expired rail cards, should I share just these Photos?
Problem is they have not asked for my side of events! Should I still explain my side and request for an out of court settlement? My confusion is that they are asking for this information for further investigation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2026 ==

Yes, he took my details, my valid ID, took photos of both my valid and expired rail cards and issued me a TIR.
He also mentioned that you will receive a letter in 2 weeks time

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2026 ==


Yes I still have the valid network card, I have it on my app, but I only have screenshot of the expired rail cards, should I share just these Photos?
Problem is they have not asked for my side of events! Should I still explain my side and request for an out of court settlement? My confusion is that they are asking for this information for further investigation.

Is a Network Railcard (if that's what's now held?) valid for the entirety of a journey from Basingstoke to Manchester Piccadilly?

Is a Network Railcard (if that's what's now held?) valid for the entirety of a journey from Basingstoke to Manchester Piccadilly?

No, unfortunately it is not valid for the entirety of the journey, only half of it , and I was not aware and did not buy separate tickets

 

[MotCO]

Did the rail company suffer any financial loss from the OP selecting the wrong railcard discount? As far as I can tell, both offer 1/3rd off fares.

Edit: I notice that the answer just given in the response above answers my question.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Did the rail company suffer any financial loss from the OP selecting the wrong railcard discount? As far as I can tell, both offer 1/3rd off fares.

Seems the OP was able to purchase an inappropriately discounted ticket by claiming to hold a valid, in date, 26-30 railcard (not held and/or expired). Such discount wouldn't have been possible or indeed offered on a through Basingstoke to Manchester Piccadilly ticket with a Network Railcard.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Seems the OP was able to purchase an inappropriately discounted ticket by claiming to hold a valid, in date, 26-30 railcard (not held and/or expired).

I don't think the issue has yet been raised by Cross Country, but if normally journeys took place in the SWR area, the 26-30 card and the Network Railcard would usually give the same discounts.

Were the TOCs instructed not to pursue cases where the correct fare was paid but an incorrect railcard was quoted. The point being that there's no loss to the railway.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Thanks @joie266 for the additional information.

3-June travel:
You do need to be completely honest and transparent in your reply. Train Companies know genuine one-offs from the sustained fare-avoidance.
Your recent post suggests you knew you'd not be able to get a Network Rail discount for your entire journey. Is that true?
As your Network Railcard does not entitle you to a discount for journey all the way to Manchester, XC will likely want to know why you applied Railcard discount to your ticket purchase (i.e. you cannot claim you picked the wrong menu-option).
So, my advice to you changes a little bit...

Your reply focuses on admitting you did not have a valid ticket for your journey, as it was a ticket requiring valid 26-30 Railcard ;which you do not have but have previously held.

At this point, don't send the screenshots or other evidence of your current and previous railcards. My gut-feel is XC, on seeing your Network Railcard, will get curious whether you've bought other discounted tickets for journeys outside the Network Railcard boundary.

XC might decide to investigate your digital ticket-buying history; so you will need to await their next correspondence to know if that is the case, or whether they are only pursuing the 3-June journey.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2026 ==

I don't think the issue has yet been raised by Cross Country, but if normally journeys took place in the SWR area, the 26-30 card and the Network Railcard would usually give the same discounts.

The journey destination using that discounted ticket, was Manchester Piccadilly

 

[joie266]

Thanks @joie266 for the additional information.

3-June travel:
You do need to be completely honest and transparent in your reply. Train Companies know genuine one-offs from the sustisned fare-avoidance.
Your recent post suggests you knew you'd not be able to get a Network Rail discount for your entire journey. Is that true?
As your Network Railcard does not entitle you to a discount for journey all the way to Manchester, XC will likely want to know why you applied Railcard discount to your ticket purchase (i.e. you cannot claim you picked the wrong menu-option).
So, my advice to you changes a little bit...

Your reply focuses on admitting you did not have a valid ticket for your journey, as it was a ticket requiring valid 26-30 Railcard ;which you do not have but have previously held.

At this point, don't send the screenshots or other evidence of your current and previous railcards. My gut-feel is XC, on seeing your Network Railcard, will get curious whether you've bought other discounted tickets for journeys outside the Network Railcard boundary.

XC might decide to investigate your digital ticket-buying history; so you will need to await their next correspondence to know if that is the case, or whether they are only pursuing the 3-June journey.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jul 2026 ==


The journey destination using that discounted ticket, was Manchester Piccadilly

Thank you, but how should I respond then? I did not know about the discount on network card does, my bad, but it was a genuine mistake which I realised
later, at this point how should I respond to them?
Should I explain myself or just send the documents they have asked first?

 

[MotCO]

At this point, don't send the screenshots or other evidence of your current and previous railcards. My gut-feel is XC, on seeing your Network Railcard, will get curious whether you've bought other discounted tickets for journeys outside the Network Railcard boundary.

It may be too late for that - the inspector, according to the OP, took pictures of both the Network and 26-30 Railcards.

 

[Iggy12a]

I don't think the issue has yet been raised by Cross Country, but if normally journeys took place in the SWR area, the 26-30 card and the Network Railcard would usually give the same discounts.

Were the TOCs instructed not to pursue cases where the correct fare was paid but an incorrect railcard was quoted. The point being that there's no loss to the railway.

It would very much depend on the actual journeys and the times of those journeys. The 26-30 Railcard has a minimum fare in peak hours; the Network Railcard does not allow travel before 10am on a weekday, and after that a £13 minimum fare applies.

 

[Hadders]

The 26-30 Railcard has a minimum fare in peak hours; the Network Railcard does not allow travel before 10am on a weekday, and after that a £13 minimum fare applies.

Just to confirm that a Network Railcard cannot be used on a Basingstoke to Manchester ticket, as a Network Railcard is only valid in the Network Railcard area (mainly southeast England).

If you used a combination of tickets the. It would be valid on tickets wholly within the Network Railcard area as long as the £13 minimum discounted fare and no travel before 20am on weekday restrictions were observed.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

If you used a combination of tickets the. It would be valid on tickets wholly within the Network Railcard area as long as the £13 minimum discounted fare and no travel before 20am on weekday restrictions were observed.

Assuming that was the route used, a split ticket to and from Banbury is as far as the Network (South East) card will take you from Basingstoke towards Manchester.