Stopped at Waterloo for fare evading, details taken

[wonderingabout]

Hello,

Yesterday I was stopped at waterloo by officers. Essentially I had got the train at Guildford, I was about to pay but I was taking a while to buy a ticket so the barrier man let me through as he had to go somewhere.As most of you know if they leave the gates unsupervised then they have to leave them open. He opened the gates for me and I won’t lie I was cheeky and I didn’t buy the ticket and decided that I will just buy a ticket at vauxhaull ( I was going to waterloo). I bought the ticket and I stupidly didn’t check and didn’t realise that the tickets I got were the ones that had to be printed.

I got to Waterloo, and then also stupidly thought that they would let me in if I showed them the collection code, the barrier man asked for help from his colleague and that colleague radioed for help. By that point I realised that I should have just tapped out but it was too late and two officers walked towards me, Im pretty sure they were swr officers.

They asked for Id and I had none, I made up a lie and said that I went through the barriers at vauxhaull, they called the station and confirmed I was lying, I then made up another lie and said that I went behind a mum with a buggy, they then proceeded to take my details to investigate further which I complied with.

They didn’t say much about what they were going to do with the details just that they’re investigating further. I have short fared once or twice before but not on swr but idk if they’ll check that. My concern is that if they look at my ticket history they will find that on three occasions in the past month I have used child tickets on swr falsely. I take responsibility and accountability for my mistakes.

As you can imagine this has left me very anxious, and I’m not sure what to expect next, I have seen that they may take months to get back to me which is making me feel much worse about the situation.

 

[FenMan]

When SWR review your online purchases (very likely) will they find more Vauxhall - Waterloo tickets?

 

[wonderingabout]

When SWR review your online purchases (very likely) will they find more Vauxhall - Waterloo tickets?

No but they will find the child tickets x

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jul 2026 ==

If anyone has any information about this I would really appreciate it, I’d rather be prepared about whats to come

 

[SECR 65]

Welcome to the forum,


SWR may take a while to conduct an investigation - so it could be a number of months before you hear from them. Come back here if you've heard nothing in about five months.

The first letter will probably either threaten to prosecute you, or ask for details / information to help them carry out their investigation. They are likely to investigate your journey history and charge you the anytime single fare for each journey undertaken without a valid ticket. If you cooperate with them, you should be able to avoid prosecution and secure an out of court settlement, which will include an admin fee.

When you hear from them, post the redacted letter on here and we can help you with what to say and review your draft.

I can't really think what else I need to 'tell you' right now, but fire away with questions and I'll do my best!

 

[wonderingabout]

Welcome to the forum,


SWR may take a while to conduct an investigation - so it could be a number of months before you hear from them. Come back here if you've heard nothing in about five months.

The first letter will probably either threaten to prosecute you, or ask for details / information to help them carry out their investigation. They are likely to investigate your journey history and charge you the anytime single fare for each journey undertaken without a valid ticket. If you cooperate with them, you should be able to avoid prosecution and secure an out of court settlement, which will include an admin fee.

When you hear from them, post the redacted letter on here and we can help you with what to say and review your draft.

I can't really think what else I need to 'tell you' right now, but fire away with questions and I'll do my best!

Thank you!

I just saw someone say they were charged a £150 fine for each journey as well as the cost would you happen to know if that is common?

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you!

I just saw someone say they were charged a £150 fine for each journey as well as the cost would you happen to know if that is common?

Where did you see this?

 

[wonderingabout]

Where did you see this?

A girl on TikTok but her case was expired railcard.

 

[swt_passenger]

Thank you!

I just saw someone say they were charged a £150 fine for each journey as well as the cost would you happen to know if that is common?

A lot of people use the word ‘fine’ wrongly. But depending on the route, it’s quite possible to be asked for an outstanding fare of £150 per journey if using the Anytime return or two anytime singles, plus a single separate figure for administrative costs, likely to be north of £100. Neither would be actually a fine in the true sense of the word.

They’re also not required to take into account what you might have already paid in the case of some ‘wrong railcard‘ offences, which don’t apply to you, from what you’ve said. Some TOCs have done so, but it’s not always done.

 

[AlterEgo]

A girl on TikTok but her case was expired railcard.

There is nothing good on Tiktok, in fact it's where a lot of people get the idea to "finesse" their rail fares in the first place.

 

[wonderingabout]

When SWR review your online purchases (very likely) will they find more Vauxhall - Waterloo tickets?

No I have never done that mistake before , I dont know why I even considered it this time

 

[SECR 65]

Thank you!

I just saw someone say they were charged a £150 fine for each journey as well as the cost would you happen to know if that is common?

I reckon they were talking about an admin fee - £150 sounds about right for that. It wouldn't be applied for each journey, only overall.

 

[wonderingabout]

I reckon they were talking about an admin fee - £150 sounds about right for that. It wouldn't be applied for each journey, only overall.

Im hoping so Ive added the costs of the tickets i didnt pay on swr and its come up to 4 journeys £45 plus administrative fee , I’m hoping that’s what will happen, only thing is I have two child tickets on a different train company, will they charge for that as well ? x

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jul 2026 ==

There is nothing good on Tiktok, in fact it's where a lot of people get the idea to "finesse" their rail fares in the first place.

Haha yes

 

[SECR 65]

Im hoping so Ive added the costs of the tickets i didnt pay on swr and its come up to 4 journeys £45 plus administrative fee , I’m hoping that’s what will happen,

Have you used the anytime single fare? And you're unlikely to recieve credit for the fares already paid if they are short fares / railcard applied etc. You could use https://www.brfares.com/

only thing is I have two child tickets on a different train company, will they charge for that as well ? x

They may well be in contact with the other Train Operating Company (TOC). Which other company is this? Best to be on the safe side and include these fares in your maths

 

[MarlowDonkey]

nly thing is I have two child tickets on a different train company, will they charge for that as well ? x

They might have to prove that it was you who used them, but if you are co-operating in the interests of an out of court settlement you may have to admit their use if challenged.

 

[wonderingabout]

Have you used the anytime single fare? And you're unlikely to recieve credit for the fares already paid if they are short fares / railcard applied etc. You could use https://www.brfares.com/

They may well be in contact with the other Train Operating Company (TOC). Which other company is this? Best to be on the safe side and include these fares in your maths

Southeastern railway

 

[AlterEgo]

Have you used the anytime single fare? And you're unlikely to recieve credit for the fares already paid if they are short fares / railcard applied etc. You could use https://www.brfares.com/

They may well be in contact with the other Train Operating Company (TOC). Which other company is this? Best to be on the safe side and include these fares in your maths

They dont need to contact any other train comapnies. SWR will collect the fare anyway as per the usual industry arrangements.

 

[Swedenorer]

They will check the lot and as far back as 2023 in some cases I've seen on here. If the four journeys you mention were from Guildford you will be looking at 8 x £17.70 plus an admin fee of £150 call it £300 in round figures. But they could instead prosecute you for the one offence they can prove and you would be found guilty. They have up to six months from two days ago to do this.

 

[wonderingabout]

Have you used the anytime single fare? And you're unlikely to recieve credit for the fares already paid if they are short fares / railcard applied etc. You could use https://www.brfares.com/

They may well be in contact with the other Train Operating Company (TOC). Which other company is this? Best to be on the safe side and include these fares in your maths

The journeys that I take have the same price not matter the time I think.

They will check the lot and as far back as 2023 in some cases I've seen on here. If the four journeys you mention were from Guildford you will be looking at 8 x £17.70 plus an admin fee of £150 call it £300 in round figures. But they could instead prosecute you for the one offence they can prove and you would be found guilty. They have up to six months from two days ago to do this.

hello, thank you why would it be x8 , what would it mean if they prosecute me, would that mean that I get a criminal record?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jul 2026 ==

They dont need to contact any other train comapnies. SWR will collect the fare anyway as per the usual industry arrangements.

They can collect the fare from other companies?

 

[AlterEgo]

They can collect the fare from other companies?

Yes.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

hello, thank you why would it be x8 , what would it mean if they prosecute me, would that mean that I get a criminal record?

x8 would come from taking four return journeys being charged as singles each way.

If you are prosecuted in a Court of Law and found guilty you acquire a criminal record. Generally speaking people want to avoid this and therefore when given the chance would pay the train companies whatever they ask for to avoid it going to court.

 

[wonderingabout]

Yes.

Oh my

 

[reb0118]

They can collect the fare from other companies?

I take it you mean for (as in on behalf of) not from, but yes they can collect those fares from you.