SWR short fare

[rj1987]

Hi,

Received an email saying.

‘On XX/XX/2026, ticket number Xxxxx(Vauxhall to London Waterloo) was used in the automatic ticket gate at London Waterloo to EXITthe station, with no entry scan shown at Vauxhall. A review of rail usage data found that this ticket is attributable to this email address. We are currently undergoing checks on this account as a result of it being flagged as suspicious.

Further investigation of your online account is ongoing, and preliminary assessment has identified 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 to engage with you.

Please respond to this email within 7 days quoting the reference number’

I stopped doing this for quite a while, but did it April hence this email, did not get caught in person.

I gave a generic response asking for more info. Wondering if anyone has experienced this and what the outcome was?

Thank you

 

[SECR 65]

Welcome to the forum,

We would generally advise that, if you have not been caught in person, it is best not to reply to an email from a Train Operating Company.

It would be useful to see all correspondence between you and SWR, especially what you have sent to them.

If you have not admitted to this fare evasion that they have highlighted, I would suggest that you stop replying to their emails.

However, if you have agreed to them that the incident mentioned was in fact you, then it would probably be wise to continue cooperating with them, as they have the power to bring about a legal prosecution with sufficient evidence.

If the latter case is true, once we have seen exactly what you said to them, members can advise on what you would want to include in your next reply.

I would recommend going forward that you don't send anything to them without having first got forum members to review your draft.

 

[rj1987]

Thank you for getting back to me.

My response was generic

 

[SECR 65]

Thank you for getting back to me.

My response was:

Thank you for your email. I acknowledge receipt and would like to understand the matters raised.

Please could you provide further details of the inconsistencies identified in my ticket purchase history, including the journeys concerned, and advise me of the next steps?

Thank you for your swift response. In my opinion this is not an admission that it was you who travelled with the incorrect ticket, and therefore you should ignore all further correspondence.

It may be an idea to upload any further letters they do send to the forum just so we can confirm the advise still stands.

Wait for the opinion of other members with more experience than me before confirming that ignoring them going ahead is definitely the best thing to do.

 

[rj1987]

Thank you.

I’ll await further advice and will thread the response I receive.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 22:36 ==

Also worth noting,

I am very stressed about this and have deep regrets, so I am willing to pay for a fine and the fares to get this off my plate and avoid it getting taken further, so this might change the advice I get

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you.

I’ll await further advice and will thread the response I receive.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 22:36 ==

Also worth noting,

I am very stressed about this and have deep regrets, so I am willing to pay for a fine and the fares to get this off my plate and avoid it getting taken further, so this might change the advice I get

Then you need to start by totalling up the value of all the fares you evaded priced at the Anytime single rate for the travel concerned.
Keep that figure private.
But that’s the sort of money they would be looking for from you if you engage with them further.
Plus perhaps c£150 for their costs of investigation.

For now wait for their response to the message you sent them.

 

[rj1987]

Then you need to start by totalling up the value of all the fares you evaded priced at the Anytime single rate for the travel concerned.
Keep that figure private.
But that’s the sort of money they would be looking for from you if you engage with them further.
Plus perhaps c£150 for their costs of investigation.

For now wait for their response to the message you sent them.

I shall. Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Wednesday at 08:41 ==

Hi,

I received this response this morning:

We are currently at the start of our investigation into your ticket purchasing through your online account.

A ticket presented at London Waterloo on XX/xx/2026 has been flagged as suspicious and has been traced to your Trainline account, for which this is the contact email address.

To ensure that we are corresponding with the correct individual associated with the account in question, we kindly request that you complete the form below:

First Name(s)
Surname
Date of Birth
Contact number(s)
Email
Address
Postcode

Once we receive these details, we can address any concerns you may have, provide you with the evidence we currently hold, discuss your travel patterns with you, and advise on the next steps.

Kind regards

 

[SECR 65]

I shall. Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Wednesday at 08:41 ==

Hi,

I received this response this morning:

We are currently at the start of our investigation into your ticket purchasing through your online account.

A ticket presented at London Waterloo on XX/xx/2026 has been flagged as suspicious and has been traced to your Trainline account, for which this is the contact email address.

To ensure that we are corresponding with the correct individual associated with the account in question, we kindly request that you complete the form below:

First Name(s)
Surname
Date of Birth
Contact number(s)
Email
Address
Postcode

Once we receive these details, we can address any concerns you may have, provide you with the evidence we currently hold, discuss your travel patterns with you, and advise on the next steps.

Kind regards

Ok, so, as suspected, whilst they have a good idea of who you are, they are not certain.

If you fill in their form as requested, I suspect they will have enough information to (in theory) prosecute you. However, provided you cooperated, a much more likely outcome would be an out of court settlement, in which they would request the anytime single fare for every journey without a valid ticket, plus an admin fee, maybe in the region of £150.

If you ignored future correspondence, my hunch is that they would send a few more threatening emails, and then have to drop the case. I don't think they can be certain it was you who used the tickets.

I would appreciate it if other forum members could either confirm or correct what I have said.

 

[rj1987]

Thanks for the response.

If I do want to cooperate, is giving them my home address necessary? I mainly want to nip this in the bud because I don’t want this to arise again in a few months / a years time, and would rather have a resolution

 

[SECR 65]

is giving them my home address necessary?

I suppose you could try refusing to give it, although I can't imagine that they'd be very pleased.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks for the response.

If I do want to cooperate, is giving them my home address necessary? I mainly want to nip this in the bud because I don’t want this to arise again in a few months / a years time, and would rather have a resolution

Ultimately he reason they want a home address is that court papers have to be served in hard copy
but if you have not been stopped by them in the last 6 months? (have you?) and they have e-mailed you as a result of a data trawl then the usual advice here is to not respond to them at all anyway
Giving your home address is not to your advantage now (you are required to give it if stopped in person by a railway official - not to do so is actually an offence - but that is not the same as volunteering it now)

Just for goodness sake stop the stupid fare evasion you have been doing which leaves digital finger prints trails for them to follow and thus they can find that address if they really want to - via your payment method probably

Change where you buy your train tickets from (plenty of other retailers), buy correct tickets and get off their radar

 

[Blaine]

Just stop responding and behave from now on.

 

[rj1987]

Thanks for the advice, and no I was not stopped in person this was from a data trawl.

I have since stopped the fare shorting, that April date they have raised was actually the last time I did it and know how stupid it would be to do it ever again

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks for the advice, and no I was not stopped in person this was from a data trawl.

I have since stopped the fare shorting, that April date they have raised was actually the last time I did it and know how stupid it would be to do ever again

so don't engage with them. if you get anythign formal like a letter or soemthign froma court - then that is more serious. For now monitor what they send you and check back here for any advice on what to do about anything you receive.
You can expect more e-mails about this given they think you might tell them things they can use against you or pay them what they believe you owe.

 

[rj1987]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. I’m thinking of facing the music now as I don’t know if I want to potentially face something more serious in the future and have them look badly at my case for not co operating at the start

I also know I could be made an example of so this could backfire on me.

 

[Blaine]

Your position will only get worse from here if you actively do something such as respond to the email.

You're behaving now, so they can't do anything more as they can't catch you in the act.

Count yourself very lucky and move on with your life.

 

[rj1987]

Surely they can still pursue criminal charges via data led initiatives alone?

And if I don’t provide them with my details now, can’t they just request it from Trainline and they can go from there?

 

[SECR 65]

Surely they can still pursue criminal charges via data led initiatives alone?

And if I don’t provide them with my details now, can’t they just request it from Trainline and they can go from there?

They will have the details of the individual who travelled without a valid ticket...

...but they don't know that's you.

So the reason they want these details is to confirm your identity.

They cannot take any action againgst you because they don't yet know it was you who purchased travelled with the tickets.

Trainline have provided the email address for the account which the incorrect ticket was purchased with. What if that ticket had been used by someone else?

 

[rj1987]

I see, I’d assume they would see the card being used is linked to me

 

[SECR 65]

I see, I guess because I did this a fair bit I’d assume they would see the card being used is linked to me, and wonder how i didn’t realise it was being used on so many occasions

They can reasonably assume it was you - otherwise they wouldn't bother sending a letter. But you have to remember this is (potentially) a court they would need to convince here. They can't really just go to court having guessed you committed an offence...

 

[rj1987]

They can reasonably assume it was you - otherwise they wouldn't bother sending a letter. But you have to remember this is (potentially) a court they would need to convince here. They can't really just go to court having guessed you committed an offence...

Makes sense, and thank you.

This was very silly for me to do, and I appreciate you taking the time to discuss with me despite my behaviour. I’m going to sleep on it and see how I feel, I only received the response this morning so can take a little bit of time before responding. My anxiety can’t take this uncertainty, hence why I’m still debating about replying even though you have all suggested not to. Wish my anxiety was this heightened a couple of months back

 

[MarlowDonkey]

I guess because I did this a fair bit I’d assume they would see the card being used is linked to me, and wonder how i didn’t realise it was being used on so many occasions

I think the point is that they have evidence as to who bought the tickets, but in the absence of stopping someone, no evidence as to who used them, unless you provide it.

 

[rj1987]

Makes sense. Think I’ll decide tomorrow about to do, I would rather pay a settlement to put this all to bed, but I just hope they would offer that to me

 

[Blaine]

Contacting them will open this up. Not contacting them will mean there's nothing more they can do. They are looking for you to incriminate yourself.

 

[SECR 65]

I understand how you feel about wanting to do something to make it right. This is againgst the advice we are giving, so I wouldn't recommend doing this, but if it were me, I would probably email them, just because I wouldn't be able to cope with it hanging over me and feeling wrong.

One think that might help is to think about it like so.
You feel you need to do something to resolve the situation. The 'best' course of action is to do nothing. Therefore, you are making a conscious choice to resolve the situation in the best possible way: by moving on and not contacting them.

 

[Haywain]

Makes sense. Think I’ll decide tomorrow about to do, I would rather pay a settlement to put this all to bed, but I just hope they would offer that to me

If you ignore this, which you should, it is extremely unlikely that you will have to pay anything at all, which is surely the best option. You need to be aware that SWR already have a small win here, as they have successfully stopped your short faring. That is already a result for them.

 

[rj1987]

Even if they suspect it had been happening for a while? my mind goes to they will pursue

 

[AlterEgo]

No, because as has been explained, they do not have evidence you travelled.

 

[jupiter]

Even if they suspect it had been happening for a while? As that is the case, so my mind goes to they will pursue

I don't usually comment on these cases as others are far more experienced than I, but I will exceptionally this time because I too can suffer from anxiety in these situations.

I have previously "done the right thing", along the sort of lines we are talking about here, and deeply regretted it for many years. That's my personal input to you. Seems right at the time, very soon it may feel like it was very wrong.

There's nothing to pursue. As stated, SWR have a win. After a data trawl and email they have given you a few sleepless nights I bet, and have stopped this short-faring. That's good, let them have their win and be good as gold from now on.

You've perhaps learnt the hard way, but the advice to you here and now is, you have had your lesson and learnt from it.

 

[SECR 65]

I don't usually comment on these cases as others are far more experienced than I, but I will exceptionally this time because I too can suffer from anxiety in these situations.

I have previously "done the right thing", along the sort of lines we are talking about here, and deeply regretted it for many years. That's my personal input to you. Seems right at the time, very soon it may feel like it was very wrong.

There's nothing to pursue. As stated, SWR have a win. After a data trawl and email they have given you a few sleepless nights I bet, and have stopped this short-faring. That's good, let them have their win and be good as gold from now on.

You've perhaps learnt the hard way, but the advice to you here and now is, you have had your lesson and learnt from it.

Well said. As hard as it is to let things like this 'go', deep down one must consider that not replying to their email is, at the end of the day, the 'best' course of action.