Expired rail card - prosecution letter

[HT98]

Hi there,

I have received a letter from Govia Thameslink with the offence being ‘in any area not designated as a compulsory ticket area, entered a train for the purpose of travelling on the railway, did not carry a valid ticket entitling travel’

I don’t use the train that often and flit between the train line and southern app to book tickets , I had no idea my network rail card had expired until I was asked to present it as I hadn’t been asked previously and it was just saved in my photos. I have added a reminder to my calendar to make sure I don’t miss the date again which I will add to my letter!

When I realised it had expired and hoping I had not actually committed this crime, I remembered that with my new job there were train perks, I asked the officer if I could check whether there might be a railcard included in this and he said I could upload this as proof it that were the case. I showed him my work id as proof. Should I include this info in my letter, as basically it was a reduced season pass so not helpful!

From looking at my accounts, I have purchased 9 tickets between Brighton and London during the time my railcard has expired which was nearly 8 months. They were always booked well in advance and for the full journeys etc, but obviously without a network rail card.

As soon as I knew I didn’t have a valid card, I purchased the replacement that day of the offence.

Should I offer to reimburse these when I reply, as from reading the thread they will check.

I have been really worried about all of this, it is the first time I have had this experience, and obviously I would be so gutted to be taken to court. So any advice to support that not happening would be much appreciated.

 

[AlterEgo]

Could you show us the letter with your personal details removed? It will help us formulate a response.

A discounted season ticket is not the same as a railcard so don't bring that into the equation.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi there,

I have received a letter from Govia Thameslink with the offence being ‘in any area not designated as a compulsory ticket area, entered a train for the purpose of travelling on the railway, did not carry a valid ticket entitling travel’

I don’t use the train that often and flit between the train line and southern app to book tickets , I had no idea my network rail card had expired until I was asked to present it as I hadn’t been asked previously and it was just saved in my photos. I have added a reminder to my calendar to make sure I don’t miss the date again which I will add to my letter!

When I realised it had expired and hoping I had not actually committed this crime, I remembered that with my new job there were train perks, I asked the officer if I could check whether there might be a railcard included in this and he said I could upload this as proof it that were the case. I showed him my work id as proof. Should I include this info in my letter, as basically it was a reduced season pass so not helpful!

From looking at my accounts, I have purchased 9 tickets between Brighton and London during the time my railcard has expired which was nearly 8 months. They were always booked well in advance and for the full journeys etc, but obviously without a network rail card.

As soon as I knew I didn’t have a valid card, I purchased the replacement that day of the offence.

Should I offer to reimburse these when I reply, as from reading the thread they will check.

I have been really worried about all of this, it is the first time I have had this experience, and obviously I would be so gutted to be taken to court. So any advice to support that not happening would be much appreciated.

Welcome

as @AlterEgo says it's always helpful to see what they have sent you - even if likely to just be their standard letter sent to people who have been stopped without a valid ticket.

The relevant section of the general advice given on here for how to reply is as follows:

When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter

So that should give you a template on what to include in your reply.

Best if replies are relatively short and focussed but you can also mention:

- As you have bought a new Network Railcard mention this in your reply and quote the serial number of the Railcard (or include a copy of it)
- If failing to renew it whilst continuing to buy a ticket with a railcard reduction was a genuine oversight then state that (eg say 'This was an oversight on my part, I had no intention to avoid paying the correct fare')
- assuming that is true - do not lie (better to say nothing about something than to lie in what you tell them)
- if they are not asking about other travel that might have been undertaken with a discounted ticket when no valid railcard was held, in their letter, the advice usually given here by people is that there is no need to mention it now, but they may well check your travel records and ask you about it later (Thameslink / Southern / GTR rarely used to do this but we have seen them recently start checking purchasing records so you need to be prepared for them to ask you about it)

You can have a look on the forum for similar cases with GTR to see examples of the sorts of replies people send

But if you think it will be of help to you, then post a draft of your response here before you send it, and people here will check it for you.

 

[HT98]

Could you show us the letter with your personal details removed? It will help us formulate a response.

A discounted season ticket is not the same as a railcard so don't bring that into the equation.

The whole letter or the bit with the offence

 

[Titfield]

The whole letter or the bit with the offence

The whole letter in case there is anything you may have missed that is significant to the case.

 

[HT98]

Here you go

 

[30907]

Here you go

That's the standard letter and it asks about one incident, so focus your reply on that.
Definitely mention that you renewed your railcard on the same day.

 

[HT98]

Here’s my response:

I am very sorry for my mistake in not realising that my railcard was expired. I had purchased my ticket for this trip in advance and have since set up a reminder in my phone so I know in the future that I will need to make sure my card has not expired as this has made me reflect on when using different platforms purchase tickets it’s easy to lose track and it is my responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen again!



After I had been made aware of this and being so disappointed with myself that this has happened, I purchased a railcard as quickly as I could on that day and have added a reminder into my phone to ensure I don’t miss this expiry date again. The serial no is …….


I sincerely hope that I can settle this manner without the need for court action and I apologise for the administrative costs and time this has taken from the company. Please can I pay any outstanding fare and costs associated with dealing with this matter and be reassured that I have put appropriate actions in place to ensure that this never happens again.



Kind regards

 

[AlterEgo]

That looks fine. They will no doubt settle after reading this.

 

[HT98]

I really hope so

 

[WesternLancer]

Here’s my response:

I am very sorry for my mistake in not realising that my railcard was expired. I had purchased my ticket for this trip in advance and have since set up a reminder in my phone so I know in the future that I will need to make sure my card has not expired as this has made me reflect on when using different platforms purchase tickets it’s easy to lose track and it is my responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen again!



After I had been made aware of this and being so disappointed with myself that this has happened, I purchased a railcard as quickly as I could on that day and have added a reminder into my phone to ensure I don’t miss this expiry date again. The serial no is …….


I sincerely hope that I can settle this manner without the need for court action and I apologise for the administrative costs and time this has taken from the company. Please can I pay any outstanding fare and costs associated with dealing with this matter and be reassured that I have put appropriate actions in place to ensure that this never happens again.



Kind regards

Just a couple of points.

Include their ref number clearly in your letter

Eg
Dear Sir / Madam

Your ref:

I am very sorry….

- where you mention a ‘card’ change that to ‘Railcard’ for clarity in every instance.

 

[HT98]

Just a couple of points.

Include their ref number clearly in your letter

Eg
Dear Sir / Madam

Your ref:

I am very sorry….

- where you mention a ‘card’ change that to ‘Railcard’ for clarity in every instance.

Thank you very much