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I recently received an email/letter regarding a ticket investigation/alleged fare fraud amounting to approximately £1,382. I am looking for advice on how to respond and request an Out-of-Court Settlement.
Train company: EMR
App used:Trainpal
Issue: A Railcard discount was applied automatically in my app settings without my realization. I did not hold a valid Railcard during travel.
This was an honest mistake, and I had no intention to evade fares. I am on a basic income and cannot afford £1,382. I want to settle this out of court amicably.
Could you please advise me on:
1.
How to draft an initial response to request an Out-of-Court Settlement?
2.
How to ask for a monthly installment plan due to low income?
I am currently feeling quite stressed about this situation. Could you please help me with this?
Not what you want to hear, but they are already offering you an out of court settlement at the cost of £ 1,382. The implied threat is that if you don't pay, they will prosecute.
Before doing that and contacting them, the OP should perform their own calculation!
But look in Trainpal and count up the journeys yourself and see if you can explain the the figure they have provided.
They are asking for an average of just over £33 for 37 trips plus an admin fee. That suggests they've taken into account what you already paid for the journeys as they should do.
Perform your own calculation of the *discount* that you took but were not entitled to. Add up the amount you paid for the tickets (2/3 of the correct price), and the amount they are requesting should be approximately half this sum (1/3 of the correct price and 1/3 is half of 2/3). We can help you do this if need be.
The admin fee is a separate matter and for that we need to know the dates of the journeys (as the rules changed recently).
Unfortunately payment plans are rarely granted. The risk is that if you do not may they may well chose to take you to court.
Are you aged 26-30? If you purchased a railcard, then this would be good proof to them that you are keen to settle. That said, they have already offered you a settlement, so there is nothing to prove to them provided you are in a position to pay them soon.
I recently received an email/letter regarding a ticket investigation/alleged fare fraud amounting to approximately £1,382. I am looking for advice on how to respond and request an Out-of-Court Settlement.
Train company: EMR
App used:Trainpal
Issue: A Railcard discount was applied automatically in my app settings without my realization. I did not hold a valid Railcard during travel.
This was an honest mistake, and I had no intention to evade fares. I am on a basic income and cannot afford £1,382. I want to settle this out of court amicably.
Could you please advise me on:
1.
How to draft an initial response to request an Out-of-Court Settlement?
2.
How to ask for a monthly installment plan due to low income?
I am currently feeling quite stressed about this situation. Could you please help me with this?
Just before getting into the issues - is it really true that you did not know a railcard discount was being applied when you bought all these tickets? You don't have to answer me that but I don't know how the Trainpal purchase process works this don't know how clear it makes it - it's just whatever you say about it don't lie.
Effectively this letter is an out of court settlement - they are asking you to pay this sum and if you don't they are threatening court action - so you don't have to request an out of court settlement
But
we don't see railway companies offering payment plans for such debts (but there is no harm in asking). There are various reasons for this but mostly they don't have the payments and monitoring infrastructure to support that to check the money comes in - but they know courts do, so they might send it to court if you don't pay - which is what you want to avoid - court would likely costs more BUT court fines are related to income and can be paid in instalments (this is probably pretty much the only +ve thing to say about the outcome if it went to court).
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
In terms of how to reply I would suggest using the following structure / content - draft something up here for people to check before sending it but this might help you ref content
- Thank them for their letter of x date ref number xxxxx (don't share this here)
- Briefly apologise for what has happened.
- If true, very briefly mention that you had been unaware the railcard discount was wrongly applied, and this was unintentional, and you had no intention of paying an incorrect fare (but do not say this if that is not true - just don't mention it at all)
- say that you are anxious to co-operate with them to resolve the matter without the need for court action
- ask them if they can "kindly supply you with a list of travel they believe has been incorrectly paid for so that you can check this against your own records, and help you fully understand how the sum has been arrived at"
- optional - you could at this stage (or you could wait till after you have the list and have checked it) say something like "although I am keen to pay any sums owed my financial situation is extremely difficult at the moment and the sum being requested is substantial. Please could you advise me if there is any way in which any sum owed can be paid in installments"
Meanwhile as per the sound advice from @furlong get logged into your own ticket buying account and list out the travel bought with this railcard applied for your own records and to compare with their list when they send it - no need to share that here.
You don't need to ask for this as it is what you've been offered. The reality of the situation you find yourself in is that if you don't pay the amount requested you will be prosecuted and convicted of a (relatively minor) criminal offence. The figures don't look excessive and the admin fee is not, in my opinion, in any way unreasonable. There is only a slim chance of a payment plan being agreed and if it was it would need to be over a short period of a couple of months or so, with a significant percentage of the amount up front.
I recently received an email/letter regarding a ticket investigation/alleged fare fraud amounting to approximately £1,382. I am looking for advice on how to respond and request an Out-of-Court Settlement.
Train company: EMR
App used:Trainpal
Issue: A Railcard discount was applied automatically in my app settings without my realization. I did not hold a valid Railcard during travel.
This was an honest mistake, and I had no intention to evade fares. I am on a basic income and cannot afford £1,382. I want to settle this out of court amicably.
Could you please advise me on:
1.
How to draft an initial response to request an Out-of-Court Settlement?
2.
How to ask for a monthly installment plan due to low income?
I am currently feeling quite stressed about this situation. Could you please help me with this?
