Extremely Worried, Help Required: Issued Witness Statement for travelling with Invalid Railcard

123* said:

Hmmmm, I’d like to see some footage of the incident to see whether permission was genuine or coerced upon from a position of power. I can absolutely imagine it being the latter in this case.

“I need to look through your Amazon account as you’ve done something very bad”. International student doesn’t want to get in trouble, no doubt all sort of criminal connotations going through their head, perhaps they did allow it but doesn’t automatically means it is acceptable.

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I can certainly imagine this being a dynamic. More so with a person from overseas whose made a mistake and doesn’t fully understand why there is a problem and is hoping to sort it out constructively.

But this risks getting abit off topic

Our main objective here is probably help the op navigate the tickets bought to establish if the railway has actually lost any money and if they haven’t lost money, help the OP make their case as clearly as possible to GTR such that no further action is an appropriate way to conclude things (if this is the case). And if the railway has lost some money calculate it accurately in the hope any sums that need to be paid are reasonable and affordable.

123* said:

Hmmmm, I’d like to see some footage of the incident to see whether permission was genuine or coerced upon from a position of power. I can absolutely imagine it being the latter in this case.

“I need to look through your Amazon account as you’ve done something very bad”. International student doesn’t want to get in trouble, no doubt all sort of criminal connotations going through their head, perhaps they did allow it but doesn’t automatically means it is acceptable.

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"Do you have anything with your address on it? No? No driving licence or ID? You could show me your address in your Amazon account then, or maybe you can find it in the settings in your phone".

Would you have the same qualms about them asking to look at your driving licence or passport, some of which contain far more sensitive information like citizenship status, gender and place of birth, official remarks, and qualifications?

It is important to note the difference between acceptable (on an ethical basis) and it being somehow contrary to legislation. Nothing turns on your objection to how the OP was treated, so this is an academic discussion best turned into its own thread.