Administration charges

[philthetube]

I hope I am posting in the correct place.

In the linked thread Cross country (ital) are charging £177.50 for what appears to be a simple case.

Are they breaking any laws by demanding monies which they are not entitled to?

Cross Country ITAL Settlement Offer - help requested!

Hi all, I’m looking for advice on a CrossCountry / ITAL settlement offer letter. I’ve just received a letter in the post (although it's 23-MAR-2026 which was 8 days ago) - from the CrossCountry Revenue Protection Unit via ITAL / IRCAS about "an alleged Railway offence" on 22 September 2025...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's been discussed countless times.

They're asking for an out-of-court settlement to avoid prosecution. They can ask for whatever money they want. Up to the passenger whether they pay it.

It may or may not be unethical, that's a matter of opinion, but it is perfectly lawful.

ETA: the only restriction is the recent change to the NR Conditions of Travel, which now states at 9.3:

The Train Company shall be entitled to recover its costs of this follow up (including claim or prosecution costs) from you whenever such costs are incurred. The sum claimed will not exceed the actual costs of such follow up steps taken.

 

[philthetube]

If the sum claimed is above reasonable costs what should happen?

If reasonable costs are £75and they demand £150 and tell you they will take you to court if you do not pay is that not demanding money with menaces, (Maximum penalty 14 years)

 

[Lemmy99uk]

If the sum claimed is above reasonable costs what should happen?

If reasonable costs are £75and they demand £150 and tell you they will take you to court if you do not pay is that not demanding money with menaces, (Maximum penalty 14 years)

Who is determining that £75 is the reasonable costs?

 

[Coleridge]

It wouldn't be difficult to justify administrative costs of £150. It's probably several hours' work for someone to search, analyse and document someone's travel history and write the resultant letter(s), and the total cost of employing someone can exceed £50 an hour, even if their hourly rate is nowhere near that.

As has been said, the fare-dodger can choose not to pay and be tried in a court of law instead.

 

[RPI]

You can ask them for a breakdown of the costs involved and they will send it out.

 

[Swedenorer]

Their outsourced contractor is charging this. I suppose it matches the rest of their 'service'.

 

[Undiscovered]

You can ask them for a breakdown of the costs involved and they will send it out.

What happens if the breakdown shows it's actually more than the initial administration charge?
Unlikely, yes, but, hypothetically?

 

[Tetchytyke]

If reasonable costs are £75and they demand £150 and tell you they will take you to court if you do not pay is that not demanding money with menaces

Where does the Conditions of Travel mention reasonable costs?

The TOC, or their agent, can only charge for the costs that they have actually incurred. If they have incurred £175 of costs then they can charge you £175. What they can't do is incur £75 of costs and then charge you £175.

Someone is perfectly at liberty to ask them to break down their costs.

Bear in mind that it could be something as simple as a TOC having a fixed fee arrangement with their agent: if the TOC pays an agent £175 per case as a fixed fee then that £175 is a cost which has been incurred.

What happens if the breakdown shows it's actually more than the initial administration charge?

The NRCoT says that the fee cannot exceed the amount of costs they have incurred. Their costs can exceed the fee, though.

But unless they have already calculated their costs they can't know that the fee they are charging doesn't exceed their costs. So that situation shouldn't really happen.