worriedparent7
Member
Dear Forum,
My 18 year old son has just received a notice of intended prosecution from Chiltern Railways for not having a valid railcard. He is very distressed and immeidately penned an email reply but I have asked him to delay sending it as I found this helpful forum and wanted to get some advice. The situation is that my son very occassionally travels to London from Beaconsfield as up until last month, he was still a student. When he was 16, I bought him a 16-17 year old railcard to use. It expired when he turned 18. He didn't realise he needed to buy a new railcard (the 16-25 year old railcard) and went to London a month after he turned 18 and accidentally bought a return fare with his old railcard. He was questioned by someone upon his return. He immediately bought the 16-25 railcard the next day and has used it every since - although he doesn't really go to London all that often.
His letter is as follows and any advice is gratefully received. Although the letter advises him to seek legal counsel, I encouraged him to write an honest letter as it was an honest mistake.
Dear Sir/Madam:
For the attention of Andrew Chesson, Head of Revenue Protection
Yesterday 19th July I received a "Notice of Intended Prosecution" relating to an incident that occurred on 17th March 2024 and I wanted to reply as soon as possible to the Notice.
First and foremost, I am very sorry that this has happened. I made a genuine and honest mistake on what was a rare trip up to London for the day. I did speak to the gentleman who stopped me on my return to Beaconsfield to explain what had happened. I have set out below the situation and really want to express my apologies for my mistake.
On Sunday 17th March 2024, I took a train journey from Beaconsfield railway station to London Marylebone station and back and purchased a return travelcard. I attach a copy of my bank statement to show the transaction where I paid £13.50 for the fare.
I had been using a 16-17 Railcard (bought by my mum) having used it for over a year as a 16 and 17 year old boy. The mistake I made was that I had very recently turned 18 ( in February 2024) and it simply did not occur to me that, on buying my ticket that day, having just turned 18, it was no longer valid and I needed to purchase a 16-25 Railcard. It was only on speaking with the gentleman from the revenue protection staff on the platform that I realised what had happened.
Immediately after this incident, I bought a 16-25 Railcard, and have been using that ever since (a copy of the pass is attached).
I have never been involved in an incident like this before, have never knowingly or deliberately tried to avoid paying the appropriate rail fare and have taken this as a lesson to always check the rules and remind myself to think before buying a ticket so that nothing like this happens again.
I am very sorry that this has happened and hope it is clear from the above that I made a genuine mistake and have not and would not ever do something like this intentionally having had a 16-17 Railcard and also now have a 16-25 Railcard and always bought a day travelcard when using the railway. Since leaving school just last month I have been more aware of the need to check expiry dates on things like railcards and making a note to renew things when needed.
Yours faithfully,
XXX
My 18 year old son has just received a notice of intended prosecution from Chiltern Railways for not having a valid railcard. He is very distressed and immeidately penned an email reply but I have asked him to delay sending it as I found this helpful forum and wanted to get some advice. The situation is that my son very occassionally travels to London from Beaconsfield as up until last month, he was still a student. When he was 16, I bought him a 16-17 year old railcard to use. It expired when he turned 18. He didn't realise he needed to buy a new railcard (the 16-25 year old railcard) and went to London a month after he turned 18 and accidentally bought a return fare with his old railcard. He was questioned by someone upon his return. He immediately bought the 16-25 railcard the next day and has used it every since - although he doesn't really go to London all that often.
His letter is as follows and any advice is gratefully received. Although the letter advises him to seek legal counsel, I encouraged him to write an honest letter as it was an honest mistake.
Dear Sir/Madam:
For the attention of Andrew Chesson, Head of Revenue Protection
Yesterday 19th July I received a "Notice of Intended Prosecution" relating to an incident that occurred on 17th March 2024 and I wanted to reply as soon as possible to the Notice.
First and foremost, I am very sorry that this has happened. I made a genuine and honest mistake on what was a rare trip up to London for the day. I did speak to the gentleman who stopped me on my return to Beaconsfield to explain what had happened. I have set out below the situation and really want to express my apologies for my mistake.
On Sunday 17th March 2024, I took a train journey from Beaconsfield railway station to London Marylebone station and back and purchased a return travelcard. I attach a copy of my bank statement to show the transaction where I paid £13.50 for the fare.
I had been using a 16-17 Railcard (bought by my mum) having used it for over a year as a 16 and 17 year old boy. The mistake I made was that I had very recently turned 18 ( in February 2024) and it simply did not occur to me that, on buying my ticket that day, having just turned 18, it was no longer valid and I needed to purchase a 16-25 Railcard. It was only on speaking with the gentleman from the revenue protection staff on the platform that I realised what had happened.
Immediately after this incident, I bought a 16-25 Railcard, and have been using that ever since (a copy of the pass is attached).
I have never been involved in an incident like this before, have never knowingly or deliberately tried to avoid paying the appropriate rail fare and have taken this as a lesson to always check the rules and remind myself to think before buying a ticket so that nothing like this happens again.
I am very sorry that this has happened and hope it is clear from the above that I made a genuine mistake and have not and would not ever do something like this intentionally having had a 16-17 Railcard and also now have a 16-25 Railcard and always bought a day travelcard when using the railway. Since leaving school just last month I have been more aware of the need to check expiry dates on things like railcards and making a note to renew things when needed.
Yours faithfully,
XXX
