Altered Railcard

[lola_sco09]

Hey,

I was asked for my journey ticket (London to Cambridge), I had a valid ticket that I purchased but my railcard was expired, I was unable to renew it on the spot due to bad signal, so in a bad lapse of judgement I showed an altered old one that I had on my phone. The problem is the one I altered was expired in 2023, and the conductor was able to pull that out. I did purchase other cards for 2024 and 2025, my most recent one expired in May 2025. But in the panic I just did that, which I know was wrong. I renewed my railcard on the spot as well, but obviously it was too late.

My panic now is that the conductor has not uploaded the most recent cards which I have shown him after the fact. Do I reach out to them and tell them that I have been a regular railcard purchaser consistently, and was not intending malicious fraud or anything, I panicked and did something stupid. Or is it better to wait to hear from them? If I do reach out to them, should I consult a lawyer as to what to write? I really want to avoid a criminal record/ prosecution. I am someone who does not even have as much as a speeding ticket!

Please advise.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Altering a railcard is a serious issue, far worse than being found with an expired railcard.

Which train company are you dealing with? It’s likely that you will be able to obtain an out of court settlement as long as you co-operate with the train company, and haven’t come to their attention before.

The train company will write to you in the next few weeks. The letter will say they have received a report, are considering prosecuting but asking for your version of events before they decide how to proceed. When the letter arrives post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you.

An out of court settlement is likely to cost the fare avoided at the full anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. It’s likely that the train company will search your ticket purchasing history and factor the cost of other tickets purchased since your railcard expired into the settlement cost.

Do not contact the train company ahead of them writing to you. Doing so could be counterproductive and you could incriminate yourself when you don’t need to do so.

 

[30907]

Just to add: there was no reason for the conductor/ inspector to do anything with the railcards you hadn't misused.
Hang on to them though, as when the train company contact you, having checked your previous travel history, they may ask for evidence that you hadn't been cheating for several years.
Meanwhile don't panic: as Hadders had said, despite this being a serious offence, the chances are that the train company will agree to settle out of court.

 

[lola_sco09]

Welcome to the forum!

Altering a railcard is a serious issue, far worse than being found with an expired railcard.

Which train company are you dealing with? It’s likely that you will be able to obtain an out of court settlement as long as you co-operate with the train company, and haven’t come to their attention before.

The train company will write to you in the next few weeks. The letter will say they have received a report, are considering prosecuting but asking for your version of events before they decide how to proceed. When the letter arrives post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you.

An out of court settlement is likely to cost the fare avoided at the full anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. It’s likely that the train company will search your ticket purchasing history and factor the cost of other tickets purchased since your railcard expired into the settlement cost.

Do not contact the train company ahead of them writing to you. Doing so could be counterproductive and you could incriminate yourself when you don’t need to do so.

Hey Hadders,

Thank you so much for your response! I am really panicking and appreciate you advising. I know I should have just said "Sorry I didn't realise it was expired". I am dealing with Govia Thameslink Railway. The only worry I have is the one I altered happened to be the one that expired in 2023. I have consistently purchased railcards since 2021, and would not want them writing to me after investigating my travel assuming I have no purchased a railcard since 2023 when I have, the expiry period of my latest one is May 2025 - July (I renewed it on the same day of the incident). I have only made a few trips and the savings are way less £50. I am of course happy to pay all of that, it is my fault I did not realise my railcard was expired nor acted sooner. My intention of writing to them was to show them all my railcards so that they do not wrongly assume, but you're saying even for that to wait until they get back to me?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

I had a valid ticket that I purchased but my railcard was expired,

The railway takes the view that a ticket purchased with a railcard discount is not a valid ticket if the railcard is expired.

They may accuse you of travelling in previous years on discounted tickets without having a valid railcard, so keep records of all your historic cards.

 

[Hadders]

Wait until they write to you.

You don’t know what their letter is going to ask, and your response is an opportunity to say everything you want to in mitigation.

 

[Gloster]

This reads to me as though you already had an altered railcard on your ‘phone. Why would you have such a thing?

 

[lola_sco09]

I tried renewing it on my app, but I was getting an API payment error, so I altered it then.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jul 2025 ==

I tried renewing it on my app, but I was getting an API payment error, so I altered it then.

Which I acknowledge is absolutely wrong to have done, completely.