C2C Fare Evasion for a few months

[cge99]

Hi everyone,

Let me start by saying I am fully aware that what has happened is wrong and it will never happen again- he has bought the correct ticket ever since. Long story short, I have been unwell, we fell on really bad financial issues this year as have many people and to try and combat this my partner has been buying a shorter monthly season ticket than the journey he was actually doing. Stupid I know and by no means a sob story, but the train is his only way of getting to work and we just did not have the funds, it seemed like a short term solution idiotically- again I am aware this is no excuse please don't attack me!

My partner was stopped last week and questioned, told that they know he has been doing it for a while and took his details.

I am really just looking for advice and experience from other people. We haven't received a letter yet, how long does this usually take?
I'm not silly and I know that he is likely heading for prosecution which I am terrified will ruin my partners job.

How likely is an out of court settlement and how do they work out what the fine is as we don't exactly have thousands of pounds to spare- we have managed to save up 600 but we know that is highly unlikely to cover it I would imagine 5 months of travel is going to be thousands. However, we are willing to do whatever possible to avoid the prosecution and will ask a family member if we absolutely have to.

I can't sleep at night with the worry and I just really would like a bit of advice or a timeline of what is likely to happen here- I have seen conflicting advice of writing letters to the rail companies etc. how long he will be waiting before getting a letter? will it just be straight to court due to the length of the fare evasion etc? What happens in court? What would a fine be? I am sorry for rambling on I am just absolutely petrified for him and for our financial state at the moment.

Thank you in advance x

 

[Titfield]

Firstly do not panic, take a deep breath and relax.

Secondly a letter will arrive anytime within a couple of weeks up to 6 months but probably within a few weeks. It takes some time to check your partners booking record and rail companies have lots of cases to deal with.

When the letter arrives please upload here with all the personal details and reference numbers obscured. The forum members can then give you advice tailored to the situation. If you search the posts made by @Hadders you will see the sort of things to include in a letter of response. It may look threatening but that is the way the rail companies work.

Whist rail operators threaten prosecution in most cases these matters can be settled "out of court" provided that the passenger engages, is honest in what they say and shows genuine remorse.

The rail company will be seeking the fares they have lost: this is where it gets a bit more complicated as some charge the full one way single for every journey taken with no allowance for the fare already paid and some charge the cheapest applicable fare with some allowance made for fares already paid. Only time will tell what the rail company your partner travelled on will do. They may send your partner an excel spreadsheet or list of journeys for comment. It may be a good idea for your partner to go through their booking account and draw up their own list for comparison purposes.

There will also be an administration fee for the work involved typically £100 - £200 but this will be at the higher end of the scale due to the work involved in investigating all the journeys your partner made.

Rail companies only prosecute for two reasons: (1) if the passenger doesnt engage (2) to make an example of someone if the fare evasion is on an industrial scale. Having said that we have seen loads of cases settled out of court that one would expect to go to court. The key here seems to be honesty, engagement and contrition.

Do not worry about going to court yet. That is a long way down the track and hopefully it can be avoided. Even then going to court is not life changing / career threatening as many believe it to be.

Finally please relax. This will be sorted.

 

[alholmes]

This is a tricky one to answer as we very rarely see an incident with c2c on this forum. What you’re looking to achieve is an out of court settlement with c2c, which will mean the payment of evaded fares plus a fee to cover the investigation costs (typically £150-£200). You need to work out how many fares have been evaded and lookup (or ask on here) what the Anytime Single fare is between the two stations. The company will want full repayment of all fares evaded. And you should assume they won’t take the short fare that your partner has paid into account. It’s possible they might allow that, but you should budget for the worst case scenario.

Until you receive the letter from c2c there’s not much you can do, but do come back here when you receive the letter. And in the meantime, make sure your partner is buying the correct ticket.

 

[cge99]

Firstly do not panic, take a deep breath and relax.

Secondly a letter will arrive anytime within a couple of weeks up to 6 months but probably within a few weeks. It takes some time to check your partners booking record and rail companies have lots of cases to deal with.

When the letter arrives please upload here with all the personal details and reference numbers obscured. The forum members can then give you advice tailored to the situation. If you search the posts made by @Hadders you will see the sort of things to include in a letter of response. It may look threatening but that is the way the rail companies work.

Whist rail operators threaten prosecution in most cases these matters can be settled "out of court" provided that the passenger engages, is honest in what they say and shows genuine remorse.

The rail company will be seeking the fares they have lost: this is where it gets a bit more complicated as some charge the full one way single for every journey taken with no allowance for the fare already paid and some charge the cheapest applicable fare with some allowance made for fares already paid. Only time will tell what the rail company your partner travelled on will do. They may send your partner an excel spreadsheet or list of journeys for comment. It may be a good idea for your partner to go through their booking account and draw up their own list for comparison purposes.

There will also be an administration fee for the work involved typically £100 - £200 but this will be at the higher end of the scale due to the work involved in investigating all the journeys your partner made.

Rail companies only prosecute for two reasons: (1) if the passenger doesnt engage (2) to make an example of someone if the fare evasion is on an industrial scale. Having said that we have seen loads of cases settled out of court that one would expect to go to court. The key here seems to be honesty, engagement and contrition.

Do not worry about going to court yet. That is a long way down the track and hopefully it can be avoided. Even then going to court is not life changing / career threatening as many believe it to be.

Finally please relax. This will be sorted.

Thank you, I think I really needed to hear that, feel like I’m just in a constant state of panic. As soon as we have the letter I will upload here, thank you so much x

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Nov 2024 ==

This is a tricky one to answer as we very rarely see an incident with c2c on this forum. What you’re looking to achieve is an out of court settlement with c2c, which will mean the payment of evaded fares plus a fee to cover the investigation costs (typically £150-£200). You need to work out how many fares have been evaded and lookup (or ask on here) what the Anytime Single fare is between the two stations. The company will want full repayment of all fares evaded. And you should assume they won’t take the short fare that your partner has paid into account. It’s possible they might allow that, but you should budget for the worst case scenario.

Until you receive the letter from c2c there’s not much you can do, but do come back here when you receive the letter. And in the meantime, make sure your partner is buying the correct ticket.

Thank you, once we have the letter I will come back and post- he’s learnt his lesson and correct tickets are now being bought! Thank you x

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

I think this is the first case I've ever seen in this section of the forum involving c2c. I've often wondered if c2c customers are more conscientious when it comes to purchasing rail tickets or if c2c's revenue enforcement had room for improvement...

As others have said it's difficult to advise properly because we see so few cases involving c2c. Their Revenue Protection Policy s rather basic compared to other train companies so it doesn't give us many clues:

Revenue protection policy

c2c, along with many other train operating companies, operates a Penalty Fares system on its service. This means that anyone who does not have a valid ticket for their journey may be liable to pay the penalty fare.

www.c2c-online.co.uk

What I'd expect them to do is write to you saying they have received a report and are considering prosecution but asking for you version of events before deciding how to proceed. When the letter arrives, post a copy of it in this thread (do remove any personal details and case reference numbers before doing so) and we will be happy to advise on next steps.

 

[Egg Centric]

Was it definitely c2c that stopped your partner? If you're unsure, can you advise what station he was stopped at?

I ask because as @Hadders says c2c don't seem to appear here much* but various of their stations have other operators there who could conceivably have stopped him, one of which you really don't want to have been the ones who stopped him.



*although I have personally once encountered a blockade at West Ham, over a decade ago.

 

[cge99]

Hi all,

We have received the dreaded letter and are very relieved at the outcome. We are trying to get the money together and my father said we should write to them and ask for a payment plan. Is this worth doing or would this risk them rescinding their offer? Is it worth us just trying to scrape it together or get a loan and pay it off?

Thank you all in advance x

 

[jfollows]

A payment plan is unlikely; they are offering an out of court settlement to close the issue, but if they offer a payment plan they still may have to take you to court if you renege on it and stop paying, so they won’t want to take the risk.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all,

We have received the dreaded letter and are very relieved at the outcome. We are trying to get the money together and my father said we should write to them and ask for a payment plan. Is this worth doing or would this risk them rescinding their offer? Is it worth us just trying to scrape it together or get a loan and pay it off?

Thank you all in advance x

Payment plans can be common in cases of civil debt. This isn’t a civil debt. It’s an out of court settlement offer. Better to borrow money (from reputable source or family) to pay it and close the matter to help prevent risk of court proceedings in my view.

Sorry as this is probably not what you want to hear.

 

[cge99]

Payment plans can be common in cases of civil debt. This isn’t a civil debt. It’s an out of court settlement offer. Better to borrow money (from reputable source or family) to pay it and close the matter to help prevent risk of court proceedings in my view.

Sorry as this is probably not what you want to hear.

Thank you for the advice I really appreciate it, we will look into borrowing some money.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Nov 2024 ==

A payment plan is unlikely; they are offering an out of court settlement to close the issue, but if they offer a payment plan they still may have to take you to court if you renege on it and stop paying, so they won’t want to take the risk.

Thank you for the advice, I thought as much but worth a check thank you x