Caught short ticketing

[jackson1028]

hello, i’m an 18 year old student who travel to reading for university, today i was caught short ticketing by GWR revenue officer (i believe). i bought a ticket from tywford to reading (when i’m meant to buy a ticket from west drayton to reading) using a 16-17 saver which i do not qualify for, i have unfortunately been short ticketing for 14 journeys which he has taken account for by viewing my trainline booking history, i feel very anxious right now as to what the possible outcome of this is. I really cannot afford to have a criminal record at such a young age due to it affecting my uni, & future work search and many other things.



the inspector also mentioned i commited 2 offences:

• used the wrong railcard
• short ticketing

I’m willing to pay any compensation/fine if an out of court settlement is reached



My main question is, is the likely-hood of going to court the likely outcome or not? it’s my first ever offence (which has been accounted for)



Please request anymore information if need be!

 

[island]

GWR are usually willing to settle out of court the first time you're caught – you should expect a settlement fee of around £100 plus the avoided fare.

Needless to say, you absolutely must start buying the right tickets going forward. You are likely to be able to use a 16-25 Railcard.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@jackson1028. Welcome to the forum!

I'll copy in forum expert @Hadders, who is usually able to provide good, helpful, general advice as regards how best to take things forward in circumstances such as these.

If you are able to negotiate a so-called "out of court" settlement, you can most likely expect to pay a three figure sum towards the train company's investigation costs PLUS the full undiscounted anytime single fares, for each and every occasion on which you didn't have a valid ticket. Believe this is £15.60 for each single journey, if from West Drayton to Reading, so this could soon prove to add up to something quite expensive.

An "out of court" settlement is not guaranteed, however.

The train company may still decide to take you to court in view of the number of previous infractions.

Good luck, however, with a favourable outcome!

 

[jackson1028]

GWR are usually willing to settle out of court the first time you're caught – you should expect a settlement fee of around £100 plus the avoided fare.

Needless to say, you absolutely must start buying the right tickets going forward. You are likely to be able to use a 16-25 Railcard.

okay thanks for the reply, since i’ve been short ticketing for approximately 15 journeys, will those count as 15 offences or 1 since i’ve only been caught today?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2022 ==

@jackson1028. Welcome to the forum!

I'll copy in forum expert @Hadders, who is usually able to provide good, helpful, general advice as regards how best to take things forward in circumstances such as these.

If you are able to negotiate a so-called "out of court" settlement, you can most likely expect to pay a three figure sum towards the train company's investigation costs PLUS the full undiscounted anytime single fares, for each and every occasion on which you didn't have a valid ticket. Believe this is £15.60 for each single journey, if from West Drayton to Reading, so this could soon prove to add up to something quite expensive.

An "out of court" settlement is not guaranteed, however.

The train company may still decide to take you to court in view of the number of previous infractions.

Good luck, however, with a favourable outcome!

thanks for the reply mate, much appreciated.

i qualify for a 16-25 which i currently possess, does this mean i pay the fare price in line with what it costs using a 16-25 railcard?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

... you can most likely expect to pay a three figure sum towards the train company's investigation costs PLUS the full undiscounted anytime single fares, for each and every occasion on which you didn't have a valid ticket.

Quite possibly £100 + (15 x £15.60) (with no discounts). Let you do the maths, but maybe £334 in total to settle.

 

[ChewChewTrain]

i qualify for a 16-25 which i currently possess, does this mean i pay the fare price in line with what it costs using a 16-25 railcard?

No such luck. The settlement is the settlement; if they allowed people to substantially discount it by buying a railcard after the fact then everyone would do that.

Nor should you try to “negotiate” the settlement down if they do offer you one; they don’t have to offer it at all, and are perfectly entitled to withdraw the offer if they feel you are taking the proverbial and/or haven’t learnt your lesson.

 

[furlong]

16-17 railcard offers a higher discount that 16-25. Did you show the inspector your 16-25 railcard?

If you co-operated and the inspector obtained and recorded enough details, you might receive a settlement offer from GWR directly.
If they think they don't have all the information they need or there is something that makes it more serious (such as acting abusively when caught), they'll send a letter asking you to tell them what happened and this is where you write an apology,

 

[island]

okay thanks for the reply, since i’ve been short ticketing for approximately 15 journeys, will those count as 15 offences or 1 since i’ve only been caught today?

GWR will decide how much they want to pursue you for. Depending on the inspector's report, this could be 1, 15, or anything in between. If you were cooperative and polite and passed the "attitude test", the inspector may well just put the one offence in their report.

As others note, any settlement offer will be non-negotiable. It's also unlikely that you will be allowed to pay in instalments.

 

[jackson1028]

16-17 railcard offers a higher discount that 16-25. Did you show the inspector your 16-25 railcard?

If you co-operated and the inspector obtained and recorded enough details, you might receive a settlement offer from GWR directly.
If they think they don't have all the information they need or there is something that makes it more serious (such as acting abusively when caught), they'll send a letter asking you to tell them what happened and this is where you write an apology,

unfortunately i didnt show the inspector my 16-25 railcard

the situation was held in a professional & modest way! hopefully its only a fine.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2022 ==

GWR will decide how much they want to pursue you for. Depending on the inspector's report, this could be 1, 15, or anything in between. If you were cooperative and polite and passed the "attitude test", the inspector may well just put the one offence in their report.

As others note, any settlement offer will be non-negotiable. It's also unlikely that you will be allowed to pay in instalments.

He also did take photos of my trainline booking history which makes me think he may of put it down as to 15 offences, hopefully not but time will tell.

 

[island]

unfortunately i didnt show the inspector my 16-25 railcard

the situation was held in a professional & modest way! hopefully its only a fine.

On a point of terminology, you do not want to get a fine. A fine can only be issued by a court, after conviction. You will be wanting an out of court settlement.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

On a point of terminology, you do not want to get a fine. A fine can only be issued by a court, after conviction. You will be wanting an out of court settlement.

And to add some further reassurance: even if the case does end up in court, the only punishment will be a fine (with other costs added on top). If you're worrying that you will be sent to prison, you won't - that only happens if you've done something to make matters much worse. So as long as you weren't physically violent to railway staff, you won't be locked up.

 

[jackson1028]

On a point of terminology, you do not want to get a fine. A fine can only be issued by a court, after conviction. You will be wanting an out of court settlement.

thanks for correcting me mate.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2022 ==

And to add some further reassurance: even if the case does end up in court, the only punishment will be a fine (with other costs added on top). If you're worrying that you will be sent to prison, you won't - that only happens if you've done something to make matters much worse. So as long as you weren't physically violent to railway staff, you won't be locked up.

thanks for the reply, im only worried about ending up with a criminal record which will hinder my professional & work life.

 

[Jim the Jim]

A criminal record shouldn't matter to the uni; they probably won't know about it and I doubt they'd care if you did. Whether it matters for your career will depend somewhat on what kind of job you want.

 

[WesternLancer]

thanks for correcting me mate.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2022 ==


thanks for the reply, im only worried about ending up with a criminal record which will hinder my professional & work life.

I suggest reading the revenue protection policy document (pdf download) on the GWR website.