Caught with wrong railcard for ticket

[ldean]

I was caught with no railcard for a 16-17 railcard. I don’t know where I stand legally, have attached all emails from start to finish of the situation, I’d appreciate any advice please.

 

[Gloster]

The experts will need more information. For a start:
What age are you?
Is this the only occasion that you have done this? (N.b. not the only occasion that you have been caught.)
Was the ticket bought online or a paper ticket bought with cash?

 

[ldean]

I’m 28, I have done it on more than one occasion. I bought the tickets online through trainline. Thanks

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Legally speaking you've committed a criminal offence as the incorrrect railcard means your ticket was invalid. SWR are entitled to send the case to the Magistrates Court if they want to.

They are normally prepared to offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with their investigation and who haven't come to their attention before. A settlement is likely to cost the vaue of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid tickets purchased, in addition to an admin fee, typically £150. It sounds as though SWR has researched your online ticket purchasing history and identified further instances of railcard discounted tickets purchased over the last few years. They want evidence that you held a valid railcard for these journeys and if you cannot provide this they will factor the cost of these into the settlement cost.

 

[ldean]

Welcome to the forum!

Legally speaking you've committed a criminal offence as the incorrrect railcard means your ticket was invalid. SWR are entitled to send the case to the Magistrates Court if they want to.

They are normally prepared to offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with their investigation and who haven't come to their attention before. A settlement is likely to cost the vaue of the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid tickets purchased, in addition to an admin fee, typically £150. It sounds as though SWR has researched your online ticket purchasing history and identified further instances of railcard discounted tickets purchased over the last few years. They want evidence that you held a valid railcard for these journeys and if you cannot provide this they will factor the cost of these into the settlement cost.

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

 

[skyhigh]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

Yes, you'll be taken to court and end up with a criminal conviction. They have a cast-iron conviction for the day you were stopped.

 

[alholmes]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

If you ignore this they will almost certainly prosecute you through the courts for the single offence on 24th December 2024, for which you will receive a fine and criminal record. It’s harder for them to prosecute for the previous offences as you were not caught in the act on those occasions, but if you are seeking an out of court settlement then they will include them as part of any settlement.

 

[AlterEgo]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

Yes. You will be prosecuted for the single offence where you were caught, fined, convicted, and also have to pay the outstanding fare/s and a surcharge on the fine - we can be certain of this. You are a hardened fare dodger who has skipped fares for years, they will do this if you ignore them.

It is also possible that the train company will make a civil recovery of any fares they cannot prosecute for because they are more than 6 months old.

To keep this out of court altogether it looks like you're on the hook for about five years' worth of fares to cover fraudulent travel, to be quite blunt. It will be expensive, and you will need not only to pay the fares but also the company's costs in investigating you and finding all your offending.

 

[Haywain]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

You have started well by co-operating and I would recommend that you continue to do so. SWR have acknowledged that you held railcards from November 2022, and if you can provide similar evidence for the earlier period that is likely to work in your favour. We can have no idea how much SWR will be looking to recover from you but you will have a good idea of to what extent you have not paid the correct fares. It sounds like this will be expensive for you.

The other side of the coin is to ignore this and accept being prosecuted for the single offence that SWR have against you. However, we have recently seen a case of SWR taking steps to recover other unpaid fares which they could do through the civil courts, so being prosecuted won't necessarily get you off the hook for the amount that they seek to recover.

 

[WesternLancer]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

Ignoring it will be the worst thing you could do at this stage, because if you do a lot will happen - none of it good! - if you ignore it, it will escalate automatically to court, court will find you guilty, set the sentence of your court fine etc - and if that is not paid bailiffs will turn up at your address in due course, by which time the costs will have escalated significantly which you will have to pay (they have all sorts of options available to them eg attachment of earnings deductions, deductions form any benefits you get etc). I think ultimately there is the sanction of prison for ignoring court action and court sentences...

But some of that can be avoided by letting it go to court, pleading guilty, and simply paying the fine (which is the punishment / sentence for the crime) if you are not minded to try and avoid that.

This isn't a parking ticket type situation and you need to fully understand that.

Your objective should be to co-operate with them and seek to get the least worst outcome you can achieve given your history of deliberate fare evasion - which is an out of court settlement.

Advice here would help you achieve that - but they will want what they believe you owe them.

 

[Hadders]

Where do I stand on this though. If I ignore this now will anything happen

You’ll be prosecuted for the incident where you were caught.

Rail fares offences are criminal law, not civil offences. I do not advise ignoring this.