Child Ticket Evasion + Fake Name & Address

[JF1997Sot]

Hi,

In May 2024 I stupidly travelled with SWR from X to London Waterloo with no valid ticket.

Upon arrival in London Waterloo, the barriers were closed so I purchased a child ticket from the trainline app on the spot to get through the barriers which was valid from the next closest station (Vauxhall).

I was stopped at Waterloo by revenue protection on the other side of the gates who doubted my ticket due to the purchase time of the ticket being after the train had arrived, they asked for my name, address etc, in which I stupidly gave a fake name and address, with the address being one that I made up on the spot which is miles away north of the country.

Revenue protection advised they will be in touch via letter.

I hadn’t heard anything at all until from then until November 2024, 2 months ago.

I have bought child tickets for different journeys on the train-line app in the past, however, I do not have a train-line account, I check out as guest, although, my email address in linked to the app.

In November 2024, I received an email on from a solicitors acting on behalf of SWR advising I owe £900+ debt for multiple instances of Fare evasion purchasing child tickets so it seems they have investigated my trainline booking history.

However, this email was addressed to both the fake name I gave, and the fake address, but addressed to my email, which obviously they had found using the trainline app.

The email contained attachments with a formal letter of claim with supporting documents and a message saying ‘The hard copies will shortly be served at your companies registered office.’

The email had 2 members of staff who work for SWR revenue protection copied in too.

I opted not to respond to this email, and now, 2 months has passed and I have not heard anything further.

I am wondering what the best thing to do is in this situation?

I do not want a criminal record in the future and would want to avoid this at all costs.

The email received from the solictors acting on behalf mentioned nothing about prosecution or court but did advise about the £900+ evasion debt.

What do I do?

It has been playing on my mind for a while now.

 

[RPI]

50/50 really, they can easily identify you if they start digging, even if you checked out as a guest as it's all linked to your payment card - this debate has been had out before on here.

If they do identify you then you would face the additional charge of providing false details, or if a fraud prosecution was chosen then providing false details would certainly help their case against you.

They might do nothing and put it into the "too much effort" pile.

SWR do generally seem like one of the more pragmatic operators when it comes to settling these matters out of court.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi,

In May 2024 I stupidly travelled with SWR from X to London Waterloo with no valid ticket.

Upon arrival in London Waterloo, the barriers were closed so I purchased a child ticket from the trainline app on the spot to get through the barriers which was valid from the next closest station (Vauxhall).

I was stopped at Waterloo by revenue protection on the other side of the gates who doubted my ticket due to the purchase time of the ticket being after the train had arrived, they asked for my name, address etc, in which I stupidly gave a fake name and address, with the address being one that I made up on the spot which is miles away north of the country.

Revenue protection advised they will be in touch via letter.

I hadn’t heard anything at all until from then until November 2024, 2 months ago.

I have bought child tickets for different journeys on the train-line app in the past, however, I do not have a train-line account, I check out as guest, although, my email address in linked to the app.

In November 2024, I received an email on from a solicitors acting on behalf of SWR advising I owe £900+ debt for multiple instances of Fare evasion purchasing child tickets so it seems they have investigated my trainline booking history.

However, this email was addressed to both the fake name I gave, and the fake address, but addressed to my email, which obviously they had found using the trainline app.

The email contained attachments with a formal letter of claim with supporting documents and a message saying ‘The hard copies will shortly be served at your companies registered office.’

The email had 2 members of staff who work for SWR revenue protection copied in too.

I opted not to respond to this email, and now, 2 months has passed and I have not heard anything further.

I am wondering what the best thing to do is in this situation?

I do not want a criminal record in the future and would want to avoid this at all costs.

The email received from the solictors acting on behalf mentioned nothing about prosecution or court but did advise about the £900+ evasion debt.

What do I do?

It has been playing on my mind for a while now.

If you want to avoid record “at all costs” as you say eg for future career issues then you might want to actively consider engaging with this.

If it comes back to haunt you in years to come somehow you will regret not doing so (eg it doesn’t take long to earn £900 in decent job but if for some reason it prevented you getting that job then that would cost a lot more in lost income).

But it’s hard to know in reality if this will ever happen.

 

[Titfield]

Given it has only been two months including Christmas , I wouldnt be surprised to find that there is a sting in the tail still to come.

If as you say you want to avoid future issues then i would engage to resolve the matter.

 

[Alex C.]

Are you able to post a copy of the letter you received? It is very unusual for external solicitors to be involved, likewise the mention of serving paperwork at your companies registered office is not something I have come across before. What were the dates in May and November? They generally have 6 months to put the charges before a court so if they haven't done this I wonder if they're now looking at pursuing you via a civil route which will involve potentially a very different approach.

 

[John R]

Don’t underestimate the ability of the train company to find you and deal with you. The longer you try to hide behind anonymity, the more difficult it will be to justify to anyone asking in the future what happened.

So if you have any aspirations for a job which requires the utmost integrity, such as healthcare, law, financial services etc, then I would engage and pay up.

 

[WesternLancer]

Don’t underestimate the ability of the train company to find you and deal with you. The longer you try to hide behind anonymity, the more difficult it will be to justify to anyone asking in the future what happened.

So if you have any aspirations for a job which requires the utmost integrity, such as healthcare, law, financial services etc, then I would engage and pay up.

I think this is good advice really.

The OP committed a blindingly obvious evasion (tickets from Vauxhall to Waterloo come up on here regularly, it must be like shooting fish in a barrel on the gateline) then gave a totally false address (probably captured doing so on body cam video)

And used a child ticket.

Lots of pointers to deliberate pre meditated fare evasion.

Then the use of an external solicitor might also create an added incentive for them to pursue this further (more work for them and thus more commission).

I think I’d be looking to close this down promptly if that was an option.

 

[AlterEgo]

The company has no prospect of any fare evasion-related or bylaw prosecution; they are out of time, as this happened in May 2024. This is why they are threatening legal action via civil means. OP: what is the name of the solicitors' firm?

They have no idea who they stopped, and have taken no steps to identify the OP, as they have emailed rather than written to them.