swimjump
New Member
Hello, and happy Friday all.
In need of some advice please.
In January, I was stopped with a short ticket traveling on Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone to Bicester Village (ticket was only as far as Denham). I complied with the officer fully, providing identification and address details.
The majority of my Trainline history is fully paid fares, mostly to Birmingham or London, and I have a 2-together railcard used for most London trips. My misjudgment in using the short ticket the time I was caught came from some legitimate trips from Denham, where I would leave a friend's house to go into London and then return all the way back to Bicester. Obviously this is regretful and the wrong thing to do, and I'm now looking for advice to avoid a criminal record.
I received the following (via post) dated 7th April 2025:
We are in receipt of a report, which advises that on Thursday 16 January 2025, a person giving your name and address details was spoken to by a railway revenue protection staff in connection with a journey between Marylebone and Bicester Village, at the time you failed to show a valid rail ticket for the journey that you were making or had made.
Following you being spoken to; the Economic Crime, Fraud & Prosecutions Unit submitted a data access request Under Schedule 2 Part 1 Paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR Article 6 (1) (d), to various ticket retailers, which has revealed that you may have avoided the correct rail fare on other occasions.
if you have a valid railcard but were unable to produce it to the rail official on the day in question, please email a copy of any railcards you hold or previously held for us to review.
The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the report and of any action that may follow from it, and to provide you with the opportunity to inform us of any mitigation that you may wish to be considered. This can be sent via email; Fraud@chilternrailways.co.uk
The report of this incident indicates that in the absence of a satisfactory explanation, evidence does exist to warrant a prosecution in accordance with current legislation. These considerations may include whether any charge should allege an offence against Railway Byelaws (2005), or the Regulation of Railways Act 1889.
You are therefore advised to seek out independent legal advice from a Solicitor trained in criminal law and who is registered with the Law Society. It would also be an advantage if they have knowledge of rail fare law, as this is a specialised area.
The company considers this a serious matter, and if we do not hear from you within 14 days of the date of this letter, this matter will be passed to our Prosecuting Authority with a view to obtaining a Summons to a Magistrates' Court hearing, this may be issued without further reference to you.
I replied, via email, on 14th April 2025 with this:
Dear Sir,
I am writing in relation to the recent correspondence received regarding the above matter. I respectfully request that you consider allowing me to settle this matter out of court by paying any outstanding fares and associated administrative costs in full.
On 16th January 2025, I was approached by a revenue protection officer. I cooperated fully, provided identification without delay, and truthfully explained that I had purchased an invalid ticket. I voluntarily allowed the officer to view my past ticket purchases on my mobile phone.
Since the incident, I have reviewed my Trainline history and acknowledge that there were other occasions where I failed to purchase the correct fare. I take full responsibility for these instances and understand the seriousness of my actions. Over the past two years, I have taken over 140 trips, the vast majority with valid tickets, but I recognise that compliance must be absolute.
I would like to stress that this behaviour has now ceased. I have continued to use the rail service since the incident and have paid the full fare on every occasion.
While my actions were driven by growing frustration with persistent overcrowding on the Bicester to Marylebone service, I recognise this is no justification. I should have addressed my concerns through the proper channels. I deeply regret the decisions I made and sincerely apologise for them.
I am committed to ensuring there is no recurrence and would be very grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter by paying any costs deemed appropriate. I am willing to make immediate payment and fully cooperate as needed.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
SwimJump
I am yet to receive any response, and what concerns me is the sentence in their letter "this matter will be passed to our Prosecuting Authority with a view to obtaining a Summons to a Magistrates' Court hearing, this may be issued without further reference to you."
I was hoping based on reading similar threads that I may be able to agree a settlement without expensive legal fees - however, as I absolutely cannot afford a criminal record, would it be best for me now to engage a Solicitor who may be able to reach some sort of agreement before I just end up with court papers through the door, since it sounds from the above they don't have to reply to the email and can just proceed if they want to.
All thoughts / advice appreciated, thank you so much.
In need of some advice please.
In January, I was stopped with a short ticket traveling on Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone to Bicester Village (ticket was only as far as Denham). I complied with the officer fully, providing identification and address details.
The majority of my Trainline history is fully paid fares, mostly to Birmingham or London, and I have a 2-together railcard used for most London trips. My misjudgment in using the short ticket the time I was caught came from some legitimate trips from Denham, where I would leave a friend's house to go into London and then return all the way back to Bicester. Obviously this is regretful and the wrong thing to do, and I'm now looking for advice to avoid a criminal record.
I received the following (via post) dated 7th April 2025:
We are in receipt of a report, which advises that on Thursday 16 January 2025, a person giving your name and address details was spoken to by a railway revenue protection staff in connection with a journey between Marylebone and Bicester Village, at the time you failed to show a valid rail ticket for the journey that you were making or had made.
Following you being spoken to; the Economic Crime, Fraud & Prosecutions Unit submitted a data access request Under Schedule 2 Part 1 Paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR Article 6 (1) (d), to various ticket retailers, which has revealed that you may have avoided the correct rail fare on other occasions.
if you have a valid railcard but were unable to produce it to the rail official on the day in question, please email a copy of any railcards you hold or previously held for us to review.
The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the report and of any action that may follow from it, and to provide you with the opportunity to inform us of any mitigation that you may wish to be considered. This can be sent via email; Fraud@chilternrailways.co.uk
The report of this incident indicates that in the absence of a satisfactory explanation, evidence does exist to warrant a prosecution in accordance with current legislation. These considerations may include whether any charge should allege an offence against Railway Byelaws (2005), or the Regulation of Railways Act 1889.
You are therefore advised to seek out independent legal advice from a Solicitor trained in criminal law and who is registered with the Law Society. It would also be an advantage if they have knowledge of rail fare law, as this is a specialised area.
The company considers this a serious matter, and if we do not hear from you within 14 days of the date of this letter, this matter will be passed to our Prosecuting Authority with a view to obtaining a Summons to a Magistrates' Court hearing, this may be issued without further reference to you.
I replied, via email, on 14th April 2025 with this:
Dear Sir,
I am writing in relation to the recent correspondence received regarding the above matter. I respectfully request that you consider allowing me to settle this matter out of court by paying any outstanding fares and associated administrative costs in full.
On 16th January 2025, I was approached by a revenue protection officer. I cooperated fully, provided identification without delay, and truthfully explained that I had purchased an invalid ticket. I voluntarily allowed the officer to view my past ticket purchases on my mobile phone.
Since the incident, I have reviewed my Trainline history and acknowledge that there were other occasions where I failed to purchase the correct fare. I take full responsibility for these instances and understand the seriousness of my actions. Over the past two years, I have taken over 140 trips, the vast majority with valid tickets, but I recognise that compliance must be absolute.
I would like to stress that this behaviour has now ceased. I have continued to use the rail service since the incident and have paid the full fare on every occasion.
While my actions were driven by growing frustration with persistent overcrowding on the Bicester to Marylebone service, I recognise this is no justification. I should have addressed my concerns through the proper channels. I deeply regret the decisions I made and sincerely apologise for them.
I am committed to ensuring there is no recurrence and would be very grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter by paying any costs deemed appropriate. I am willing to make immediate payment and fully cooperate as needed.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
SwimJump
I am yet to receive any response, and what concerns me is the sentence in their letter "this matter will be passed to our Prosecuting Authority with a view to obtaining a Summons to a Magistrates' Court hearing, this may be issued without further reference to you."
I was hoping based on reading similar threads that I may be able to agree a settlement without expensive legal fees - however, as I absolutely cannot afford a criminal record, would it be best for me now to engage a Solicitor who may be able to reach some sort of agreement before I just end up with court papers through the door, since it sounds from the above they don't have to reply to the email and can just proceed if they want to.
All thoughts / advice appreciated, thank you so much.
