Delay Repay

[WesternLancer]

It's impossible to know where to start if we don't know if the OP wants to accept the fraud allegations and settle the case or defend their position.

Well that’s quite good advice as it’s effectively two options the op can think about choosing from and then doing.

 

[Horizon22]

Nonsense. I also use tickets not tied to a certain train. Sometimes these are "m-tickets" which need to be activated before travel. Why on earth would I activate, or scan, such a ticket before I know the train will actually exist?

The railway provides delay and cancellation information to people's phones. Of course they're going to use that information to decide when to turn up at the station.

Fairly often for me, I will be in a pub across the road from the station. If I know my train's cancelled or delayed, I'll stay in the pub. I imagine most people, knowing that, would.

"It could be interpreted" is irrelevant here. A season ticket is valid for a train at any time. The only relevant question is whether there were claims where there was a train between the one being claimed against and the one used.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Oct 2025 ==


It will be a matter of proof. Regardless of patterns being suspicious and triggering investigation, a season ticket can be used at any time the holder wants.

When I've had a season ticket I've used it for both work and leisure journeys, at times all over the place. This isn't unusual, and the OP said it was a flexi season - these were introduced on the basis not everyone commutes on the same days, (or at the same time).

Of course a season ticket can, and people can travel at different times all over the place. That is not the issue, but if someone is making a significantly above average number of Delay Repay claims, that’s either extremely unlucky, or there are potentially some claims being submitted that should not be.

 

[Rahain20]

The advice very much depends on what has, in fact, been going on, and whether the OP admits or refutes the claims. So far they have declined to answer this question.

These claims date back five years and apparently the behaviour has been suspicious for some time, claims the correspondence, and the company thinks that now the tap data supports allegations of impropriety.

It's impossible to know where to start if we don't know if the OP wants to accept the fraud allegations and settle the case or defend their position.

Accept the allegations

 

[IanMac]

Re post #15, surely many trains get cancelled after the passengers have tapped in? Especially at a terminus or at a crew change point, or because a fault is found which prevents the train from leaving on time or even at all. I'm not a regular traveller, but I once boarded a Thameslink train at the Peterborough terminus some 10 minutes before scheduled departure, only for the driver to find a fault with his platform viewing screen and eventually advise everyone to join the next train, from a different platform, and thus incur a 30 minute delay.

 

[Horizon22]

Accept the allegations

Then it sounds like you may need to seek out professional, qualified advice. Especially if this occurred a number of times over many years.

However the forum can assist with drafting a reply.

 

[Rahain20]

Then it sounds like you may need to seek out professional, qualified advice. Especially if this occurred a number of times over many years.

However the forum can assist with drafting a reply.

Do you think a settlement is possible?

 

[AlterEgo]

If you have engaged in systematic fraud for five years any settlement is going to be very expensive.

I recommend you instruct a solicitor and stop talking about this online.

 

[WesternLancer]

Do you think a settlement is possible?

I would think a settlement is probably possible. But you’d need to respond to them in a cooperative manner and offer to pay them what they think you might owe. Their usual objectives are to secure money they think they are owed and that people stop doing the wrong thing eg evading or making illegitimate claims. It seems to me from looking at many threads here that this objective is often more important than simply prosecuting people, so long as people are cooperative.

It’s possible a solicitor that knows about rail fare related stuff can make that case to settle better than you can yourself (such firms get mentioned on here and you could ask for quotes) but their fees could be £500+, or you could try to make the case yourself. Given other views here that you should seek legal advice you may at least want to get quotes.

You could potentially start by responding to ask the railway for a list of claims they believe have been wrongly made. I assume it would be possible to do that in a way that at this stage didn’t admit that any were so as not to incriminate yourself.

Though perhaps that needs to be on the basis that at least some where legitimate.