Expired Railcard, looking for statement assistance, grateful for any help.

[HB360]

Hi Everyone,


We forgot to renew our railcards, between our trips that were 3 months apart;

Myself and my partner were travelling from Hull(HUL), which is our local station, to Manchester Victoria(MCV), on the 17th of June and shortly after boarding, maybe 2 stops in, our tickets were checked and he then asked to see our railcards(Two Together Railcard), this hadn't happened to us before and we didn't realise it was a standard. I then pulled up our railcards and they prompted to "Renew", they were expired since the 8th of March and we hadn't taken any trains since the 8th of March, although we did have a return ticket from March 7-9th, and decided to head home early and purchased new tickets. (It was because of this, that we did not renew it in March, as our next planned trip was not until this one, and we saw the 3 month gap as a waste) I explained this to the guy, and he tells me he needs to take our details, and we will receive a letter each in the post. We cooperated, and he gave us Travel Irregularity Reports, and after this encounter, when he left, we renewed our railcards. That was the only time on our whole trip that we had our railcards checked.

That letter has just arrived, and is below. Any and all help to confidently form a statement would be appreciated, I have also included at the base of this post the checklist from Mojo's pinned post and the relevant information for our case.

• The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey
• HUL was where we started, and we finished at MCV
• The stations* where you changed trains (if applicable);
• There was a change over in Leeds(LDS), although this interaction happened before that.
• If you presented a ticket(s), the information* stated under "Ticket type", "From", "To", "Route", and any other relevant details;
• The tickets that we had were Advanced Singles, From: HUL To:LDS / From: LDS To: MCV, Route: Ap Tpe Only.
• Details of any Railcard(s) held;
• The Railcards that we hold, are Two Together Railcards, and were expired on the 8th of March.
• When and where ticket(s) were purchased, including whether this was prior to the journey commencing;
• The tickets were purchased prior to the journey, but after the expiry date, we bought them on March 22nd, on Trip.com. (Also first time using Trip, and I didn't have the app at that point.)
• What happened in any encounter with railway staff;
• Detailed Above
• Upload copies of any paperwork (with personal details redacted) with your post.
• Done

I look forward to any/all information anyone can share with me, I just do not want to mess up this statement.

Thank you

 

[nonethewiser]

Thanks for reaching out on the forum!

The experts will be able to give more advice soon but the general advice given on here seems to be to write a short and concise response stating:
1. That you acknowledge the incident and that you didn't have a valid ticket to travel on that occasion
2. That you have learned from the incident and are aware of its implications on the railway
3. You will cooperate with Transpennine Express and are keen to resolve the matter without court action
4. Offer to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs (as you might be aware this is the most realistic outcome you are seeking and if you cooperate with the company should be achieved.)

You can probably work out a ballpark figure of their costs by adding the full price of the fare to £150 in admin fees

 

[brm98]

Thanks for reaching out on the forum!

The experts will be able to give more advice soon but the general advice given on here seems to be to write a short and concise response stating:
1. That you acknowledge the incident and that you didn't have a valid ticket to travel on that occasion
2. That you have learned from the incident and are aware of its implications on the railway
3. You will cooperate with Transpennine Express and are keen to resolve the matter without court action
4. Offer to pay the outstanding fare and administrative costs (as you might be aware this is the most realistic outcome you are seeking and if you cooperate with the company should be achieved.)

You can probably work out a ballpark figure of their costs by adding the full price of the fare to £150 in admin fees

Hi, I currently have a similar situation but unbeknownst to be Id be travelling to and from work for a number of months on an expired railcard before I was finally asked to produce it on a journey.

Do you know how my situation may differ in terms of settlement if I too follow the above steps?

Thanks!

 

[nonethewiser]

Every situation is different so if you wouldn't mind making your own thread, then forum members can advise you on your individual case. This way no one gets confused or mixed advice!

 

[Hadders]

@HB360 Welcome to the forum!

We see lots of cases like this on here. Legally speaking, you've comitted a criminal offence but if you write a short, concise reply that mentions the following TPE will offer you an out of court settlement:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Expect a settlement to cost the fare for the journey made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid tickets you used. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. TPE will check your ticket purchasing history and if this indicates you've purchased other tickets since the railcard expired they will factor the cost of these into the settlement.

You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but if you post a draft reply in this thread forum members will proof read it for you.

 

[HB360]

Hi again everyone.
Thank you for all of the assistance, I have read and re-read what you've told me and have drafted a response. I used your help and also viewed a number of example letters, and the below is what we came up with;

Dear Prosecution Manager,

Please find read below my statement, regarding case reference: xxx

On 17/06/25, I travelled from Hull Paragon Station towards Leeds, and then onto Manchester Victoria I was asked to show my ticket which I showed and was asked to show my Two-Together railcard. I then realised my railcard had expired 3 months ago (since 08/03/25)

I accept full responsibility for my errors. Since we last travelled in early March, my partner and I didn't intend to travel again for multiple months and so planned on waiting with the intent to renew our railcard closer to our travel date. With 3 months having passed we completely forgot all about this and so hadn't renewed for this journey.

I regret this decision to not renew immediately, this was an honest mistake. Please accept my apology for this.

After consulting with the officer I immediately renewed the railcard to avoid further complications with our journey that day, and also due to having another journey the next day. I've also set a reminder on my calendar (14 June 2026) so that I can renew the railcard on time and to avoid a repeat of this incident happening again. My new railcard is: RAILCARD. I will take extra care to check my railcard in future.

I hope that this matter can be resolved between us without any court action and therefore I ask if you would please consider an out-of-court settlement.

Thank you for reading my statement.

Yours faithfully,

Xxx

I think this should be sufficient, but if there is any feedback, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks again,

-HB

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Jul 2025 ==

Side Note, Do you think both my partner and I should submit identical letters, the original letters we received are identical, but we fear it would look lazy if we send the exact same appeals.

 

[Hadders]

The letter looks fine to me. I don't think there's anything wrong with sending identical letters, just make sure that the correct reference number is put on each letter.

 

[HB360]

The letter looks fine to me. I don't think there's anything wrong with sending identical letters, just make sure that the correct reference number is put on each letter.

Perfect, will send right away, thank you for all your help @Hadders. I appreciate it.