Facing prosecution for short faring on SWR

[z444z]

Are there any cases where they haven't and it has ended badly? not talking about the hedge fund executives living outside of London seen in the media.

No. It escalates if you do not cooperate with the process. You don’t need to worry about giving them evidence to prosecute you - they caught and identified you without a valid ticket, they already have more than enough.

 

[subcso]

I am going to send this latest draft version. I will wait a little to see if anyone has anything to say on the draft.

 

[jfollows]

I am going to send this latest draft version. I will wait a little to see if anyone has anything to say on the draft.

Did you mean to attach something here?

 

[subcso]

Did you mean to attach something here?

this is the draft:

Dear [redacted],

Subject - [redacted] FI IT

Thank you for your letter providing the spreadsheet. I can confirm, with deep regret, that I did not purchase the correct ticket for any of the journeys highlighted.

I am sincerely sorry for my actions - this was a massive error of judgement on my part. I now understand that fare evasion is a serious matter, and I should have known better. I have started buying season tickets every month and will ensure I always hold the correct valid ticket for all journeys in the future.

Here is a screenshot (attached) of my held railcards which shows apart from a period between 06/07/2023 to 23/07/2023, I have consistently held them from 2020 to present.

[screenshot]

I would appreciate if you would consider resolving this matter by way of an out-of-court settlement. I am willing to pay the outstanding fares and administrative costs to bring this matter to a close without court proceedings. I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter directly and avoid the serious implications that a court conviction would have on my future.

Yours faithfully,

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Feb 2026 ==

just got this message from the investigator:


Before your case can be forwarded to the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Team to make the final decision on your case, some information is needed.



For the journeys in question, what would typically be the starting station for your journeys travelling into London? For tickets leaving London?



With this information an accurate assessment of the fares avoided can be made which will move us towards a speedy resolution.



Your continued cooperation is much appreciated.


- seems like just a simple response is needed.

 

[z444z]

seems like just a simple response is needed.

Agreed, just answer the question honestly. Do run your draft response by us before sending it though to make sure

 

[subcso]

here is my response draft:

Dear [redacted],

Thank you for your quick response.

For tickets travelling into London, previously, I would typically travel from Fulwell, or Teddington.
I now use Twickenham as my typical travel station.

For tickets leaving London, I would enter at Waterloo, or Vauxhall if I had just used the Victoria line.

Sincerely,

 

[z444z]

here is my response draft:

Dear [redacted],

Thank you for your quick response.

For tickets travelling into London, previously, I would typically travel from Fulwell, or Teddington.
I now use Twickenham as my typical travel station.

For tickets leaving London, I would enter at Waterloo, or Vauxhall if I had just used the Victoria line.

Sincerely,

Fares from Fulwell and Teddington are the same, and Twickenham is just slightly cheaper, but there’s a £3 difference between fares to/from Vauxhall and Waterloo.

I think your response should be a bit more precise. Give them the date that your travel pattern changed to Twickenham, offer supporting evidence of this like a tenancy agreement or employment contract (you don’t need to provide it now but if you could then tell them you are happy to upon request).

As Fulwell vs Teddington makes no difference, all you need to give them is a rough ratio between times you used Waterloo and times you used Vauxhall.

Alternatively if you don’t want the hassle you could simply offer to pay the fare into Waterloo for all of the journeys, but generally if they think you’re being truthful they will charge you based on what you tell them.

They could have evidence they haven’t mentioned yet so do not be tempted to lie for the sake of saving a few £ as it could massively backfire.

 

[subcso]

Fares from Fulwell and Teddington are the same, and Twickenham is just slightly cheaper, but there’s a £3 difference between fares to/from Vauxhall and Waterloo.

I think your response should be a bit more precise. Give them the date that your travel pattern changed to Twickenham, offer supporting evidence of this like a tenancy agreement or employment contract (you don’t need to provide it now but if you could then tell them you are happy to upon request).

As Fulwell vs Teddington makes no difference, all you need to give them is a rough ratio between times you used Waterloo and times you used Vauxhall.

Alternatively if you don’t want the hassle you could simply offer to pay the fare into Waterloo for all of the journeys, but generally if they think you’re being truthful they will charge you based on what you tell them.

They could have evidence they haven’t mentioned yet so do not be tempted to lie for the sake of saving a few £ as it could massively backfire.

Makes sense. I'm going to simplify it because the whole reason I am in this situation is because I wanted to save a few £ - which backfired. I got rid of mentioning twickenham at all.

if they present the opportunity to do so, I will be more specific.

 

[z444z]

Makes sense. I'm going to simplify it because the whole reason I am in this situation is because I wanted to save a few £ - which backfired. I got rid of mentioning twickenham at all.

if they present the opportunity to do so, I will be more specific.

Sounds reasonable, keep us updated!

 

[subcso]

Hi all,
Shortly after I sent my last response I recieved this email:

Thank you for your email. Its contents have been noted and attached to your file for review.



Your case has been forwarded to the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Team to make the final decision regarding any further action SWR may take.



Please allow time for a response, typically via post, as this is a busy time for us.



Thank you again and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

---

I've not heard back yet, so I was thinking about sending this:

Dear Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Team,

Regarding case [redacted]

Please could you confirm whether this is to be an out of court settlement?

As a working person early in my career I am very keen to avoid a criminal record as you can appreciate.

I look forward to your emailed response.

With regards,

---

Could this be appropriate to do? Not to adress this to the investigator but the D&P team.

the date i was caught is rapidly approaching 6 months.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all,
Shortly after I sent my last response I recieved this email:

Thank you for your email. Its contents have been noted and attached to your file for review.



Your case has been forwarded to the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Team to make the final decision regarding any further action SWR may take.



Please allow time for a response, typically via post, as this is a busy time for us.



Thank you again and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

---

I've not heard back yet, so I was thinking about sending this:

Dear Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Team,

Regarding case [redacted]

Please could you confirm whether this is to be an out of court settlement?

As a working person early in my career I am very keen to avoid a criminal record as you can appreciate.

I look forward to your emailed response.

With regards,

---

Could this be appropriate to do? Not to adress this to the investigator but the D&P team.

the date i was caught is rapidly approaching 6 months.

my instinct would not be to send what you have drafted. Tho I may stand corrected by others

Probably best to await further advice here on what, if anything, you should do.

 

[z444z]

the date i was caught is rapidly approaching 6 months.

I understand why this would be concerning. How close are we talking?

A bit of a wait for a response is to be expected - they said as much in their holding response - and it hasn’t even been two weeks. I can understand why you’re anxious to confirm it’ll be settled but they are unlikely to be able to confirm this because they haven’t decided yet. When they decide they will write to you. The wait is while your case sits in a queue, it’s not that they’ve decided to settle but haven’t contacted you yet.

I wouldn’t advise sending the version you posted here, but depending on the answer to my question above it may not hurt to send something - but let us help you figure out exactly what to send.

 

[MotCO]

You only have a week to wait before SWR is out of time to take you to Court under the usual bye-laws or the Regulation of Railways Act. It may take up to a month after that date for Court paperwork to be sent to you. My suggestion is not to send a chasing letter at this stage. If you haven't heard within the next 6 weeks or so, then SWR's only option is to offer an Out of Court settlement, which is obviously what you are after.

(The only other legal route open to SWR is Fraud, but this is very very rare.)

 

[subcso]

I understand why this would be concerning. How close are we talking?

Just over a week.

 

[z444z]

I also think it’s in your interests to just sit tight.

There’s a slight chance that as the deadline approaches they begin court proceedings, but I don’t recall any instances on the forum of this happening with any company other than GTR. When it has happened, it’s still been possible to settle out of court by contacting the company.

But I think it’s more likely that they miss the deadline, in which case they’ve lost basically all the leverage they had. They could still pursue it civilly but wouldn’t be able to recover as much money, and they might not bother at all.

I get that it’s a bit nerve wracking but this delay could save you quite a bit of money.

However if you can’t handle that I can understand that and if you’re set on writing to SWR despite this advice let us know so we can help with that!

 

[subcso]

Hi all,

following from the last email I was sent telling me that the case has been passed up to the debt and prosecution case, I did not receive another email; instead I was sent a letter which stated the initial overview of the case, the facts, and the line "...we believe we have sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute you..." and "the following options are available to you"

option 1: provide an explination

option 2: settle with us out of court

option 3: request a court hearing

---

Of course I settled with them. they charged me £260 - I'm very grateful it is much less than I was expecting. I believe this was just the standard £100 fine with admin fees of £160 on top.

Thank you everyone who helped, I'm glad I trusted internet strangers in this circumstance. Of course I have learned my lesson.

Take care.

 

[swt_passenger]

Hi all,

following from the last email I was sent telling me that the case has been passed up to the debt and prosecution case, I did not receive another email; instead I was sent a letter which stated the initial overview of the case, the facts, and the line "...we believe we have sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute you..." and "the following options are available to you"

option 1: provide an explination

option 2: settle with us out of court

option 3: request a court hearing

---

Of course I settled with them. they charged me £260 - I'm very grateful it is much less than I was expecting. I believe this was just the standard £100 fine with admin fees of £160 on top.

Thank you everyone who helped, I'm glad I trusted internet strangers in this circumstance. Of course I have learned my lesson.

Take care.

It won’t have been a ‘standard fine’. The £100 penalty fare does not, (and cannot as far as I know), get applied retrospectively.
If this was an agreed settlement I expect they would say they’d charged you £100 compensation for the fares avoided, and the rest is their admin costs.

However £100 is a suspiciously round figure? Did you ever confirm the exact number and value of unpaid fares?

 

[WesternLancer]

It won’t have been a ‘standard fine’. The £100 penalty fare does not, (and cannot as far as I know), get applied retrospectively.
If this was an agreed settlement I expect they would say they’d charged you £100 compensation for the fares avoided, and the rest is their admin costs.

However £100 is a suspiciously round figure? Did you ever confirm the exact number and value of unpaid fares?

Totally agree with this - tho worth noting that Northern did do the £100 charges that were known on here as 'Penalty Fakes' - I can't recall what Northern officially called them at the moment - but essentially they were out of court settlements offered as standard without having to go through the pleading to get one instead of prosecution. If you didn't pay it was clear they would prosecute.

Not seen any recently on the forum from Northern however.

 

[subcso]

However £100 is a suspiciously round figure? Did you ever confirm the exact number and value of unpaid fares?

No I didn't confirm. The total was actually £260.94 Just noting that admin costs are between £100-200 and the remainder is 'suspiciously' close to the standard penalty fare-

essentially they were out of court settlements offered as standard without having to go through the pleading to get one instead of prosecution.

-it feels like this, though I did some pleading.

 

[WesternLancer]

-it feels like this, though I did some pleading.

Thanks - with Northern - it was just a letter sent to the people concerned saying basically 'please pay us £100 or we will prosecute you' - no other dialogue / pleading required. At least simple though people felt they were often unfair recipients of such letters

Yes, here's an example uploaded in post 1 of this thread that you can see - Northern called them 'Fixed Penalty Notices' - but I don't think they do them any more (well not seen one on here for a while and this link is dated July 2024)and I don't think SWR have ever done them.

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