Fare Evasion Case: Court Date

[rail_fare_woop]

Hi Rail forums,

My wife, unfortunately, did not realize that her 26-30 Railcard had expired, and was stopped by an inspector at 6am on a train from London to Gatwick.

Background: No previous offences, railcard had expired and she had not realized, did have a ticket for the route (just with the 26-30 discount).
Now has renewed her Railcard.

Unfortunately, due to work travel, she missed the initial fine letter and has now received the court summons letter.
She is American, and here on Indefinite leave to remain, looking to apply for her passport at somepoint in the future.

A criminal conviction, could potentially affect both this and her potentially her employment.

I understand she needs to pay the fine (listed as £135).

Is there a possibility of contacting GTR now and settling out of court?

Thanks!

 

[alholmes]

The figure of £135 listed on the court paperwork is probably just GTR’s costs. If convicted at court she’ll also receive a fine & victim surcharge, and the criminal record that she clearly wants to avoid.

Yes, it’s possible to contact GTR and request that they consider offering an out of court settlement, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll agree. Fortunately GTR are one of the better companies to deal with. Time is clearly of the essence here - there’s lots of examples in this forum on what to say in a letter. Feel free to post a draft on here for review.

 

[Titfield]

Please can you upload the paperwork with the personal details and reference number obscured (redacted)?

It is worth searching on this forum for the advice @Hadders posts for the response letter.

 

[rail_fare_woop]

@Titfield Attached is the packet she received this morning (only things omitted are the response forms, which I assume are standardised).

@alholmes Thats good to know thankyou.
I will search around for a letter outline and get one drafted up ready to send tomorrow.

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@alholmes
Below is my wife's letter draft, hopefully it hits all the right points I saw in a few others.

---
Dear Sir/Madam,


Reference Number: XXX


I am writing in response to the Intention to Prosecute letter I received from you dated XXXX. I firstly would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond.

I was approached whilst traveling on the (DATE) and realized I wasn’t able to produce my Railcard, as I had forgotten to renew it. I have had a Railcard since I was 25 and am very sorry that I didn’t have a valid one at the time of my incident. Since the incident I ensured I have renewed my Railcard and that the app was downloaded onto my phone.

I am extremely sorry for my foolish error, and should have ensured that my railcard was active before boarding the train. I also want to apologise for the extra workload my case has added to your team, and am now aware of the massive strain and financial cost that fare evasion places on Govia Thameslink and the railway industry.

I also want to apologize for missing your original settlement letter date. I have been traveling frequently for work over the summer and have just recently caught up on all my mail.

I would be very grateful for the chance to settle this matter outside of court by any means necessary, including paying for my full fare along with any administrative costs or fees that you would have incurred whilst dealing with my case.

I want to apologise again for any inconvenience caused and hope to hear back from you soon.


Sincerely,

xxx

 

[alholmes]

I think the response is good. Would suggest moving the sentence about missing the original settlement date up, and combining it with the first sentence / paragraph, as that’s an important point to get across to them early on.

See what other responses you get on here in next 24 hours, before sending to GTR.

 

[Huntergreed]

I am writing in response to the Intention to Prosecute letter I received from you dated XXXX. I firstly would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond.

I was approached whilst traveling on the (DATE) and realized realised I wasn’t able to produce my an in-date Railcard, as I had forgotten to renew it. I have had a Railcard since I was 25 and am very sorry that I didn’t have a valid one at the time of my the incident. Since the incident I ensured I have renewed my Railcard and on that the app was downloaded onto my phone on the app.

I am extremely sorry for my foolish error and should have ensured that my railcard was active had not expired before boarding the train. I also want to apologise for the extra workload my case has added to your team and am now aware of the massive strain and financial cost that fare evasion places on Govia Thameslink and the railway industry.

I also want to apologize apologise for missing your original settlement letter date response deadline. I have been traveling frequently for work over the summer and have just recently caught up on all my mail.

I would be very grateful for the chance to settle this matter outside of court by any means necessary, including paying for my full fare along with any administrative costs or fees that you would have incurred whilst dealing with my case.

I want to apologise again for any inconvenience caused my error and hope to hear back from you soon.

I’ve tidied this up a bit.

I think it could be a little more concise in places, but overall this conveys the intended message.

 

[John R]

Maybe it’s just me but the wording “recently caught up with all my mail” along with “travelling frequently” suggests that she did have opportunities whilst at home to open mail but just didn’t bother. As opposed to being away for one longer period and opened all her post immediately on her return.

If I were the train company I’d be sympathetic to the latter situation, but not at all if it was the former, which is why I raise the point.

 

[rail_fare_woop]

Maybe it’s just me but the wording “recently caught up with all my mail” along with “travelling frequently” suggests that she did have opportunities whilst at home to open mail but just didn’t bother. As opposed to being away for one longer period and opened all her post immediately on her return.

If I were the train company I’d be sympathetic to the latter situation, but not at all if it was the former, which is why I raise the point.

Ah yes, that's what I was trying to convey. She was away for work for a few months, and only recently returned.

I’ve tidied this up a bit.

I think it could be a little more concise in places, but overall this conveys the intended message.

Thankyou so much!
I have edited it up the letter, and it has been mailed out today.

Hopefully GOVIA we can get the outcome we are looking for.

 

[rail_fare_woop]

Just wanted to update this, and say thankyou for all the help on here.

For those, who this comes in search:
We used the letter drafted here, and sent it off to GOVIA Friday of last week.
7 Days later, we received an out of court settlement offer from GOVIA.
Initial fine: £135
Out of court settlement off: £145
So, fortunately no court date or anything like that, but you do definitely have to be quick on getting a letter out to them, as we were only a few days away from where she would have had to please guilty.

The letter we used is below, in case anyone else runs into a similar situation.


---

Dear Sir/Madam,
Reference Number: [XX]

I am writing in response to the Intention to Prosecute letter I received from you dated [XX].

I was approached whilst traveling on the [Date of incident] and realised I wasn’t able to produce an in-date Railcard, as I had forgotten to renew it. I have had a Railcard since I was 25 and am very sorry that I didn’t have a valid one at the time of the incident. Since the incident I have renewed my Railcard on the app.

I am extremely sorry for my error and should have ensured that my railcard had not expired before boarding the train. I also want to apologise for the extra workload my case has added to your team and am now aware of the massive strain and financial cost that fare evasion places on Govia Thameslink and the railway industry.

I also want to apologise for missing your original response deadline. I have been traveling for an extended period of time for work, and have only recently returned to the UK.

I would be very grateful for the chance to settle this matter outside of court, including paying for my full fare along with any administrative costs or fees that you would have incurred whilst dealing with my case.

I want to apologise again for my error and hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely,
[Name]

 

[spotify95]

Good outcome there, glad to hear you got it settled! The alternative would have been £135 in court costs + £11.90 compensation + fine + victim surcharge + criminal record, which is definitely best avoided.

 

[Hadders]

Thanks for letting us know, and pleased that you managed to come to obtain a satisfactory outcome.