Fare evasion - help needed

[dlbb1390]

Hi

I have recently been subjected to investigation due to over 3 years of instances - 265 of those from vauxhall to Waterloo using a 16-17 railcard, when I would get off at kew bridge i . It was a totally stupid and wreckless of me to which I own to the full extent. The other instances relate to when I was living in Barnes as they think I was still living in Kew bridge, which is not the case.

I have been given a spreadsheet to provide clarity on my movements to which I will provide but I would really appreciate some assistance with response as the last thing I want is for this to be taken to court and am more than willing to settle this out of my courts and not go down prosecution.

Any help or advice would be appreciated greatly

Thanks

 

[walkingsophie]

Have you ever been stopped in person? What communication have you sent so far?

 

[dlbb1390]

Have you ever been stopped in person? What communication have you sent so far?

I was stopped in may due to my physical card not working tapping off at Waterloo. Received a fine however disputed it due to issues with the gates.. ended up paying the early fine

Regards to what I have sent so far,

Mostly all pertains to getting correct details off me to verify who Iam but the instance they reviewed back in April 14th.

Do you need exact emails redacted ?

 

[Haywain]

Any help or advice would be appreciated greatly

Honesty is the best policy. Tell them you moved and from the relevant date only fare dodged from Barnes (if I understand you correctly).

 

[dlbb1390]

Honesty is the best policy. Tell them you moved and from the relevant date only fare dodged from Barnes (if I understand you correctly).

I fare dodged from Kew bridge which I moved a year ago but they have incurred instances from when I was living in Barnes thinking that this was also me fare dodging.

My concern is I will put my hands up and say 265 times yes that is my fault. can I get an out of court settlement fee for this, I have been cooperative throughout and since?

 

[Haywain]

I was stopped in may due to my physical card not working tapping off at Waterloo. Received a fine however disputed it due to issues with the gates.. ended up paying the early fine

When were you stopped? Was it a Penalty Fare Notice that you received and paid?

I fare dodged from Kew bridge which I moved a year ago but they have incurred instances from when I was living in Barnes thinking that this was also me fare dodging.

My concern is I will put my hands up and say 265 times yes that is my fault. can I get an out of court settlement fee for this, I have been cooperative throughout and since?

We need to know more about the questions above before we can actually advise on what you should or shouldn't say to SWR now.

 

[30907]

If you made n out of x journeys from Barnes not Kew Bridge, put a note to that effect.

 

[dlbb1390]

When were you stopped? Was it a Penalty Fare Notice that you received and paid?

We need to know more about the questions above before we can actually advise on what you should or shouldn't say to SWR now.

I was originally stopped at Waterloo.

Sorry I will begin at the start,

I have been every now and then far evading to different areas (to save a few pounds or so) some of these would be from the following

there have been a few instances that I would when I lived in Barnes I would take a train from Barnes to Waterloo but would use a 16-17 rail card and or buy a ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo to bring the price down.

Recently a year ago I moved to Kew bridge and for around 265 instances where I would put 16-17 rail card and vauxhall to Waterloo.

I was caught at Waterloo on may 21st due to my card not operating correctly - still fined even though i appealed but ultimately didn’t want to go through the hassle so just paid it.

Received the following email a week later for an instance found on my Trainline for the 17th of April where I did not scan in from vauxhall but scanned out to Waterloo. The following email is of the initial communication to me.

——
Dear xxxxxxxx,

On 17/04/2026, ticket number xxxxxxxx (Vauxhall to London Waterloo) was used in the automatic ticket gate at London Waterloo to EXIT the station, with no scan at Vauxhall. A review of rail usage data found that this ticket is attributable to this email address. We are currently undergoing checks on this account as a result of it being flagged as suspicious.

Further investigation of your online account is ongoing, and preliminary assessment has identified other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.

Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you to engage with you.

Please respond to this email within 7 days quoting the reference number xxxxxxxxxxxin the subject field.

Many thanks

——-

My response to this was the following.

——
Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your email regarding my ticket xxxxxxx (Vauxhall to London Waterloo) to exit the station but no scan at Vauxhall.

I can confirm and take full responsibility for not holding a correct valid ticket on the 17th of April 2026. I did travel from Kew Bridge to London Waterloo and am ashamed and incredibly sorry for any inconvenience caused on this matter.

My foolish decision to do this was under personal monetary constraints to save for xxx due to recent personal hardship, this by no means is an excuse and upon reflection short-faring was completely the wrong way to go about saving abit of money.

I would like to express my sincere apologies for this instance and will cooperate fully with this investigation as ongoing for other inconsistencies.

Please let me know if you need anything further .

Kind regards

I have received a following email further to gain My personal details from that point.

And will share the most recent one with details into alleged fare evading.

 

[SECR 65]

They clearly know enough about your history of fare evading to be able to prosecute you. That said, if you cooperate, they are unlikely to take you to court.

You will need to apologise again, and if you have a spreadsheet of journeys, fill this in honestly to the best of your knowledge. Don't openly admit to anything they haven't asked you about, though.

Post a draft of your response on the forum so we can review it.

If you request an out of court settlement, and offer to pay both the outstanding fare and any admin fees SWR have incurred, then hopefully you will be offered a (rather expensive) settlement.

 

[dlbb1390]

They clearly know enough about your history of fare evading to be able to prosecute you. That said, if you cooperate, they are unlikely to take you to court.

You will need to apologise again, and if you have a spreadsheet of journeys, fill this in honestly to the best of your knowledge. Don't openly admit to anything they haven't asked you about, though.

Post a draft of your response on the forum so we can review it.

If you request an out of court settlement, and offer to pay both the outstanding fare and any admin fees SWR have incurred, then hopefully you will be offered a (rather expensive) settlement.

Hi, please see below my draft letter template, any help would be appreciated

———————-
Dear XXXXXX,



Thank you for the opportunity to cooperate with you on this matter.



Having reviewed the instances I can only express my sincere apologies for multiple short-faring offences and I take full responsibility for my actions. I understand the severity of these offences and impact that it has had on all parties involved.



I can assure you that I have learnt from this incident and have made nessecary steps moving forward to right my wrongs by paying the correct fare when traveling now. I have now also purchased the correct intended railcard 26-30 years.



Please see attached the excel spreadsheet which I have filled out to the best of my knowledge and completely honestly.



Journeys from Barnes - Waterloo that are highlighted. These were genuine legitimate journeys to the correct destinations as I was living in Barnes from the 4th of February 2023 till June 26th 2025 (please see attached proof of tenancy).



However, the remaining numbered journeys were non legitimate with or without a valid rail card. I have never held a rail card, but as mentioned above have purchased one now so this never happens again. Having some time to reflect, I am absolutely regretful and embarrassed at the decisions I have made, short faring and using rail cards when I truly shouldn’t have. Due to multiple miscarriages over the past 18 months it was becoming increasingly likely that IVF was the only option and financially that hardship running its course led to my poor decisions to save a few pounds which I know was unacceptable.



I truly understand xxxxx that there is simply no justification for my actions but I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to settle this matter out of the court. I am more than willing to pay and cover the cost of every journey legitimately not fully paid for plus any additional administration fee’s incurred working on this investigation.



Please let me know if you need anything else from me or have any questions.



Thank you.



Warms regards

Xxxxxxxxx

 

[Trainman40083]

Probably best not to end an official letter with "warm regards".

 

[dlbb1390]

Probably best not to end an official letter with "warm regards".

Okay no problems, other than that is the rest fine?

 

[Trainman40083]

Okay no problems, other than that is the rest fine?

Well, correct the spelling of necessary. You say you have purchased a suitable Railcard. Add the reference number. Diary the expiry date.

 

[SECR 65]

Dear XXXXXX,

Thank you for the opportunity to cooperate with you on this matter.

Having reviewed the instances I can only express my sincere apologies for multiple short-faring offences and I take full responsibility for my actions. I understand the severity of these offences and impact that it has had on all parties involved.

I would maybe suggest you rephrase my bold to seem slightly more accountable. To me this reads like you've been forced to admit defeat. What about "I want to express my sincere apologies"?

I can assure you that I have learnt from this incident and have made nessecary steps moving forward to right my wrongs by paying the correct fare when traveling now. I have now also purchased the correct intended railcard 26-30 years.

Include the railcard reference number of this new card (as in post #13)

Please see attached the excel spreadsheet which I have filled out to the best of my knowledge and completely honestly.

It might be worth adding that you have recalled as far as possible what happened, but you are sorry if any unintentional innacuracies have arrisen due to forgetting details. I'm sure you can rephrase it better than me. This is the third SWR investigation thread I've read just this afternoon so appologies if that alteration isn't relevant e.g. all journeys were recent.

Journeys from Barnes - Waterloo that are highlighted. These were genuine legitimate journeys to the correct destinations as I was living in Barnes from the 4th of February 2023 till June 26th 2025 (please see attached proof of tenancy).

However, the remaining numbered journeys were non legitimate with or without a valid rail card. I have never held a rail card, but as mentioned above have purchased one now so this never happens again. Having some time to reflect, I am absolutely regretful and embarrassed at the decisions I have made, short faring and using rail cards when I truly shouldn’t have. Due to multiple miscarriages over the past 18 months it was becoming increasingly likely that IVF was the only option and financially that hardship running its course led to my poor decisions to save a few pounds which I know was unacceptable.

A few thoughts on this section:

• The first of my bold I would suggest you rather tone down, or, to a significant extent, remove. In my opinion this is being slightly too blatent about the nature of your fare evasion. Provided you've been honest on the spreadsheet, I don't think you need to spell out the lack of railcard quite like this. It's good that you've mentioned your new railcard above, though.
• The next bit to which I have appplied no formatting looks good.
• Where I've crossed out I suggest you remove - similar to the previous sentence's reasoning I've given.
• The second bit of my bold:
  • I'm really sorry to hear of the struggles you've been having recently and I wish you all the best with this.
  • However, I'm afraid I can't imagine SWR will be particularly interested. You should be able to settle out of court with the apology as above in your letter plus the honest spreadsheet. I wouldn't say there's a need to 'justify' your fare evasion.

I truly understand xxxxx that there is simply no justification for my actions but I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to settle this matter out of the court. I am more than willing to pay and cover the cost of every journey legitimately not fully paid for plus any additional administration fee’s incurred working on this investigation.

What is "xxxxx" representing? The name of the investigator who has emailed you? I think it reads fine to say "I truly understand that there is simply...."

Please let me know if you need anything else from me or have any questions.

Thank you.

Warms regards

As discussed in Post #11

Xxxxxxxxx

I can't see any spelling errors - but I must say I'm not brilliant at spelling myself!
You may feel some of my comments are rather harsh - sorry about that. Other members may disagree with my suggestions.
It may be worth making slight changes and posting a revised draft.

I feel the need to add that in general, your letter is well written, and covers the right points.

 

[dlbb1390]

Thank you for your thorough notes. I will edit and come back to you shortly with the edits you have suggested.

I do need to send this through by end of Monday 3 rd of august so your help is much appreciated

 

[dlbb1390]

Hi all,

After all of this, I received a settlement of MUCH lower than I thought it would be which I am very thankful for, I will be ensuring I don’t do this ever again.

 

[SECR 65]

Hi all,

After all of this, I received a settlement of MUCH lower than I thought it would be which I am very thankful for, I will be ensuring I don’t do this ever again.

That's great to hear; thanks a lot for coming back to update us!

Would you be prepared to disclose what if any admin fee you were charged? Even better would be a rough total figure and/or vaguely what you were made to pay for e.g. anytime single fare for each journey? I appreciate you may not want to close much or any of this info, which I completely respect.

 

[dlbb1390]

if it helps everyone else on this matter, it was roughly £670 collectively for everything. Not sure if they took into consideration what I had already paid given the offence but I can tell you one thing that I am forever grateful for all the assistance and will be ensuring I never fare evade regardless of my circumstances ever again

 

[WesternLancer]

if it helps everyone else on this matter, it was roughly £670 collectively for everything. Not sure if they took into consideration what I had already paid given the offence but I can tell you one thing that I am forever grateful for all the assistance and will be ensuring I never fare evade regardless of my circumstances ever again

When you pay it keep proof of payment and all exchanges/ letters related to this and Luther long term in case you need them.
Potentially for 6 years.

 

[unfunnytrop]

Thanks for updating as I am in a similar situation, currently waiting on an email from SWR.

Would be interesting to know how much you actually initially expected to have to pay for the settlement?

 

[soccermad]

Thanks for updating as I am in a similar situation, currently waiting on an email from SWR.

Would be interesting to know how much you actually initially expected to have to pay for the settlement?

As every case is different It would be sensible if you open a new thread for your situation