Fare evasion incident

[anonymous12]

*Removed*

 

[John R]

Welcome to the forum.

Your best way forward is to write back sincerely apologising for not having the correct ticket, and promising to always pay the correct fare in future. Then ask very nicely if they would be willing to offer an out of court settlement instead of prosecuting you.

I suggest you avoid using AI to draft your response - the letters we see here are typically cringy, and show lack of sincerity compared with a personally drafted letter.

You don't need to mention previous occurrences, as they don't specifically mention them, but ensure you tell the truth, so in particular don't say it was the first time when clearly it wasn't. Don't make excuses either - they've heard them all before many times.

 

[anonymous12]

Welcome to the forum.

Your best way forward is to write back sincerely apologising for not having the correct ticket, and promising to always pay the correct fare in future. Then ask very nicely if they would be willing to offer an out of court settlement instead of prosecuting you.

I suggest you avoid using AI to draft your response - the letters we see here are typically cringy, and show lack of sincerity compared with a personally drafted letter.

You don't need to mention previous occurrences, as they don't specifically mention them, but ensure you tell the truth, so in particular don't say it was the first time when clearly it wasn't. Don't make excuses either - they've heard them all before many times.

Thank you so much for the advice John. I really appreciate you taking this time to give my situation a look over.

Here is a response that I was thinking of maybe replying with. I wrote it myself and took your advice not to use AI, thanks for that.

Should I definitely not be considering reaching out to a solicitor to handle it on my behalf. They’re really expensive, but the prospect of prosecution and a criminal record is far more daunting and I would ensure I find the money somewhere.

 

[John R]

I think that’s a very good response. Maybe wait a day to see whether anyone else has any comments though.

The time to use a solicitor is if you don’t get a positive response from your reply. (Actually, we’ve seen that lately it can take two iterations to get Southeastern to agree, but let’s cross that bridge if we come to it.)

 

[Pushpit]

I think it's a good letter too. But there is one area which may need a little more thought: is there something you can say to give some evidence that you won't come to their attention again? Such as getting a season ticket, weekly travelcard, railcard (to make the trips more affordable) or similar.

 

[BazingaTribe]

I think that’s a very good response. Maybe wait a day to see whether anyone else has any comments though.

The time to use a solicitor is if you don’t get a positive response from your reply. (Actually, we’ve seen that lately it can take two iterations to get Southeastern to agree, but let’s cross that bridge if we come to it.)

Yup, agreed, it avoids all the usual traps such as calling it a mistake and shows understanding of what's actually been done.

I probably wouldn't put in the bit about being a student, and take out some of the repeated apologies, but that's very much personal preference. While you do want to apologise directly, too much mea culpa, mea maxima culpa can come across as insincere. You just want to apologise and then actually demonstrate you're sorry by not doing it again.

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

I think it's a good letter too. But there is one area which may need a little more thought: is there something you can say to give some evidence that you won't come to their attention again? Such as getting a season ticket, weekly travelcard, railcard (to make the trips more affordable) or similar.

We cross-posted but that's a good idea that I've seen on other threads. It could replace one of the apology passages.