fined for no railcard

[rosetinted]

So my boyfriend got emailed recently for something that happened in March in which he accidentally bought a ticket with my railcard selected in the app, he doesn’t have a railcard himself. After a ticket officer came to scan his ticket, he realised this and then purchased a full price ticket off the officer. The email he received says he has committed fraud and is either going to be fined £1000 or jailed for 3 months!! Could anyone help please it seems ridiculous for what happened.

 

[WesternLancer]

So my boyfriend got emailed recently for something that happened in March in which he accidentally bought a ticket with my railcard selected in the app, he doesn’t have a railcard himself. After a ticket officer came to scan his ticket, he realised this and then purchased a full price ticket off the officer. The email he received says he has committed fraud and is either going to be fined £1000 or jailed for 3 months!! Could anyone help please it seems ridiculous for what happened.

welcome

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[John R]

In addition, it would be very helpful if you could post a copy of the email received, with any identifying details removed (to protect your boyfriend’s privacy).

 

[island]

If this happened in March it's too late for them to prosecute fare evasion. So we don't really need to see any of the paperwork. It can safely be ignored. Or, you can send a short reply along the lines of:

Dear Prosecutions Team

I refer to your letter of (date) with case number (number) regarding an incident alleged to have taken place in March 2025.

In view of section 127 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1980 I do not propose to engage with you regarding this alleged incident.

yours faithfully

 

[John R]

If this happened in March it's too late for them to prosecute fare evasion. So we don't really need to see any of the paperwork. It can safely be ignored. Or, you can send a short reply along the lines of:

Dear Prosecutions Team

I refer to your letter of (date) with case number (number) regarding an incident alleged to have taken place in March 2025.

In view of section 127 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1980 I do not propose to engage with you regarding this alleged incident.

yours faithfully

There’s something not quite right about the case though - they said they bought a full price ticket off the officer at the time. So that’s why I thought it helpful to see the correspondence, to work out exactly what is going on.

 

[blimmo]

Seeing all the paperwork may be useful to ascertain for certain that the incident the email refers to happened over 6 months ago. If this is actually in respect of a different more recent incident then I believe the response suggested by island would be ill advised.

Regardless the suggestion of prison is complete hyperbole.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Regardless the suggestion of prison is complete hyperbole.

Not complete hyperbole - it's a punishment allowed by S5(3) Regulation of Railways Act 1889, so all the railway are doing are pointing out what the act allows (imagine the uproar if someone was to be imprisoned when they thought that the worse they faced was a £1000 fine). But my understanding is that (a) in practice and (b) by the sentencing guidelines that judges and magistrates have (or at least are expected) to follow, prison isn't actually used as a sanction.

 

[island]

But my understanding is that (a) in practice and (b) by the sentencing guidelines that judges and magistrates have (or at least are expected) to follow, prison isn't actually used as a sanction.

Correct. The fact that a second or subsequent offence is theoretically imprisonable does allow magistrates' courts to impose a community order if the offence is considered serious enough, but the Court would need to explain why it had inflicted a punishment in excess of those in the sentencing guidelines.