Fraudulent rail card used. What might happen

[dontcare23]

I will hold up my hand and say I had a Railcard that expired 7 months ago and I wasn't eligible for another one due to age. At some point I was drunk and had AI just add a year to the expiry date thinking I rarely travel so won't even need it. I've only taken maybe 4, 9 minute journeys on this card since it expired until
Today. Today was my first longer journey and I got caught on a train from London to Birmingham where the person said I had amended the Railcard and will receive a letter to my home. When booking the ticket I didn't even pay attention to the fact that Railcard was applied and when I did I opened up the altered one thinking I didn't have a choice now. I offered to pay for a new ticket but she just said oh you will pay quite a lot don't worry.
She took pictures of my ticket and Railcard.

I accept I did something very effing dumb but what normally happens in this situation? I know what can happen but if anyone has any knowledge on the usual outcome, I'd obviously be keen to do an out of court settlement and not have it on my record. Is there any place to email the company? It was an LNR train.

Thanks in advance

 

[WesternLancer]

I will hold up my hand and say I had a Railcard that expired 7 months ago and I wasn't eligible for another one due to age. At some point I was drunk and had AI just add a year to the expiry date thinking I rarely travel so won't even need it. I've only taken maybe 4, 9 minute journeys on this card since it expired until
Today. Today was my first longer journey and I got caught on a train from London to Birmingham where the person said I had amended the Railcard and will receive a letter to my home. When booking the ticket I didn't even pay attention to the fact that Railcard was applied and when I did I opened up the altered one thinking I didn't have a choice now. I offered to pay for a new ticket but she just said oh you will pay quite a lot don't worry.
She took pictures of my ticket and Railcard.

I accept I did something very effing dumb but what normally happens in this situation? I know what can happen but if anyone has any knowledge on the usual outcome, I'd obviously be keen to do an out of court settlement and not have it on my record. Is there any place to email the company? It was an LNR train.

Thanks in advance

Welcome

The usual advice given here is that you should not now try to contact the railway company until they contact you, which could take some weeks (eg 6 to 8 weeks) - this is because you have committed a criminal offence by forging your railcard and then using that discount on a number of occasions. So clear deliberate evasion.
They can prosecute you for this if they want to.

If you contact them now, without knowing what they will ask you in due course, there is a risk of you incriminating yourself unnecessarily.

That said it is likely that you can still obtain an out of court settlement for this although you will have to work hard to obtain it by making it really clear that you understand what you did was wrong, that it will never happen again, and that you want to pay what you owe to make things right.

The most important thing at this stage is to make sure you keep an eye on hard copy post (as well as e-mail and spam) for at least the next 7 months so as to be sure that you can engage with whatever they send you.

When you get contacted by them head back here for specific advice.

You can probably find other cases involving altered railcards on the forum if you have a look - albeit possibly with different train companies and their can be variations in how the different companies deal with such matters - but the general approach will be similar I suspect.

 

[dontcare23]

Thank you. Upon further checking, this is the first time I have used this expired Railcard on a return trip. Wasn't asked to show it on the way to London, only on the way back.

One question, they didn't ask for my ID, didn't ask for address verbally, where would they send this letter to? I ask because my permanent home address is where driving license is but currently renting elsewhere. Also, when I bought the Railcard in 2025, it was a different address I was temporarily renting at which I don't have access to.

Google thinks they'll find the site/credit card I used to buy my ticket and get my address from there which would be fine. Permanent address is fine too but would rather the parents don't hear about this if I can get an out of court settlement

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 18:29 ==

Thank you. Upon further checking, this is the first time I have used this expired Railcard on a return trip. Wasn't asked to show it on the way to London, only on the way back.

One question, they didn't ask for my ID, didn't ask for address verbally, where would they send this letter to? I ask because my permanent home address is where driving license is but currently renting elsewhere. Also, when I bought the Railcard in 2025, it was a different address I was temporarily renting at which I don't have access to.

Google thinks they'll find the site/credit card I used to buy my ticket and get my address from there which would be fine. Permanent address is fine too but would rather the parents don't hear about this if I can get an out of court settlement

There was another time I bought a ticket with the Railcard but never actually used the ticket. Does that count towards one I would be penalised for too or more in my favour that it was the incorrect ticket so I never used it

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you. Upon further checking, this is the first time I have used this expired Railcard on a return trip. Wasn't asked to show it on the way to London, only on the way back.

Well I assume you used the railcard in both directions, you just only got caught on the return direction. And if the ticket was scanned at all they will know when and whete it was used.

One question, they didn't ask for my ID, didn't ask for address verbally, where would they send this letter to? I ask because my permanent home address is where driving license is but currently renting elsewhere. Also, when I bought the Railcard in 2025, it was a different address I was temporarily renting at which I don't have access to.

Google thinks they'll find the site/credit card I used to buy my ticket and get my address from there which would be fine.

They could presumably get an address via the bank card used to buy the tickets.
But Possibly more likely is that they get contact details via the info scanned from the ticket bar / qr code. At least an e mail address linked to that purchase where you’d have been sent your ticket confirmation (so keep a close eye on that e mail account).

I don’t think they would use an address on the railcard but if they did that will create a problem for you.
If you’ve not heard in about 4 months maybe diary a note to come back here for advice as to whether to then contact them proactively.

Permanent address is fine too but would rather the parents don't hear about this if I can get an out of court settlement

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 18:29 ==

Maybe you should consider telling your parents the basics eg ‘stopped for train travel without a valid ticket and was told I’d be written to so it’s v important to let me know if any post arrives so I can attend to it’
But of course you know your family dynamic best of all as to if it’s what you want to do

There was another time I bought a ticket with the Railcard but never actually used the ticket. Does that count towards one I would be penalised for too or more in my favour that it was the incorrect ticket so I never used it

The problem you have is that this stuff is in the frame once you get caught and they start investigating you.
That said if they believe you have learned a lesson and co operate with them they will tend to be reasonable about things. But you may need to provide some evidence that you didn’t use that ticket. If you can’t do that then you might have to write it off I suppose.

In any case that’s the sort of thing people here will advise you on how best to handle as things develop.

The length of the journey involved with these tickets will have a bearing on how much is at stake financially for you in any settlement offer they might make.

Given what you did wrong you’re not is a strong position to negotiate I wouldn’t think.

When you hear from them head back here for more advice though in the meantime prepare for what is likely to happen by asking any questions you want.
And saving up money to deal with this.

 

[dontcare23]

Well I assume you used the railcard in both directions, you just only got caught on the return direction. And if the ticket was scanned at all they will know when and whete it was used.



They could presumably get an address via the bank card used to buy the tickets.
But Possibly more likely is that they get contact details via the info scanned from the ticket bar / qr code. At least an e mail address linked to that purchase where you’d have been sent your ticket confirmation (so keep a close eye on that e mail account).

I don’t think they would use an address on the railcard but if they did that will create a problem for you.
If you’ve not heard in about 4 months maybe diary a note to come back here for advice as to whether to then contact them proactively.



Maybe you should consider telling your parents the basics eg ‘stopped for train travel without a valid ticket and was told I’d be written to so it’s v important to let me know if any post arrives so I can attend to it’
But of course you know your family dynamic best of all as to if it’s what you want to do


The problem you have is that this stuff is in the frame once you get caught and they start investigating you.
That said if they believe you have learned a lesson and co operate with them they will tend to be reasonable about things. But you may need to provide some evidence that you didn’t use that ticket. If you can’t do that then you might have to write it off I suppose.

In any case that’s the sort of thing people here will advise you on how best to handle as things develop.

The length of the journey involved with these tickets will have a bearing on how much is at stake financially for you in any settlement offer they might make.

Given what you did wrong you’re not is a strong position to negotiate I wouldn’t think.

When you hear from them head back here for more advice though in the meantime prepare for what is likely to happen by asking any questions you want.
And saving up money to deal with this.

Thank you, will update as I hear more

 

[John R]

I offered to pay for a new ticket but she just said oh you will pay quite a lot don't worry.

An interesting comment, which is contrary to the usual story we hear, where inspectors tend to underplay the consequences of travel without a valid ticket. I wonder was that in part due to the clearly fraudulent nature of the offence?