GA fraud investigation

[zxcvbxcvb]

Hi,

Hoping for some advice on how to handle this one please. Made some poor decisions leading to this and really want to resolve without escalation.

Attached thread so far with GA.

26-30 railcard - I do not have one nor held one previously. Potentially have 7 ticks bought with railcard during this 1 year period they state.

Network railcard - I have and is valid for the period stated.

A handful of times bought a single to London liv in the AM.
On my return got a tube to Stratford tapped out, boarded the train at Stratford, but only bought a single/return for part of the trip, ingatestone to Chelsmford.

I understand the normal advice here since I have replied would be to admit, apologise, request settlement. But this is where it gets complicated.

there may have been more instances of travelling claiming a railcard prior to this date window they have queried which I didn’t posses one. Potentially going back some time bought on the same account.

In February 24 I could see inspectors at barriers, as I had a railcard ticket, I panicked and bought a short fare non railcard ticket thinking this would help as I could see inspectors. This beeped and then appeared I was short faring so got interviewed by undercover fraud investigator. I gave all legitimate details, advised I had a ticket for the journey just without a railcard, and bought the short fare on in addition to it, but received no further contact until this email 2 years later.

I have lots of valid tickets purchased constantly but have made stupid choices when unable to afford a full fare ticket to get me to work. Understand this was dumb and regret this now but here we are.

I have already replied as panicked this was initially relating to the incident on Feb 24, but now doesn’t appear to be. Not sure what the best course of action here is.

I’m thinking to just acknowledge the irregularities, acknowledge I didn’t have railcard for the period stated, apologise etc. I’m just very worried doing this will result in the entire history being dug up and a much more serious situation that they won’t be willing to settle.

I work in finance so a conviction would be devastating and likely loose my job.

Advice here would be greatly appreciated. Considering legal advice if recommended and also conscious this post could be incriminating so don’t want this to make things worse and please advise if should delete anything.

Thanks in advance for any advice here. I know I likely deserve what I get as I’ve messed up but will do anything to make this right with a settlement.

 

[z444z]

They very likely will be willing to settle. Don’t panic.

We have had a few very similar cases recently. We’ve had lots of these emails for a while now but in the last few weeks we’ve seen I think two or three other cases where people have been stopped and details taken, then received an email which seems to be unrelated to the stop. I believe at least one has already been resolved with GA very happy to offer a (fairly large) settlement. But the amount will depend on just how much evasion you’ve done.

The advice we’ve given is to cooperate with the email because if you don’t it’ll just come up later when they contact you regarding the time you were stopped and could make dealing with that a lot harder.

Heading to bed now but I and others will be able to help more later

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Feb 2026 ==

Also you don’t need legal advice.

 

[srg]

Just to clarify you were stopped in February 2024 and have never been stopped whilst travelling since?

 

[WesternLancer]

This thread would be worth you looking over carefully

greater Anglia fraud investigation

I was stopped on a train before Christmas with a ticket from Beaulieu park to Chelmsford which i had purchased with a 16/17 saver which i don't have, my original journey was also from Witham. i haven't heard anything until the 14th of Jan when i received this Email Good Afternoon, We are...

www.railforums.co.uk

You’ll need to read it all

Key difference for you is that you were stopped and questioned about evasion two years ago so over the six months period since the incident where they can bring a criminal court prosecution for that offence on that occasion aiui.

Some here might therefore suggest that you stop engaging with them over this as it will be difficult for them to bring a prosecution for the matters they are writing to you about.

However I note you mention career in finance and thus the need to avoid any record of dishonesty.

If any sort of court action including civil action would be career limiting for you then I suspect any settlement payment required here will be less than your foreseeable future earnings potential (as indeed would paying a solicitor should you want to get professional help - though if you do want to opt for that I think you should use one of the solicitors with rail fare evasion expertise that get mentioned on this forum occasionally).

You can see from that linked thread the advice that was given to the op on responding and seeking a settlement but you should wait for other views before you decide on your course of action.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

This thread would be worth you looking over carefully

greater Anglia fraud investigation

I was stopped on a train before Christmas with a ticket from Beaulieu park to Chelmsford which i had purchased with a 16/17 saver which i don't have, my original journey was also from Witham. i haven't heard anything until the 14th of Jan when i received this Email Good Afternoon, We are...

www.railforums.co.uk

You’ll need to read it all

Key difference for you is that you were stopped and questioned about evasion two years ago so over the six months period since the incident where they can bring a criminal court prosecution for that offence on that occasion aiui.

Some here might therefore suggest that you stop engaging with them over this as it will be difficult for them to bring a prosecution for the matters they are writing to you about.

However I note you mention career in finance and thus the need to avoid any record of dishonesty.

If any sort of court action including civil action would be career limiting for you then I suspect any settlement payment required here will be less than your foreseeable future earnings potential (as indeed would paying a solicitor should you want to get professional help - though if you do want to opt for that I think you should use one of the solicitors with rail fare evasion expertise that get mentioned on this forum occasionally).

You can see from that linked thread the advice that was given to the op on responding and seeking a settlement but you should wait for other views before you decide on your course of action.

Given the (actual) career in finance, I would agree that co-operating and expecting to pay an out of court settlement is the way to go. But check your terms of employment to see what you need to report to your employer (and regulator, if appropriate) - they may only want to know about criminal convictions, which don't seem to be in play here but my understanding is that some employers do ask about more.

 

[zxcvbxcvb]

thanks for the replies everyone, really appreciate it.

Just to clarify you were stopped in February 2024 and have never been stopped whilst travelling since?

Correct. Never stopped since.

The last record Of a possible shortfare journey was the one they mention on 28th August. Do they also have a limit of 6mo the for this and it’s just a waiting game? Or is that different to being stopped..

Thanks again

 

[Fawkes Cat]

The last record Of a possible shortfare journey was the one they mention on 28th August. Do they also have a limit of 6mo the for this and it’s just a waiting game? Or is that different to being stopped..

There's two routes that a train company can go down when they think that someone has fare dodged:

- the criminal route: this is where they take you to the magistrate's court (or they use the Single Justice Procedure, which is a way to go to court but doing everything on paper - we often talk about SJPNs for this) and if you plead or are found guilty then you are punished with a fine and you have what is generally known as 'a criminal record'. This has a time limit for the railway to start action of six months from the incident.
- the civil route: this is where they take you to the county court (or again, there is a small claims procedure which is less formal but again is still part of the court) for the money that you owe them. If you lose here, you won't have a criminal record, but you will have to pay the money you owe (if not then you get a county court judgement (or CCJ) recorded against you: credit agencies don't like CCJs). There is a time limit on the railway taking this action - but the time limit is six years. Also note that unlike the criminal courts, the standard of proof that the civil courts use is 'the balance of probabilities': so if the court decide that it's more likely than not that you were fare dodging, then you'll have to pay up.

The practical upshot of this is that because you were last stopped a couple of years ago, it's unlikely (but not impossible) that you'll be taken down the criminal route. But the railway is able to take the civil route because they're well within the six year civil time limit: what you are likely to be negotiating is a settlement that will make them agree not to take you to the civil court.

 

[zxcvbxcvb]

very helpful thank you.

Reading the similar thread, just to check this would still be the recommended response if I choose to engage:

Dear.....

Thank you for your email.

Please could you advise the amount you believe I owe to settle this case?

Yours sincerely

And not actually answer questions, or talk to wether I had a rail card etc at this stage?

 

[z444z]

Just to clarify you were stopped in February 2024 and have never been stopped whilst travelling since?

Oh. Somehow I understood this as 24th February despite that being in the future (or well over 6 months ago). Oops. OP you could ignore this and quite likely face no further consequences but as others have said given your career a settlement might make sense here to ensure it is the end of the matter.

 

[fandroid]

I'm not sure what GA have done in similar circumstances, but GTR seem to be issuing SJNs just before the 6 month deadlines, presumably to pressure passengers into negotiating. GA mention the apparent lack of a Railcard for journeys in September, so they still have a bit of time if they wish to pursue those issues as well as short faring. Given the OP's employment, it would probably be best to simply respond asking for list of journeys GA think have not been fully paid for. The OP could quibble about the validity of tickets on journeys before the recent NRCOT changes were made, but I don't think that's advisable.

 

[WesternLancer]

very helpful thank you.

Reading the similar thread, just to check this would still be the recommended response if I choose to engage:

Dear.....

Thank you for your email.

Please could you advise the amount you believe I owe to settle this case?

Yours sincerely

And not actually answer questions, or talk to wether I had a rail card etc at this stage?

That was suggested in another case and it seems to me a helpful approach on the basis that it tells them and admits as little as possible

You can estimate what they may ask you for in terms of money by looking at your own ticket records and pricing each one way journey at the Anytime Single fare.

 

[zxcvbxcvb]

Good news they have offered a settlement.

The railcard element is the difference between the fare paid, and not trying to re charge the full single amount so happy with this and it’s fair and what is owed.

There’s a couple of points I could challenge them on, eg I have a network railcard. But given that’s only £14 of the total, And I don’t want to risk any further digging or revision of settlement to the full single fare. I’m just going to have this paid and be done with it.

Thanks everyone for the support and advice here, much appreciated.

Lesson learnt and not something I’ll be doing again!

 

[z444z]

Glad to hear it, that does look like a fair approach. It’s hilarious that they say “Ordinarily it is the policy of Greater Anglia to prosecute all instances of fare evasion” as that’s obviously not the case. Thanks for the update and all the best!