Great Northern prosecution

[laurkd]

Good afternoon, all
Today I made a mistake on my train journey. I got onto a train without purchasing my ticket and did so once the train had departed. I purchased my ticket online. The ticket inspector informed me that my ticket was invalid - I was compliant and provided all of my details, and understand that I will soon be receiving an NIP from the train operator.

I have a couple of questions. Does anyone have a rough idea of when I will be receiving the letter? Great Northern were operating the service I was on. I intent to continue to be compliant and honest with the train company regarding my mistake - does anyone have any advice on how I can go about this to avoid any court proceedings, and instead reach an out of court settlement?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John R]

It varies between a week and a few months, just depending on how busy the team is at each train company. Someone may have insight as to the current timelines on GTR, with which you will be dealing.

So all you can do is wait, and ensure that you are able to access mail at the address you gave them, so that you can reply promptly when it arrives. We advise that you post a draft here, along with more details of the circumstances, in order that posters here can ensure you optimise the response to maximise the likelihood of a settlement offer being made. GTR is usually very pragmatic here, and we only see prosecutions in very rare situations.

One minor detail - if your ticket was for your full journey then it was valid, but you committed an offence by boarding the train without a valid ticket. That is probably what GTR will come after you for when it writes to you.

 

[laurkd]

It varies between a week and a few months, just depending on how busy the team is at each train company. Someone may have insight as to the current timelines on GTR, with which you will be dealing.

So all you can do is wait, and ensure that you are able to access mail at the address you gave them, so that you can reply promptly when it arrives. We advise that you post a draft here, along with more details of the circumstances, in order that posters here can ensure you optimise the response to maximise the likelihood of a settlement offer being made. GTR is usually very pragmatic here, and we only see prosecutions in very rare situations.

One minor detail - if your ticket was for your full journey then it was valid, but you committed an offence by boarding the train without a valid ticket. That is probably what GTR will come after you for when it writes to you.

Thank you - I will draft something when I receive the letter.
I entered the station using a return ticket to a different station to the one I was intending to travel to, and then purchased my ticket of the full journey as the train departed the station. I am aware that this was a very silly mistake to have made.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you - I will draft something when I receive the letter.
I entered the station using a return ticket to a different station to the one I was intending to travel to, and then purchased my ticket of the full journey as the train departed the station. I am aware that this was a very silly mistake to have made.

You need to be aware they may interrogate ticket records to look for things they think are suspicious. If you have a record of travel without fully valid tickets you should be aware they might find that and ask about it.

You need to ensure you have correct tickets all the time from this point onwards. You are on their radar.