Greater Anglia fine

[Ben20]

Hi everyone,
I was stopped for short faring on Stansted Express, the officer took my details and my address. He said they will get in touch with me in the next weeks.
I was going through some difficult times which caused me to do this grave mistake.
I do realise now how grave it was and I will never repeat it again. But I am very anxious about the consequences of my misdeed: how long it will take until they contact me? Will I be offered a fine, penalty fare or settlement out of court? if I do settlement out of court, will that have any impact on my employment? Is it possible for them prosecute me?
Thanks everyone for your help I really appreciate it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Ben20. Welcome to the forum. If this genuinely was a one-off incident, likely you'll be able to settle out of court for the full Anytime Day Single fare between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport (= £25), plus, on top, Greater Anglia's administration fee (likely three figures). Slightly more complicated if inspection / investigation of your online ticket purchasing history by Greater Anglia shows other occasions of short-faring.

 

[John R]

It’ll probably take a few weeks for them to contact you, depending on their workloads. You’ll probably get a letter which basically threatens prosecution and asking for your side of the story. If you respond very apologetically and promise not to do it again, then ask very nicely for an out of court settlement then our experience is that (unless there is some aggravating factor) you’ll be offered a settlement, as @Mcr Warrior has set out.

 

[SuspectUsual]

how long it will take until they contact me?

Assuming you gave correct details, anything from a few days to a couple of months - depends how busy they are

Will I be offered a fine, penalty fare or settlement out of court?

Penalty fare - no, they can only be given at the time. Out of court settlement - if you cooperate and are apologetic, probably yes

if I do settlement out of court, will that have any impact on my employment?

I can't see how it would, as the employer wouldn't know about it

Is it possible for them prosecute me?

Yes, but as per the above if you cooperate it shouldn't come to this

 

[Ben20]

Thank you very much @Mcr Warrior @John R and @SteveM70 for your quick reply. I really appreciate it.
@SteveM70 Since they took my details, they will most likely send me a prosecution letter and not just a penalty fare, right?
The short faring happened on other occasions - few times a year -, does that diminish my chance of an out of court settlement?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The short faring happened on other occasions - few times a year -, does that diminish my chance of an out of court settlement?

Not necessarily, but it will most likely bump up the amount you get asked to pay, by a considerable amount. P.S. You won't now be receiving a £50 Penalty Fare. These tend only to be issued for "honest" mistakes. Short faring, and repeatedly so, clearly isn't.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Thank you very much @Mcr Warrior @John R and @SteveM70 for your quick reply. I really appreciate it.
@SteveM70 Since they took my details, they will most likely send me a prosecution letter and not just a penalty fare, right?
The short faring happened on other occasions - few times a year -, does that diminish my chance of an out of court settlement?

As I said, they can't give you a penalty fare, they can only be given at the time.

You'll almost certainly get a threatening sounding letter asking for your comments on what they say happened; if you reply to that in the right way, you should get the offer of an out of court settlement

 

[John R]

Once you get the letter, come back here and post it, along with a first draft reply (a perusal of some other threads here will give you an idea of what we tend to recommend, and from my perspective, try to avoid using AI to write it - such letters come across as very insincere). One question is whether to mention other instances, and really you have to wait and see exactly what the letter is asking you.

In the meantime, try not to worry too much. The vast majority of people that come here from advice in your situation get offered a settlement - even those who have been short faring for a much more lengthy period. You might want to work out yourself how often you have done it though, and how much any offer could be. And then make sure you have the means to pay them at short notice when you get the offer, as they won't give you more than about 14 days usually.

 

[Ben20]

Thank you very much for your help @Mcr Warrior @John R and @SteveM70

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Good advice has been given by forum members about how to proceed and we will be happy to assist with proof reading your reply to Greater Anglia when the time comes. Just to clear up some terminology:

A fine can only be issued by a court as a punishment upon pleading (or being found) guilty. So you really don't want to pay a fine because this means the case will have gone to court. What you want to do is pay an our of court settlement, i.e. you pay some money to Greater Anglia and in return they agree not to send the case to court. Paying an out of court settlement might feel like paying a fine, but technically it isn't a fine!

A Penalty Fare is a higher than normal fare charged to passegers in certain situations who have made 'honest mistakes'. Not all staff can issue Penalty Fares. Penalty Fares have to be issued at the time, they cannot be issued retrospectively. You weren't issued with a Penalty Fare and you won't be given one now.

What happened in your case is that you details were taken so that further investigation could take place. Greater Anglia are likely to search your online ticket purchasinh history and if this suggests you have short fared on other occasions they will want to factor the cost of thise journeys into the value of the out of court settlement.

 

[Ben20]

Thank you @Hadders for the detailed explanation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Apr 2025 ==

I’ve observed that in certain cases, the railway company choose to make an example of the individual by leaking their case and personal details to the media, and by reporting them to the regulator even when the matter was settled out of court. how often does this happen?

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you @Hadders for the detailed explanation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Apr 2025 ==

I’ve observed that in certain cases, the railway company choose to make an example of the individual by leaking their case and personal details to the media, and by reporting them to the regulator even when the matter was settled out of court. how often does this happen?

Not very often. Maybe a handful of very eye opening cases.

 

[Hadders]

Thank you @Hadders for the detailed explanation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Apr 2025 ==

I’ve observed that in certain cases, the railway company choose to make an example of the individual by leaking their case and personal details to the media, and by reporting them to the regulator even when the matter was settled out of court. how often does this happen?

I'm not aware of train companies deliberately leaking details of individual cases to the media or regulators.

 

[Ben20]

Thank you @AlterEgo and @Hadders , what about the case of Jonathan Paul Burrows and Adam Kemeny?

 

[Hadders]

Thank you @AlterEgo and @Hadders , what about the case of Jonathan Paul Burrows and Adam Kemeny?

There's no evidence that the train companies leaked what happened to the media. Southeastern might have said they gave an out of court settlement of £43k to a regular commuter. People tend to talk - friends, neighbours, work colleagues etc. Social media isn't your friend. People put two and two together.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you @AlterEgo and @Hadders , what about the case of Jonathan Paul Burrows and Adam Kemeny?

The regulator has ways of finding out, particularly if the person has the integrity to self report what has happened.

 

[Ben20]

Thanks for your advice @AlterEgo . I am considering resigning from my current work if that’s the case.

The regulator has ways of finding out, particularly if the person has the integrity to self report what has happened.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you very much @Mcr Warrior @John R and @SteveM70 for your quick reply. I really appreciate it.
@SteveM70 Since they took my details, they will most likely send me a prosecution letter and not just a penalty fare, right?
The short faring happened on other occasions - few times a year -, does that diminish my chance of an out of court settlement?

Can’t see this happening unless you’ve evaded £ a lot of fares. Eg thousands.

If it got to court though it’s not leaked as it’s in public domain.

 

[John R]

Thanks for your advice @AlterEgo . I am considering resigning from my current work if that’s the case.

Without outing yourself, which industry do you work in. I think you are being very premature to say this.

 

[Titfield]

The regulator has ways of finding out, particularly if the person has the integrity to self report what has happened.

If an employer sacks an individual in a regulated occupation for matters relating to honesty and integrity, the employer may have a duty to report the employee to the regulator.