Greater Anglia Prosecution Help

[LazyPenguin]

Hello everyone,

I made a pretty big mistake of not checking my railcard expiration date (21/02/2024) and continued to buy tickets from GA. Long story short I only noticed until 08/03/2024 that I was using an expired railcard. I was pulled aside by a rail staff, my details were taken down alongside with past tickets I have been buying after my railcard expired. I was told I will receive mail for any updates on my situation and was sent off as I had to work. I take the Greater Anglia from Tottenham Hale to Harlow Town every weekday. On most weekends I buy the day travelcard to go around London.

Fast forward to 06/08/2024 and I received the letter in my mailbox. Based on the letter, I assumed what it meant was that I could use that letter to add any additional information I may like to add or else they will send me a final decision after 14 days. I believe I have explained my situation in quite a bit of detail on the day and I had to fly out for 2 weeks later on so I decided to leave the letter as is. I have also rung up the number provided multiple times but each time I was replied with something similar to "no payments needed/attached to my reference number (?)". I have not received any updates/letters afterwards and I checked my mail again today (28/08/2024) and still nothing.

I am unsure how to proceed from here or how screwed am I and am terrified. I was wondering whether anyone could help my in this matter if possible.

Thank you very much.

 

[AlterEgo]

Why would you not reply? If you don’t reply, they will prosecute you.

 

[30907]

By failing to reply, you have made it more likely that they will take you to court.

Your best bet is to look at some posts by @Hadders who is a good guide as to what to write to express your sorrow at your carelessness, and apologising for the delayed reply. Post a draft if you like, but keep it short and no sob-story!

So long as you don't delay further, I suspect overstepping the 14 days won't matter too much, and you might be able to persuade GA to offer you a settlement instead of prosecution.

BTW it is very likely that GA have investigated your travel history and if they have discovered that it wasn't your first time it may affect the amount they ask - however it doesn't generally affect whether you will get an offer.

 

[LazyPenguin]

I did not realize that was what the letter meant. I have written everything based on the drafts from @Hadders and will be posting it out first thing tomorrow.

This is the first time this has happened to me and I am genuinely worried and terrified.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Aug 2024 ==

I only came back today

By failing to reply, you have made it more likely that they will take you to court.

Your best bet is to look at some posts by @Hadders who is a good guide as to what to write to express your sorrow at your carelessness, and apologising for the delayed reply. Post a draft if you like, but keep it short and no sob-story!

So long as you don't delay further, I suspect overstepping the 14 days won't matter too much, and you might be able to persuade GA to offer you a settlement instead of prosecution.

BTW it is very likely that GA have investigated your travel history and if they have discovered that it wasn't your first time it may affect the amount they ask - however it doesn't generally affect whether you will get an offer.

I did not realize that was what the letter meant. I have written everything based on the drafts from @Hadders and will be posting it out first thing tomorrow.

This is the first time this has happened to me and I am genuinely worried and terrified.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Aug 2024 ==

Additional question, but should I write an email or contact https://www.ircas.co.uk/ regarding my incident/prosecution or would the reply/mail be sufficient. Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Aug 2024 ==

Or is there any other email or anything I can use to send my message through quicker?

 

[LazyPenguin]

Hi just an update and question:

I sent the letter out 29/08/2024 with 24 hour tracking. I received confirmation and proof that it has been delivered successfully by Royal Mail.

I’ve been checking my mailbox daily ever since and I still have not received any reply. Does it usually take this long for them to reply back?

Thank you

 

[Titfield]

Yes it can take a while to get a further response from Greater Anglia - this forum has reports of anything from 3 -4 days to 2 - 3 weeks (being very common) to a number of months.

As you have proof of delivery you need not concern yourself with them not receiving your reply.

Do you make your bookings through a third party vendor for example Trainline?

If so they may have asked that vendor for details of all your bookings which will take a while for Trainline to process and respond back.

 

[LazyPenguin]

Thank you for your reply.

If that the case that’s a relief then, I’ll just continue checking my mailbox.

I book my tickets directly from the GA app/website so I think I should be fine.

Thank you

 

[LazyPenguin]

Hi so I haven't received my mail (or email yet) but I checked on the IRCAS prosecution website and have the prosecution payments listed now (£100). Is it ok for me to pay it off now or should I still wait for an ''official'' letter or something similar?

Thank you

 

[Titfield]

I think you should wait for official confirmation as it sounds like £100 is an admin fee. It may be adjusted to take into account the fares not paid.

 

[skyhigh]

You were stopped on 08/03.

If GA haven't already submitted a prosecution they are out of time, the 6 month deadline has elapsed.

Give it a few weeks to see if there has just been a delay in the paperwork coming through from the court but if not they effectively have very little recourse.

 

[Elecman]

You were stopped on 08/03.

If GA haven't already submitted a prosecution they are out of time, the 6 month deadline has elapsed.

Give it a few weeks to see if there has just been a delay in the paperwork coming through from the court but if not they effectively have very little recourse.

I was thinking exactly the same unless they have actually laid the paperwork with the court before 08th September