womanaire
New Member
On 16 May 2026 I travelled from Stroud to Paddington without a valid ticket. When I arrived at Paddington, I spoke to a member of staff at the barriers and explained that I had lost my ticket and offered to buy a new one. I was then taken aside by another member of staff.
I was in a rush and initially gave Reading as my departure station because I panicked about being asked to pay the full fare again. When the inspector asked me to tell him the truth, I admitted that I had actually travelled from Stroud and explained why I had panicked. I also explained that I had been off work since the beginning of the year following a serious back injury and was struggling financially.
The conversation was very informal and friendly and he made it seem as though he was helping me, the convo was considerably longer than a couple of minutes. We talked about my circumstances and and had a friendly conversation. I genuinely came away feeling that he understood my situation and was trying to help me. He told me he would explain everything to the relevant team and see what he could do, and he even gave me a ticket for my return journey home.
I therefore didn’t realise that I was being formally interviewed or that I was potentially facing prosecution. I only became aware that there was a formal financial consequence when he mentioned that I would receive a letter. I remember asking whether I was being fined and saying that I would rather just pay for a new ticket.
GWR have now told me that I was formally cautioned at 12:06, confirmed that I understood the caution, and that the interview terminated at 12:08. I have absolutely no recollection of being formally cautioned or being told that I was being interviewed under caution.
The timing is particularly confusing to me because my recollection is that the interaction itself was considerably longer than those two minutes and that it was informal throughout. I don’t want to claim that I definitely wasn’t cautioned when I may simply not have understood what was happening, but I am very surprised by GWR’s account and would like to understand what their records actually show.
I was initially offered a £320 settlement. I contacted GWR before the original deadline asking for the case to be reviewed, and they subsequently reinstated the £320 offer for another week. Unfortunately, I completely missed that second deadline and only realised when I logged into the payment portal to pay it, by which point it had increased to £410.
I’ve now emailed asking them to reinstate the £320 because I’m currently in a very difficult financial position after being off work for around eight months and £410 is simply unaffordable for me.
I’m looking for advice on:
Any advice from people familiar with GWR/revenue protection procedures would be really appreciated.
I was in a rush and initially gave Reading as my departure station because I panicked about being asked to pay the full fare again. When the inspector asked me to tell him the truth, I admitted that I had actually travelled from Stroud and explained why I had panicked. I also explained that I had been off work since the beginning of the year following a serious back injury and was struggling financially.
The conversation was very informal and friendly and he made it seem as though he was helping me, the convo was considerably longer than a couple of minutes. We talked about my circumstances and and had a friendly conversation. I genuinely came away feeling that he understood my situation and was trying to help me. He told me he would explain everything to the relevant team and see what he could do, and he even gave me a ticket for my return journey home.
I therefore didn’t realise that I was being formally interviewed or that I was potentially facing prosecution. I only became aware that there was a formal financial consequence when he mentioned that I would receive a letter. I remember asking whether I was being fined and saying that I would rather just pay for a new ticket.
GWR have now told me that I was formally cautioned at 12:06, confirmed that I understood the caution, and that the interview terminated at 12:08. I have absolutely no recollection of being formally cautioned or being told that I was being interviewed under caution.
The timing is particularly confusing to me because my recollection is that the interaction itself was considerably longer than those two minutes and that it was informal throughout. I don’t want to claim that I definitely wasn’t cautioned when I may simply not have understood what was happening, but I am very surprised by GWR’s account and would like to understand what their records actually show.
I was initially offered a £320 settlement. I contacted GWR before the original deadline asking for the case to be reviewed, and they subsequently reinstated the £320 offer for another week. Unfortunately, I completely missed that second deadline and only realised when I logged into the payment portal to pay it, by which point it had increased to £410.
I’ve now emailed asking them to reinstate the £320 because I’m currently in a very difficult financial position after being off work for around eight months and £410 is simply unaffordable for me.
I’m looking for advice on:
- Whether it’s worth getting legal advice regarding the alleged formal interview/caution.
- Whether I should ask GWR for a copy of the revenue protection report/interview record and any bodycam footage.
- Whether there is any realistic chance of getting the £320 settlement reinstated again.
- What the likely consequences would be if I can’t afford the £410 and GWR decide to prosecute.
Any advice from people familiar with GWR/revenue protection procedures would be really appreciated.
