I panicked and walked off from revenue protection!

[Sorryipanicked]

I had a valid ticket for part of my journey but realised I’d forgotten to include return. Rather than buying the correct ticket, I stupidly bought one from a later station to reduce the fare- in effect short-faring. I did this as the return would have costed about the same.

At the destination station I was stopped by revenue protection staff, who noticed the ticket wasn’t valid. I panicked. Instead of cooperating properly, I pretended not to understand what they were asking, tapped out with my contactless bank card, and walked off.

Before I left, they took a photo of the ticket collection reference from the ticket I’d bought through an app. They didn’t take my name or address, but I’m worried they may still be able to identify me from the booking.


I’ve never been in this situation before and I’m genuinely sorry for what I did. I know panic made the situation worse, but I’m not trying to excuse it. I’m now feeling very anxious and would appreciate any advice from people who understand how these cases are usually handled, particularly whether it’s common for train operators to contact people later and whether out-of-court settlements are sometimes offered.
If it’s of any use - this was southwestern rail.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

That depends entirely on whether the member of staff that took the photo decides to report your interactions.

You may be lucky and they don't report it further, therefore nothing will happen.

If they do report it, they have an office team who will likely email the address linked to the ticket stating you were stopped for this incident and ask you to provide information. As they didn't manage to ID check you, they would likely struggle to take this matter further. Most on here would advice to not respond to the email in the first instance.

However, if they do contact you, and you choose to respond, they will likely dig into your purchase history and look for any other times you have short fared and look to recover that money at the same time. You could choose to do the right thing at this point and pay what you owe them (plus admin costs on top).

For now, jot down anything you thing you may need to remember and put the incident to the back of your mind, it really isn't worth the increased anxiety and all that that brings.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had a valid ticket for part of my journey but realised I’d forgotten to include return. Rather than buying the correct ticket, I stupidly bought one from a later station to reduce the fare- in effect short-faring. I did this as the return would have costed about the same.

At the destination station I was stopped by revenue protection staff, who noticed the ticket wasn’t valid. I panicked. Instead of cooperating properly, I pretended not to understand what they were asking, tapped out with my contactless bank card, and walked off.

Before I left, they took a photo of the ticket collection reference from the ticket I’d bought through an app. They didn’t take my name or address, but I’m worried they may still be able to identify me from the booking.


I’ve never been in this situation before and I’m genuinely sorry for what I did. I know panic made the situation worse, but I’m not trying to excuse it. I’m now feeling very anxious and would appreciate any advice from people who understand how these cases are usually handled, particularly whether it’s common for train operators to contact people later and whether out-of-court settlements are sometimes offered.
If it’s of any use - this was southwestern rail.

I think the point is that they can almost certainly track you down if they want to - and may or may not do so.

They usually contact people by letter but also e-mail if SWR is possible - so keep an eye on e-mail and spam accounts related to ticket buying.

Basically if they do not contact you / take action in 6 months then they can't bring a criminal court prosecution against you for this. So that is the time window you need to keep an eye on. After that they have the potential to bring a civil court action for the debt of unpaid fares but that is less serious in terms of court records etc (eg a CCJ not a criminal record)

If you hear anything from the railway company about this then head back here for advice before responding to them about it and people will explain your options and the various consequences.

 

[RPI]

SWR tend to be more proactive with chasing these than other TOC's, you'll just have to sit tight and wait for any correspondence.