I’m looking for some advice on behalf of a friend.
They’ve been travelling between Raynes Park and London Waterloo for an internship, but only bought tickets from Clapham Junction to London Waterloo instead of covering the full journey.
This happened on 20 occasions over the past 2 week. They were stopped at Waterloo after staff noticed they hadn’t scanned a QR code at Clapham Junction. Their details were taken, and they were told the matter would be looked into.
They are very worried about what the outcome could be of this? Is there anyway to avoid court and criminal charge, is that even likely.
Welcome.
They need to know what they have been doing is a criminal office and the railways take thousands of people to court for this - that results in a court fine, and a criminal record.
Barriers at places like Waterloo are set up to check tickets from places like Clapham Jct and Vauxhall and flag them to staff as it's well known and obvious fare evasion.
Having said that a criminal prosecution can be avoided by following advice on this thread - below is the general advice often given which sets out what to expect and how to try and deal with it to aim to avoid court.
Your friend needs to know that SWR will trawl the digital records of this activity, find the evidence of it and seek payment for the correct fares for all the travel evaded.
One thing your friend could do is invest in a season ticket or flexi season ticket
NOW, if it makes financial sense to do so, to legitimately reduce their travel costs - this will be something they can then show to SWR that they have actively done to change their ways
Here's the general advice to look over it sets out what to expect and what to do in due course - it's vital to receive and respond to their communications if court is to be avoided (otherwise it just happens automatically):
Firstly, you committed a
criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and railway companies are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is they will normally offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them and who haven't come to their attention before.
Next, what happens is the railway company will write to you. The letter will go to the address that you gave them / on any of your ID they checked so you need to be able to access hard copy post at that address as they often send things that way (but also check e-mail and spam). It is
extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have a limited time to do so (often 14 days from the date on their communication).
When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:
- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter
The railway will probably offer you an out of court settlement. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. They will also audit your online ticket purchase history and if this shows you've purchased other tickets that were not valid (eg railcard discounted tickets when you did not have a valid railcard, or tickets for only part of the journey, or tickets bought after boarding the train you travelled on ) they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement offer. Depending on how many journeys you've made over the period concerned this could end up being expensive.
Settlements usually have to be paid in full within a few days of them being offered so if money is tight you might want to think about how you will raise the sum required at short notice.
