Invalid Railcard Fare Evasion Advice Needed

[CEP]

Hi, I received a ticket in Oct 25 for not being able to present a valid railcard on my commute into London. Today, I received the below email and I’m really unsure how to answer and how much detail I need to go into, at this point.

I wasn’t able to present my railcard in my email on the train, due to bad signal and later established it actually expired in Oct 24 which means I was commuting without one for a long time and due to Trainline populating that I have one from previous trips, I believe I accidentally continued to do this a few times even after this ticket was issued.

I feel really embarrassed that it has got to this stage and due to personal issues going on in my life at this time, I wasn’t always thinking right although I know this is not an excuse, at all. It’s not a reflection of my character and I want to resolve it as soon as possible without it escalating. I now purchase a monthly season pass and will not make this error again.

At this stage, do I own up to other journeys made without one or just apologise in general and see what they suggest?

I have 6 days to reply to them so any help will be much appreciated!

On the (date), you presented ticket number (blank) on board a (company) train service between Woking and London Waterloo Railway Stations to a member of Revenue Protection. Upon questioning, it was established that you did not hold a valid 26-30 Railcard for the discount applied. You were issued a Report for Prosecution, number (number).

Further investigation of your online account has highlighted other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.

Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you and initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to our case management team.

Please respond to this email, by replying to: (name) within 7 days

 

[z444z]

Hi, I received a ticket in Oct 25 for not being able to present a valid railcard on my commute into London. Today, I received the below email and I’m really unsure how to answer and how much detail I need to go into, at this point.

Welcome - there are lots of similar cases on the forum you can reference, but essentially you need to apologise for what you did, make it clear that you will not do it again, and ask (or almost beg) to settle out of court, offering to pay the fares due and their administrative costs. It’s best if you can draft something and post it here for us to review because this should be coming from you and in your words as far as possible.

due to Trainline populating that I have one from previous trips, I believe I accidentally continued to do this a few times even after this ticket was issued.

I think you should explain this. They may or may not believe it but they will probably have noticed so it’s better than not addressing it at all.

I now purchase a monthly season pass and will not make this error again.

This should help, and you should mention it to them in your response.

At this stage, do I own up to other journeys made without one or just apologise in general and see what they suggest?

You need to apologise for everything at this point, but you don’t need to outline what “everything” is.

 

[CEP]

Welcome - there are lots of similar cases on the forum you can reference, but essentially you need to apologise for what you did, make it clear that you will not do it again, and ask (or almost beg) to settle out of court, offering to pay the fares due and their administrative costs. It’s best if you can draft something and post it here for us to review because this should be coming from you and in your words as far as possible.

I think you should explain this. They may or may not believe it but they will probably have noticed so it’s better than not addressing it at all.

This should help, and you should mention it to them in your response.

You need to apologise for everything at this point, but you don’t need to outline what “everything” is.

Hi, thank you for your fast reply! I have drafted the below - please let me know your thoughts.

Dear name,

Thank you for your email.

I understand that I was travelling with a discounted ticket without a valid Railcard. Due to bad signal on the train at the time of inspection, I was not able to locate my previous Railcard purchases, which I later established had expired.

Unfortunately, due to the Trainline app retaining previously selected Railcard details, I believe it may have inadvertently selected a Railcard discount on other occasions without realising. This was not a deliberate attempt to avoid paying the correct fare and I take full responsibility for this and accept that I should have made sure my Railcard was valid before buying a ticket.

There is no excuse for not checking properly and I’m really sorry about this.

During 2025, I was dealing with some personal issues and my attention may not have always been where it should have been. Whilst this does not justify or excuse what happened, I want to say that this is not in my usual character and I feel genuinely embarrassed that I have found myself in this situation.

The uncertainty around this situation over the past few months has been affecting my mental health and causing me anxiety so I am keen to resolve it as soon as possible.

I want to reassure you that it will not happen again. I have re looked at the most affordable way to commute into London and I now purchase a monthly season ticket. I will make sure that I always have the correct and valid ticket in future.

I would really appreciate the opportunity to resolve this without it being passed over to the case management team and will be happy to pay the fares due and administrative costs. Please let me know the next steps.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi, thank you for your fast reply! I have drafted the below - please let me know your thoughts.

Dear name,

Thank you for your email.

I understand that I was travelling with a discounted ticket without a valid Railcard. Due to bad signal on the train at the time of inspection, I was not able to locate my previous Railcard purchases, which I later established had expired.

Unfortunately, due to the Trainline app retaining previously selected Railcard details, I believe it may have inadvertently selected a Railcard discount on other occasions without realising. This was not a deliberate attempt to avoid paying the correct fare and I take full responsibility for this and accept that I should have made sure my Railcard was valid before buying a ticket.

There is no excuse for not checking properly and I’m really sorry about this.

During 2025, I was dealing with some personal issues and my attention may not have always been where it should have been. Whilst this does not justify or excuse what happened, I want to say that this is not in my usual character and I feel genuinely embarrassed that I have found myself in this situation.

The uncertainty around this situation over the past few months has been affecting my mental health and causing me anxiety so I am keen to resolve it as soon as possible.

I want to reassure you that it will not happen again. I have re looked at the most affordable way to commute into London and I now purchase a monthly season ticket. I will make sure that I always have the correct and valid ticket in future.

I would really appreciate the opportunity to resolve this without it being passed over to the case management team and will be happy to pay the fares due and administrative costs. Please let me know the next steps.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

ref your draft here

I would amend this bit just to make it clearer it's legal action that you want to avoid - ie this bit at the end:

"I would really appreciate the opportunity to resolve this without the need for legal action it being passed over to the case management team and will be happy to pay the fares due and administrative costs. Please let me know the next steps."

 

[nightall]

I wouldn't be offering up when your Railcard expired, they don't know if you had a paper or digital on any device in the past. All they know is that you didn't have a valid one on this instance so just focus on that.
You now realise that you Railcard had expired here and will ensure that you don't buy discounted tickets without a valid one in the future. If they ask about previous journeys then it's up to them to provide evidence that you didn't have one. Don't lie, but if I were in your situation I wouldn't be doing their job for them and incriminating myself.

 

[Elecman]

How did you manage to ”accidentally” use a railcard discount after you found out it had expired over 12 months previously?

 

[duffield]

...
If they ask about previous journeys then it's up to them to provide evidence that you didn't have one.
...

That's really not the case in this sort of situation. If you want an out of court settlement and they do ask about railcard use previous journeys, it's up to you to provide evidence that you held a valid railcard. If, as is of course your right, you refuse and say it's up to them to provide evidence that you didn't have a railcard, they can simply withdraw the out of court settlement offer and prosecute you for the one occasion they can prove. But that's what the OP is trying to avoid.

Obviously if they don't ask, you don't need to address the issue at all.