No I was going to buy a railcard. I’ve bought a 16-25 railcard right now
In terms of how much you think they’d charge me you got any idea as the booking history only goes for the past 2 weeks as before that I was using my little cousins Oyster card but I wasn’t caught with it and returned it to my little cousin
That’s a good move. You can tell them in due course. It’s something that shows you’ve changed your ways and taken steps to legitimise your tickets.
I have bought the railway card and I’m using it today on the way to work. Hopefully SWR don’t prosecute me and allow me to pay the off court settlement as I’m changing my ways
They're unlikely to look at your Oyster Card use - but we can't be certain that they won't.
Dont forget there is a minimum fare of £12 restriction on the 16-25 railcard before 10am, so if you are travelling before then, you need to be careful.
Also, no-one reminds you when the Railcard expires, so make a note on your phone to renew it just before it expires.
This situation occurred on Sunday so do you have a rough approximate as to when they’ll send the letter?
A 1 year travelcard is not a railcard. Try and be sure which you mean. Your saga is difficult to understand, because your title refers to an ‘invalid railcard’, but your answers suggest you didn’t have a railcard at all.
Do you mean a 16-25 Railcard? Giving a potential one-third saving on many rail fares for a one year period? Usually costs £35.
It was an e ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo
Both a short ticket and not having a railcard then. You don't usually get credit for what's already been paid, so if they ask for an out of court settlement it would be based on the undiscounted anytime fares from wherever they think or you admit to travelling from.
Yes I paid for it yesterday
A Travelcard is a type of season ticket AIUI, as opposed to a Railcard - if that helps to clarify why you are being asked here.
So all they will check is the Trainline history and that’s it in your assumption?
Everyone's telling you the same thing. If you didn't tell them you were using the Oyster card, they have no reason to check CCTV, and even if you did tell them, it's vanishingly unlikely that they would go to the effort of trying to find you on just one day, let alone many.
What would prompt them to look at Oyster usage as well? There would be no indicators that the Oyster card was used by anyone but the legitimate holder unless you confess to it.
They have absolutely no reason to investigate your Oyster history. Please, please, for your own sake, put it out of your mind.
I guess it comes with the territory that breaking the law brings with it some anxiety, first when participating in the offence, in the hope that you are not caught, and subsequently when you are actually caught and facing the consequences of your actions.
No. Not if you co-operate with them - you will see lots of threads on here where SWR have offered settlements instead of prosecuting.
As you said in post #54
What you're suffering from at the moment is the guilt that goes with being caught. At the very least you will be feeling silly because you will have believed that you would get away with fare dodging - so not only has the fact that you were doing wrong been drawn to your attention, but also at the moment it feels as if your judgement is bad.
