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invalid railcard

Joined
30 Aug 2026
Messages
27
Location
stockwell
No. Not if you co-operate with them - you will see lots of threads on here where SWR have offered settlements instead of prosecuting.

They do seem to investigate past journey history to look for suspicious things as part of their investigation - but still seem OK to settle out of court if there is an acceptance that such past evasion is paid for.
So based off your experience seeing these cases they are only going to observe my Trainline history as you mentioned them looking into my little cousins oyster card and my false 16 plus Oyster card that was made for me is very very unlikely
 
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WesternLancer

Veteran Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
15,021
So based off your experience seeing these cases they are only going to observe my Trainline history
we know they do look at Trainline account records as we see this in many other cases.

as you mentioned them looking into my little cousins oyster card and my false 16 plus Oyster card that was made for me is very very unlikely
I do not think I have ever mentioned anything about your use of other people's oyster cards - but if I have let me know in which post, and I can check what I said in case it is not clear.
 

MotCO

Established Member
Joined
25 Aug 2014
Messages
6,087
On the one hand you obviously regret your wrong-doing, which is good since it shows you have learnt your lesson and will not offend again.

On the other hand, you are over-thinking it all. I know it's easier said than done, but take a deep breath and try to put it to one side for the time being. You have to be patient and wait for the letter in 3 - 4 weeks; there is nothing else you can do, apart from save up. Everyone has said don't worry about the Oyster card - it is very, very, very highly unlikely that they know anything about it, will not have any triggers to alert them to it, and will have no evidence to try to make you pay for it.
 
Joined
30 Aug 2026
Messages
27
Location
stockwell
You don't think it will take longer than a month?
On the one hand you obviously regret your wrong-doing, which is good since it shows you have learnt your lesson and will not offend again.

On the other hand, you are over-thinking it all. I know it's easier said than done, but take a deep breath and try to put it to one side for the time being. You have to be patient and wait for the letter in 3 - 4 weeks; there is nothing else you can do, apart from save up. Everyone has said don't worry about the Oyster card - it is very, very, very highly unlikely that they know anything about it, will not have any triggers to alert them to it, and will have no evidence to try to make you pay for it.
The reason why I was worrying about the oysters was to see if they would check cameras as all the tickets were purchased same time roughly to notice a trend
 

Fawkes Cat

Established Member
Joined
8 May 2017
Messages
5,262
You don't think it will take longer than a month?
You need to be prepared to wait for up to six months. That's quite a long time, so that's another reason to try and stop stressing about it: it won't do you any good to try and keep this level of concern up for so long.
 

dosxuk

Established Member
Joined
2 Jan 2011
Messages
2,434
Forget about the Oyster stuff now, you were never caught, so even if they suspected the usage then it would be difficult to prove in court.

However, you should realise how lucky you were not to be stopped with it. If you'd been stopped by a TfL inspector with it, you would almost certainly have been prosecuted with zero chance of an out-of-court settlement. That goes not only for the use of your cousin's card, but also the fake one someone made for you.

I would seriously recommend going back to those people and tell them the real world consequences of using someone else's Oyster. It's not a slap on the wrist and a penalty fare, then carry on - it's summons to appear in court, having to pay back all the fares you dodged and records that can interfere with job prospects if you want to go into a field which requires honesty and trust. You can have a search on here for people who have been caught with someone else's Oyster and see how TfL deal with it.

You should also be aware, that using a fake railcard and caught with it, is dealt with far more seriously than just having the wrong ticket. It's clear and irrefutable evidence of trying to de-fraud the railway, and you really don't want to get a conviction for fraud on your records - that has whole life consequences. A quick search of this site will show you just how quickly a fake railcard can be discovered by the railway.
 
Joined
30 Aug 2026
Messages
27
Location
stockwell
Forget about the Oyster stuff now, you were never caught, so even if they suspected the usage then it would be difficult to prove in court.

However, you should realise how lucky you were not to be stopped with it. If you'd been stopped by a TfL inspector with it, you would almost certainly have been prosecuted with zero chance of an out-of-court settlement. That goes not only for the use of your cousin's card, but also the fake one someone made for you.

I would seriously recommend going back to those people and tell them the real world consequences of using someone else's Oyster. It's not a slap on the wrist and a penalty fare, then carry on - it's summons to appear in court, having to pay back all the fares you dodged and records that can interfere with job prospects if you want to go into a field which requires honesty and trust. You can have a search on here for people who have been caught with someone else's Oyster and see how TfL deal with it.

You should also be aware, that using a fake railcard and caught with it, is dealt with far more seriously than just having the wrong ticket. It's clear and irrefutable evidence of trying to de-fraud the railway, and you really don't want to get a conviction for fraud on your records - that has whole life consequences. A quick search of this site will show you just how quickly a fake railcard can be discovered by the railway.
I’ve bought a legit railway card for 35 pounds for 1 year and the 16-25 saver card. I have learnt my lesson

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Forget about the Oyster stuff now, you were never caught, so even if they suspected the usage then it would be difficult to prove in court.

However, you should realise how lucky you were not to be stopped with it. If you'd been stopped by a TfL inspector with it, you would almost certainly have been prosecuted with zero chance of an out-of-court settlement. That goes not only for the use of your cousin's card, but also the fake one someone made for you.

I would seriously recommend going back to those people and tell them the real world consequences of using someone else's Oyster. It's not a slap on the wrist and a penalty fare, then carry on - it's summons to appear in court, having to pay back all the fares you dodged and records that can interfere with job prospects if you want to go into a field which requires honesty and trust. You can have a search on here for people who have been caught with someone else's Oyster and see how TfL deal with it.

You should also be aware, that using a fake railcard and caught with it, is dealt with far more seriously than just having the wrong ticket. It's clear and irrefutable evidence of trying to de-fraud the railway, and you really don't want to get a conviction for fraud on your records - that has whole life consequences. A quick search of this site will show you just how quickly a fake railcard can be discovered by the railway.
My situation wouldn’t be using a fake railcard card. I’ve only been using Trainline for the past 2 weeks and was doing my trip from my local station to Waterloo- the only difference was that it was 16-17 saver card and not 16-25
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
34,243
I’ve bought a legit railway card for 35 pounds for 1 year and the 16-25 saver card. I have learnt my lesson
You’re still confusing things by these descriptions, that reads as if you’ve now got two railcards?

You’ve bought a “16-25 railcard” is all you need to write.

The term “Saver” is only used with the 16-17 card that you aren’t entitled to.
 

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