MG11 Advice needed

[jhard107]

Hi,

I have recently received and MG11. I am just seeking advice to try and understand how bad this could potentially be. I have read somewhere the maximum fine could be up to £1000, can it go higher than this?

I have been buying a ticket from the most recent stop to my desired station online on the south-eastern app since around November last year which I assume they will do an investigation and find this out, does anyone know what could potentially happen next. Will the letter I receive state an amount they wish to recoup, as of course I would like to resolve this in an out of court settlement,

any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[jfollows]

Welcome to the forum, but please read https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/please-read-before-posting-in-disputes-prosecutions.77759/ and, in particular, post any paperwork you’ve received and describe exactly what journey you were making and where you were given the MG11.

Being vague means we can’t give you meaningful advice, because it often depends on the details.

It’s often the case that you can agree an out of court settlement, with no fine or criminal record. Whoever it is who stopped you will be able to examine any on-line purchase record.

 

[Watershed]

Just in answer to your first question - the maximum fine is indeed £1000 but that is applied extremely rarely. Fines are calculated as a percentage of your weekly income - for fares offences, this would be in the range of 25-175% - so you would have to have quite a high income, with your offending judged to have a high degree of culpability and harm, to reach the maximum fine.

A read through the Sentencing Guidelines for fares offences would probably put your mind at ease somewhat; it explains what would affect the culpability and harm factors. If it did go to Court, you would also get an automatic 1/3 reduction in the fine if you plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.

The less good news is that, on top of the fine, you would also be ordered to pay the Victim Surcharge (calculated as 40% of your fine) to support services for victims of crime, plus the prosecution's costs (typically £150-200) and any fares that remain unpaid. The latter will vary substantially depending on the nature of your offending - if you've been avoiding fares for a long time, it could exceed £1000 of course.

However, as @jfollows says, most train companies (apart from TfL) are happy to come to an out of Court settlement so the likelihood of it going to Court is low, if you cooperate and pay what they ask.

 

[AlterEgo]

To clarify, while a court fine can theoretically be £1000, an out of court settlement isn’t the same thing. If you’ve dodged - let’s say - £3000 of fares for example, you’ll need to pay that back.

If you get *convicted in court* of the offence, the company can ask for the other evaded fares to be taken into consideration and you’d still need to pay £3000…plus the court fine.

 

[jhard107]

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses, I do appreciate it. I have since received the attached letter. It states they invite me to respond with any comments regarding the incident. To give more details on my incident, the rail journey I should be purchasing is a single from West Malling to Bromley South (Luckily for me I manage to get a lift home from work by one of my colleagues). However the ticket I was caught purchasing was Bickley to Bromley South.

Any advice on the best way to deal with this would be highly appreciated as I do not know what to do and would like to seek an out of court settlement as soon as possible,

Thank you in advance

 

[30907]

You have been asked about one incident only, so reply about that but without saying or implying that this was a one-off.
Use the search for posts by member Hadders who regularly suggests points that should be made.
SE will almost certainly be willing to settle but are likely to check your history and factor that in to their offer.
(Bickley is unbarriered but most people would use contactless from there - it is also not the easiest station to reach from the A20....)

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses, I do appreciate it. I have since received the attached letter. It states they invite me to respond with any comments regarding the incident. To give more details on my incident, the rail journey I should be purchasing is a single from West Malling to Bromley South (Luckily for me I manage to get a lift home from work by one of my colleagues). However the ticket I was caught purchasing was Bickley to Bromley South.

Any advice on the best way to deal with this would be highly appreciated as I do not know what to do and would like to seek an out of court settlement as soon as possible,

Thank you in advance

To add to @30907 's helpful advice just posted:

So you now need to use this as your opportunity to ask if they would be kind enough to allow you to settle the matter out of court (ie now prosecute you)

basally you need to write a relatively short reply that cover the key points of:

- apologising for what happened
- say that you have learned a lesson from this and understand why it is important to always have the correct ticket
- make it clear you won't do this again
- make a request to settle it out of court and offer to pay any fare owed

Have a look at other threads for examples.

Before you send your reply to them it's probably good idea to ask people to check your draft wording here before you send it, if you think that would be of help to you.

 

[jhard107]

Hi Guys, thank you again. I have composed the following response, is this too wordy, or would this be suitable. Any notes on this are appreciated,

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident that occurred on xxxx , during which I was stopped by a member of your staff.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. I fully understand and accept the importance of travelling with a valid ticket at all times and recognise that my failure to do so was wrong. I appreciate that ensuring all passengers pay their fare is essential for fairness and the proper functioning of the railway system.

Regardless of the reason, I take full responsibility for my actions.

I kindly ask that you take this letter into consideration when reviewing my case.

If it is at all possible, I would be extremely grateful if you would consider settling this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to pay the outstanding fare and a reasonable administrative cost to resolve the issue.

Once again, I apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to provide my comments.

Many Thanks,
xxxx

Also on the back of the letter it asks me to provide extra information including my national insurance number and occupation. Is it necessary for me to provide this information?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi Guys, thank you again. I have composed the following response, is this too wordy, or would this be suitable. Any notes on this are appreciated,

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident that occurred on xxxx , during which I was stopped by a member of your staff.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. I fully understand and accept the importance of travelling with a valid ticket at all times and recognise that my failure to do so was wrong. I appreciate that ensuring all passengers pay their fare is essential for fairness and the proper functioning of the railway system.

Regardless of the reason, I take full responsibility for my actions.

I kindly ask that you take this letter into consideration when reviewing my case.

If it is at all possible, I would be extremely grateful if you would consider settling this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to pay the outstanding fare and a reasonable administrative cost to resolve the issue.

Once again, I apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to provide my comments.

Many Thanks,
xxxx

Also on the back of the letter it asks me to provide extra information including my national insurance number and occupation. Is it necessary for me to provide this information?

Looks fairly reasonable - though it's a bit more than an inconvenience for them - they would see it as you stealing from them as a deliberate evasion strategy (if I understand correctly) - so I think you need to be a bit clearer that you understand both the gravity of that and make it clear you will never do it again in your reply and ditch the 'inconvenience' line

If you can do something like buying a season ticket for your travel (if that works financially) or a flexi season ticket or railcard to legitimately reduce your travel - then you could do that and enclose a copy or state the serial number as an illustration of something you have actively done to change your ways. See it as an investment in avoiding court perhaps...

ref NI number and job - I don't think you have to tell them that by law, but the key to getting a settlement is to be co-operative, so you have to draw your own conclusion about whether being co-operative with all the things they are asking you might be part of the price you need to pay to avoid prosecution....


Whatever you do keep copies of everything you send to them. We have had cases of SE Trains losing replies sent and the next thing the person knows is receipt of court papers as it has escalated to prosecution, so don't leave anything to chance

 

[jhard107]

I have re written slightly, please let me know if there is anything you would change before I send it this evening

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident that occurred on 29/07/2025, during which I was stopped by a member of your staff.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. I fully understand and accept the importance of travelling with a valid ticket at all times and recognise that my failure to do so was wrong. I appreciate that ensuring all passengers pay their fare is essential for fairness and the proper functioning of the railway system.

Regardless of the reason, I take full responsibility for my actions.

I kindly ask that you take this letter into consideration when reviewing my case.

If it is at all possible, I would be extremely grateful if you would consider settling this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to pay fare that I owe as well as any administrative cost to resolve the issue.

Once again, I apologise sincerely and would like to make it abundantly clear that I fully understand my wrongdoing and offer my assurance that I will never do this again.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide my comments.

 

[WesternLancer]

I have re written slightly, please let me know if there is anything you would change before I send it this evening

Dear Prosecutions Team,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the incident that occurred on 29/07/2025, during which I was stopped by a member of your staff.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. I fully understand and accept the importance of travelling with a valid ticket at all times and recognise that my failure to do so was wrong. I appreciate that ensuring all passengers pay their fare is essential for fairness and the proper functioning of the railway system.

Regardless of the reason, I take full responsibility for my actions.

I kindly ask that you take this letter into consideration when reviewing my case.

If it is at all possible, I would be extremely grateful if you would consider settling this matter without court proceedings. I am willing to pay fare that I owe as well as any administrative cost to resolve the issue.

Once again, I apologise sincerely and would like to make it abundantly clear that I fully understand my wrongdoing and offer my assurance that I will never do this again.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide my comments.

That ends better now in my view.

If you have time you may want to wait and see if anyone else has any further suggestions before you send it off to them.

Of course be sure to state your full name, ref number and postal address in the reply you actually send to make it easy for them to match up your reply with their case file.

 

[mad_rich]

Just a style pointer. I've highlighted a few words from that first paragraph which don't really add anything, in my opinion. They just make the letter longer, and sound a bit OTT.

You could definitely cut some of these, at least.

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions. I fully understand and accept the importance of travelling with a valid ticket at all times and recognise that my failure to do so was wrong. I appreciate that ensuring all passengers pay their fare is essential for fairness and the proper functioning of the railway system

 

[jhard107]

I am going to attach this to the letter above when sending it back to them. Thank you for your support