Need help with MG11

[arxdd]

I need help to draft a response to MG 11 issued by southeastern railway inspectors.

Yesterday morning at Waterloo east station, when I arrived there, and I was exiting the barriers I saw the barcode exit was covered, so I showed my barcode to one of the ticketing officers that I had just purchased two or three minutes ago when I realized there was checking happening.

The ticket I bought was from London bridge to Waterloo east and I also applied the disabled Railcard on it to make the fare cheaper. I didn't realise when the officer asked me I just showed them the same barcode, and then they immediately asked me that why was the ticket not scanned in at London bridge and why when and why was a disabled rail card applied.

They asked me that do I have another ticket I panicked, and I bought another ticket at the same time, which was for the full fare between London bridge and Waterloo East and did not have any rail card applied.

I thought I could get away with doing that, but the officer understood that I had just bought another one, and I was trying to get away from the situation so he decided to give me an MG 11.

He asked me why I did not scan in at London bridge I told him that the gates were overcrowded and on the left the main gate was open, so I just walked in however this is not true I was actually travelling from Welling to Waterloo east.

This is my common commute that I do every day, however I have just done so far by buying a disabled railcard ticket from London bridge to Waterloo East.

The officer told me that he does not believe that I got on at London bridge and said that I did not have the correct railcard either and that I would have passed the barriers with the same disabled Railcard if nobody had checked me.

I argued again because I panicked I said that I did board at London bridge but because the main gate one of the main barriers would open I just walked in I was lying, but I had also panicked.

The officer told me to show him an ID with an address that that was near London bridge so he wanted to ascertain that I actually stayed near London bridge.

Fortunately or unfortunately I used to live in London bridge about three and a half years ago, and I had a scan of my provisional licence on my phone which I showed him and that had the address for the London bridge House. I thought I could get away with doing that, however, he just clicked a picture and upload it onto his report.

Thereafter, he asked for all my details now that I had shown him my ID with the outdated address, I had no option but to go with the same old address at London bridge. So I told him my correct name I told him my correct date of birth, but the address that I provided was the old one which is at London bridge.

From then, I have been really anxious, and I have read a lot of forums and understood that there is a real risk of not getting the letter if the address is wrong, so I have just written an email to southeastern railways today with my updated ID with the correct address and told them that I panicked and by mistake I provided an ID which had an outdated address, so I requested them to update my address when they send out the letter.

I'm very scared because this is not the first time that this happened I have my train line account history where this has been done at least 15 to 20 times where I was short faring and also applied the disabled Railcard. I am on a visa and I cannot afford to go to a court because my visa renewal is expected after a few months and if I get a court record, I think my visa would be rejected.

Please help me in drafting my response letter. Will I be able to get an out-of-court settlement in this case?

For your information, I got email back from southeastern that they have updated my address, so I will be receiving the letter soon, but I want to start drafting my response.

Do you think this can be settled out of court?

 

[30907]

In answer to your last question - if you cooperate fully from now on you will almost certainly be offered a settlement. However you must expect to pay the full fare for all the times you have cheated, plus an admin fee which could well be over £100.

 

[WesternLancer]

People will be happy to help, but you need to realise this is such obvious evasion they will look at your history to see how often you have done this sort of thing and want paying for all the evasion you have done in order to settle it out of court, I would expect.

 

[WesternLancer]

Please help me in drafting my response letter. Will I be able to get an out-of-court settlement in this case?

For your information, I got email back from southeastern that they have updated my address, so I will be receiving the letter soon, but I want to start drafting my response.

Do you think this can be settled out of court?

Just to get back to this question I think some posts were deleted from the thread - but in terms of help that you need responding to this - have you yet had your letter from SE Trains asking you about the incident that you need to reply to?

You may find this thread of help specifically posts #39 onwards as well as the initial context

The issues have some similarity with your case (using a Railcard discount that you do not possess to obtain a discount you are not entitled to) but in addition you have been short faring by the looks of it - but the general principles of how to reply are the same, in an effort to seek an out of court settlement. Even though your evasion is more serious this should still probably be achievable.

Facing possible prosecution please help I’m so scared !

When would they do this? Would it worth me calling them for example tomorrow and giving them the railcard number , to assist with their investigations? Or should I wait to receive the letter first, and then quote my railcard details when I reply ? 1758695008 The thing is , when the officer took...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[LAX54]

Isnt a driving licence, provisional or otherwise with the the wrong address, and used as ID another offence that if caught can land you with a hefty fine ?

 

[WesternLancer]

Isnt a driving licence, provisional or otherwise with the the wrong address, and used as ID another offence that if caught can land you with a hefty fine ?

Potentially there is a fine for not keeping your driving license details up to date yes. No idea if rail enforcement offices pass on cases of this they discover to DVLA or not.

Using it deliberately for false details bound to be some other sort of offence I’d guess.

But I suspect in practice the problem is more one as follows -

Wrong or out of date address info given in the hope that will throw the railway off the scent means person does not get letter where they can give mitigation and request and almost always obtain an out of court settlement. No response to that letter as a consequence means the railway just takes it to court along with hundreds of other cases that no response has been sent and court finds passenger guilty, fines them, they get criminal record etc - fine then not paid and eventually handed over to court bailiffs who are very good at eventually finding the offender, getting attachment of earnings orders etc - usually with info and co-operation from the previous address, and other data court bailiffs can access - by which time the fine and costs have massively escalated and resolving the issue takes a lot more time and money for the fare evader.....

Perhaps more time and money than a fine issued for not updating your driving licence might result in.

So if the OP did not give correct address details, but wishes to get on a pathway to resolving all this in the least worst way - they would be well advised to pro actively e-mail SE trains prosecution team with their correct address details now so that they can engage with the process and obtain an out of court settlement.