Need to write letter for fare evasion from thaneslink

[that1kid]

Hello,
I have been sent an intention to prosecute letter by the thameslink services. I was travelling on the direct train from london to cambridge and had bought a ticket from london to potters bar. As the train was direct i wasnt able to get off at potters bar but when i got to Cambridge i decided to leave from that station instead of going back to potters bar as i live in cambridge anyways. I bought a ticket from cambridge north to cambridge to get out. I felt bad about what i did so i bought a full ticket from kings cross to Cambridge after leaving. What should i say in the letter to not go to court? Should i just plead guilty? The reason i did this was because i was struggling a lot with money then and regret it now

 

[WirralLine]

Hello,
I have been sent an intention to prosecute letter by the thameslink services. I was travelling on the direct train from london to cambridge and had bought a ticket from london to potters bar. As the train was direct i wasnt able to get off at potters bar but when i got to Cambridge i decided to leave from that station instead of going back to potters bar as i live in cambridge anyways. I bought a ticket from cambridge north to cambridge to get out. I felt bad about what i did so i bought a full ticket from kings cross to Cambridge after leaving. What should i say in the letter to not go to court? Should i just plead guilty? The reason i did this was because i was struggling a lot with money then and regret it now

I think what you're trying to say is you deliberately bought a cheaper ticket to get through the gates in London then a cheaper ticket to get out at Cambridge, I wouldn't go down the route of "the train was direct and didn't stop there so I decided to leave at Cambridge instead" - especially as it just so happens to be where you live. They won't believe this. If you cooperate you may be able to settle this before it proceeds to court.

The experts will be along soon, if you could post any correspondence here with personal details and reference numbers etc redacted they will be able to provide more assistance.

 

[AlterEgo]

I was travelling on the direct train from london to cambridge and had bought a ticket from london to potters bar. As the train was direct i wasnt able to get off at potters bar but when i got to Cambridge i decided to leave from that station instead of going back to potters bar as i live in cambridge anyways.

How stupid do you think someone would have to be to believe this?

I bought a ticket from cambridge north to cambridge to get out.The reason i did this was because i was struggling a lot with money then and regret it now

So you deliberately short fared, let's get that out of the way first. The person who reads your letter at the train company wasn't born yesterday.

 

[that1kid]

How stupid do you think someone would have to be to believe this?


So you deliberately short fared, let's get that out of the way first. The person who reads your letter at the train company wasn't born yesterday.

Yes i admit i did. If in honest will i still have to ho to court?

 

[notmyrealname]

Possibly not, but could you post the correspondence please as WirralLine asked? Cover up your personal details and their reference numbers.

 

[that1kid]

Here is the letter i was sent

 

[Hadders]

I suggest sending a short, concise reply mentioning the following points:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

You wil find many examples you can use as a template in other threads in this section of the forum. GTR are normally prepared to offer an out of court settlement to peole who co-operate with them, and who haven't come to their attention before. Expect to have to pay the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid ticket you did purchase plus an admin fee, typically around £150.

Be aware that GTR can audit your online ticket purchasing history and if this indicates that you have a history of buying short distance tickets then they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement amount.

If you post a copy of your draft reply in this thread, forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

 

[that1kid]

I suggest sending a short, concise reply mentioning the following points:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

You wil find many examples you can use as a template in other threads in this section of the forum. GTR are normally prepared to offer an out of court settlement to peole who co-operate with them, and who haven't come to their attention before. Expect to have to pay the fare avoided at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid ticket you did purchase plus an admin fee, typically around £150.

Be aware that GTR can audit your online ticket purchasing history and if this indicates that you have a history of buying short distance tickets then they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement amount.

If you post a copy of your draft reply in this thread, forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

Thank you very much for your advice!

 

[that1kid]

Here is the letter i drafted to send to the GTR. Please could people suggest if it is good and how can I improve it? I want to really avoid court at all possibilities. I am also at a pretty goof university and was wondering if mentioning that will help my case or not really.

Dear Recipient,

I am writing in response to your request for what happened from my point of view on the 28th of October. I would like to formally apologise for my attempt at evading the fare by short buying the tickets. I am incredibly remorseful of my actions and understand the impact and strain fare evasion puts on the rail services and will never repeat my actions. I did buy a ticket from kings cross to potter’s bar to get on the train directly to Cambridge to not pay for the full ticket. The only reason I can give for this is the fact that as a university student, train tickets can be incredibly costly and as I was financially struggling at the time I decided to try to evade the fare. I completely understand how my actions were in the wrong and will never repeat them again.

I want to state that being a university student I am very keen to settle the matter out of court. To do this I am ready to pay the outstanding fares, fines owed, and any administrative cost incurred.

 

[WesternLancer]

Here is the letter i drafted to send to the GTR. Please could people suggest if it is good and how can I improve it? I want to really avoid court at all possibilities. I am also at a pretty goof university and was wondering if mentioning that will help my case or not really.

Dear Recipient,

I am writing in response to your request for what happened from my point of view on the 28th of October. I would like to formally apologise for my attempt at evading the fare by short buying the tickets. I am incredibly remorseful of my actions and understand the impact and strain fare evasion puts on the rail services and will never repeat my actions. I did buy a ticket from kings cross to potter’s bar to get on the train directly to Cambridge to not pay for the full ticket. The only reason I can give for this is the fact that as a university student, train tickets can be incredibly costly and as I was financially struggling at the time I decided to try to evade the fare. I completely understand how my actions were in the wrong and will never repeat them again.

I want to state that being a university student I am very keen to settle the matter out of court. To do this I am ready to pay the outstanding fares, fines owed, and any administrative cost incurred.

I think this needs more work really. It does not come across as very sincere to me as a reader. ie do you REALLY regret this? Are you REALLY never going to do it again? What they want to know is that

- you know what you did was wrong
- you are never going to do it again
- you have learned a lesson
- you will pay them back what you owe them

I wouldn't over play being a university student so would delete it from your final sentence. It is perhaps OK to leave it in earlier on because low income is presumably your only reason for evading fares / stealing from them so there isn't much else you can say by way of an excuse, however lame that is.

Stress you now accept you have been making a serious error of judgement and will not do so again.

Have you done anything to legitimately reduce your fares in future, like buy a railcard - even if you don't really need to I would spend the £30 on buying one now as that is something you can say you have done to show them you have changed your ways, and you can tell them that is what you have done - it's £30 invested in helping avoiding being prosecuted if you look at it that way (and you can use it for train travel going forwards too)

I would end it on a more pleading note.

eg 'I would be extremely grateful if you could sympathetically consider a request to let me settle the matter without the need for court action. i would be prepared to pay any fares that I owe along with your costs in investigating this matter'

bear in mind the above and do a bit more work on your draft. Good luck

 

[that1kid]

Thank you so much for your advice. I already own a railcard so don't think I can really say that. Would this be okay?

Draft to send to GTR

Dear Recipient,

I am writing in response to your request for what happened from my point of view on the 28th of October. I would like to sincerely apologise for my attempt at evading the fare by short buying a ticket from King’s Cross to potter’s bar instead of from King’s Cross to Cambridge and then buying a ticket from Cambridge north to Cambridge to exit.

I fully understand now the negative impact my actions had on train services and the cost caused by actions of people like me. The only reason I can give is the fact that I am currently a university student and thus face quite a lot of financial difficulties, but I know that my actions were in no way excusable. I would also like to ensure you that I will never repeat my actions again, especially after learning just how much train services lose because of fare evasion.

I would be sincerely grateful if you could sympathetically agree to let me settle the matter without the need for court action, I am prepared to pay any fares and fines I owe along with your costs in investigating this matter.

Sincerely,

 

[30907]

That reads better, though please delete "and fines" in the last sentence.

If you know you have cheated the system on other occasions, be prepared for GTR to ask you about that. At least you haven't claimed that it was your first offence

 

[WesternLancer]

That reads better, though please delete "and fines" in the last sentence.

Yes, very much agree with this point.

(which is why I used this wording as it happens: 'i would be prepared to pay any fares that I owe along with your costs in investigating this matter' )

Good luck with resolving this - I think you have every chance of doing so.

 

[that1kid]

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[that1kid]

A couple weeks ago I received an intention to prosecute letter and I sent them a reply back last Friday. Today I received another letter from them as an email which stated the following:

Please DO NOT Ignore This Letter

I am contacting you in relation to the statement you gave to a Revenue Officer on 28 October
2024 at WELWYN NORTH station.
You were found not to be in possession of a valid rail ticket for your journey between LONDON
KINGS CROSS & CAMBRIDGE and were subsequently interviewed under caution. An
investigation undertaken by GTR’s Fraud Department has established that you avoided rail fares
on multiple dates.
Travel Fraud costs the rail industry over £240 million per year and Govia Thameslink
Railway has a zero-tolerance approach to fare evasion on our network. We always ask the
courts to impose the maximum penalty for offenders, which can include the following:
- A Criminal Record
- Fine of up to £1000
- Prison Sentence
- Suspended Sentence
- Community Service
- Compensation
- Costs
I would like to discuss the matter further with you and would therefore request that you respond
to this letter within 7 days using the email address above. Failure to respond to this letter will
result in your case being referred to the Prosecutions Department.

I am unsure, who to reply to this email. Do I admit I have done so before? Or just email asking what they want to do next?

Thanks for any help

 

[30907]

A couple weeks ago I received an intention to prosecute letter and I sent them a reply back last Friday. Today I received another letter from them as an email which stated the following:

Please DO NOT Ignore This Letter

I am contacting you in relation to the statement you gave to a Revenue Officer on 28 October
2024 at WELWYN NORTH station.
You were found not to be in possession of a valid rail ticket for your journey between LONDON
KINGS CROSS & CAMBRIDGE and were subsequently interviewed under caution. An
investigation undertaken by GTR’s Fraud Department has established that you avoided rail fares
on multiple dates.
Travel Fraud costs the rail industry over £240 million per year and Govia Thameslink
Railway has a zero-tolerance approach to fare evasion on our network. We always ask the
courts to impose the maximum penalty for offenders, which can include the following:
- A Criminal Record
- Fine of up to £1000
- Prison Sentence
- Suspended Sentence
- Community Service
- Compensation
- Costs
I would like to discuss the matter further with you and would therefore request that you respond
to this letter within 7 days using the email address above. Failure to respond to this letter will
result in your case being referred to the Prosecutions Department.

I am unsure, who to reply to this email. Do I admit I have done so before? Or just email asking what they want to do next?

Thanks for any help

I have asked the moderators to attach this post to your previous thread to avoid confusion.

Given that your reply was only sent one working day ago it will still be in their inbox (or the post).

If your reply was within 14 days of the original letter I would simply respond politely with a copy of it, making sure that you include the original reference and the new.
one if different. If you were out of time, you should apologise (briefly) for that.

 

[that1kid]

I have asked the moderators to attach this post to your previous thread to avoid confusion.

Given that your reply was only sent one working day ago it will still be in their inbox (or the post).

If your reply was within 14 days of the original letter I would simply respond politely with a copy of it, making sure that you include the original reference and the new.
one if different. If you were out of time, you should apologise (briefly) for that.

Thanks for you response! I am a bit unsure however, do I admit that I have evaded fares few times before as I didn't do this in my original reply. Also since I only recently sent my response does that mean this is a seperate matter? Or can I simply say something like:
Thank you for your email. I am very sorry to hear this and I believe that my response sent prior also applies here......

 

[Fawkes Cat]

A couple weeks ago I received an intention to prosecute letter and I sent them a reply back last Friday. Today I received another letter from them as an email which stated the following:

Please DO NOT Ignore This Letter

I am contacting you in relation to the statement you gave to a Revenue Officer on 28 October
2024 at WELWYN NORTH station.
You were found not to be in possession of a valid rail ticket for your journey between LONDON
KINGS CROSS & CAMBRIDGE and were subsequently interviewed under caution. An
investigation undertaken by GTR’s Fraud Department has established that you avoided rail fares
on multiple dates.
Travel Fraud costs the rail industry over £240 million per year and Govia Thameslink
Railway has a zero-tolerance approach to fare evasion on our network. We always ask the
courts to impose the maximum penalty for offenders, which can include the following:
- A Criminal Record
- Fine of up to £1000
- Prison Sentence
- Suspended Sentence
- Community Service
- Compensation
- Costs
I would like to discuss the matter further with you and would therefore request that you respond
to this letter within 7 days using the email address above. Failure to respond to this letter will
result in your case being referred to the Prosecutions Department.

I am unsure, who to reply to this email. Do I admit I have done so before? Or just email asking what they want to do next?

Thanks for any help

Essentially your email and this one have crossed in the post, in that I would guess that no one has yet looked at your email of Friday. So email them again, and say something like

Thank you for your email of 27 January 2025. You may not have seen my email of 24 January 2025 which said

<copy your previous email here >

I hope this tells you everything you need but please contact me if I can help you further.

Yours sincerely

<And so on to sign the letter off>

(Edited to correct a typo - 2025, not 2026!)

 

[that1kid]

Essentially your email and this one have crossed in the post, in that I would guess that no one has yet looked at your email of Friday. So email them again, and say something like


(Edited to correct a typo - 2025, not 2026!)

I see, thanks a lot!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2025 ==

Essentially your email and this one have crossed in the post, in that I would guess that no one has yet looked at your email of Friday. So email them again, and say something like


(Edited to correct a typo - 2025, not 2026!)

Sorry for so many questions but I realised I forgot to also mention what they also said in the email:
"

I am aware you were previously contacted by GTR's Prosecutions Department regarding the fare you avoided on 28/10/2024, however, additional dates of fraudulent rail travel were subsequently identified during an investigation undertaken by the Fraud Department.
"
I am worried that if I copy and paste my reply to the other letter, they might think of my response as inconsiderate? I don't know if I am jus overthinking this so please let me know if it will still be okay.

Thanks again for your advice

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I realised I forgot to also mention what they also said in the email:
"

I am aware you were previously contacted by GTR's Prosecutions Department regarding the fare you avoided on 28/10/2024, however, additional dates of fraudulent rail travel were subsequently identified during an investigation undertaken by the Fraud Department.
"
I am worried that if I copy and paste my reply to the other letter, they might think of my response as inconsiderate? I don't know if I am jus overthinking this so please let me know if it will still be okay.

Thanks again for your advice

This does rather charge things.

There are arguments about whether it's best to respond to this letter or not, but we've seen some success with you sending a response at this point asking for details of the additional dates. You can then look at a spreadsheet and see if you agree rather than having a face to face meeting.

 

[30907]

Sorry for so many questions but I realised I forgot to also mention what they also said in the email:
"
I am aware you were previously contacted by GTR's Prosecutions Department regarding the fare you avoided on 28/10/2024, however, additional dates of fraudulent rail travel were subsequently identified during an investigation undertaken by the Fraud Department.
"
I am worried that if I copy and paste my reply to the other letter, they might think of my response as inconsiderate? I don't know if I am jus overthinking this so please let me know if it will still be okay.

That was rather a crucial omission, if I may say so.

This new letter is not a reminder but a fresh allegation, which you need to acknowledge. Something like.

"I replied on ddmm to your previous letter and a copy is below for your reference.
Your letter of ddyy ref says that you have identified other fraudulent travel. (I am sorry to say that I have done this more than once.) If you are able to supply details, I will undertake to check my records and report back. If you are willing to consider an out of court settlement, I will undertake to repay the sum owed.

(You could leave out the bracketed sentence, but I suspect you want to be helpful?)

(Fawkes Cat was quicker!)

 

[that1kid]

That was rather a crucial omission, if I may say so.

This new letter is not a reminder but a fresh allegation, which you need to acknowledge. Something like.

"I replied on ddmm to your previous letter and a copy is below for your reference.
Your letter of ddyy ref says that you have identified other fraudulent travel. (I am sorry to say that I have done this more than once.) If you are able to supply details, I will undertake to check my records and report back. If you are willing to consider an out of court settlement, I will undertake to repay the sum owed.

(You could leave out the bracketed sentence, but I suspect you want to be helpful?)

(Fawkes Cat was quicker!)

This does rather charge things.

There are arguments about whether it's best to respond to this letter or not, but we've seen some success with you sending a response at this point asking for details of the additional dates. You can then look at a spreadsheet and see if you agree rather than having a face to face meeting.

Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2025 ==

That was rather a crucial omission, if I may say so.

This new letter is not a reminder but a fresh allegation, which you need to acknowledge. Something like.

"I replied on ddmm to your previous letter and a copy is below for your reference.
Your letter of ddyy ref says that you have identified other fraudulent travel. (I am sorry to say that I have done this more than once.) If you are able to supply details, I will undertake to check my records and report back. If you are willing to consider an out of court settlement, I will undertake to repay the sum owed.

(You could leave out the bracketed sentence, but I suspect you want to be helpful?)

(Fawkes Cat was quicker!)

Yes I want to get it sorted as soon as possible, thanks