Hi there, I was hoping for some advice as this Forum and its members seem very helpful!
I received a letter from Chiltern Railway's Economic Crime, Fraud & Prosecution Unit today (09/05/2025) and dated 02/05/2025. I had failed to show a valid rail ticket for a journey from Haddenham & Thame Parkway to London Marylebone on 19/03/2025 and spoke to a railway revenue protection staff at the ticket barriers. This was a genuine error - I had purchased a return ticket for the journey, via the Trainline app, but the dates I booked were for 24/03/2025 not the date for my travel (I had been looking at the 24th the night before, and hadn't updated the dates when booking in the morning rush to work). On speaking with the railway staff I was let through and bought a new ticket, via the app, for my journey back that evening. Looking back at my purchasing history, I later bought return tickets again for 24/03/25 when travelling from Haddenham & Thame Parkway to London Marylebone (when I could have just used the previous tickets I bought in error - which hopefully shows the honesty of my error; though I'm not sure Chiltern Railways would be persuaded by that!)
The letter received today on the notice of intended prosecution mentions the Economic Crime, Fraud, & Prosecutions Unit having investigated my ticket purchasing history which revealed that I "may have avoided the correct rail fare on other occasions". I can confidently say I have always bought a rail ticket for all my travels, and not knowingly paid for the wrong date (apart from the above instance), so I was a bit confused. The letter does say: "If you have a valid railcard but were unable to produce it to the rail official on the day in question, please email a copy of any railcards you hold or previously held for us to review" - I'm not sure if that is standard text for these letters, or refers to the specific issue here being about the use of a railcard. Looking back through my purchase history, I've noticed one instance in 2024 where there was a 2 week gap in me having a valid Network Railcard (11/02/2024 - 27/02/2024), and where one of train journeys (12/02/2024) should have had a valid Network Railcard. Again this was a genuine oversight, and I renewed my Network Railcard soon after it expired. I appreciate, however, that intention isn't a mitigating factor for this.
I've contacted a couple of solicitors, as the letter advises, but the costs would be £1,000+ which feels excessive to the issue at hand.
I suppose my questions would be: Is it worth using a Solicitor in this case, at this stage? I know they would be able to quickly resolve it.
If not, I would email the Fraud team at Chiltern Railways to explain the above, express my genuine apologies, and of course agree to pay the difference owed for travel on 12/02/2024.
Any advice would be gratefully received. Many thanks.
I received a letter from Chiltern Railway's Economic Crime, Fraud & Prosecution Unit today (09/05/2025) and dated 02/05/2025. I had failed to show a valid rail ticket for a journey from Haddenham & Thame Parkway to London Marylebone on 19/03/2025 and spoke to a railway revenue protection staff at the ticket barriers. This was a genuine error - I had purchased a return ticket for the journey, via the Trainline app, but the dates I booked were for 24/03/2025 not the date for my travel (I had been looking at the 24th the night before, and hadn't updated the dates when booking in the morning rush to work). On speaking with the railway staff I was let through and bought a new ticket, via the app, for my journey back that evening. Looking back at my purchasing history, I later bought return tickets again for 24/03/25 when travelling from Haddenham & Thame Parkway to London Marylebone (when I could have just used the previous tickets I bought in error - which hopefully shows the honesty of my error; though I'm not sure Chiltern Railways would be persuaded by that!)
The letter received today on the notice of intended prosecution mentions the Economic Crime, Fraud, & Prosecutions Unit having investigated my ticket purchasing history which revealed that I "may have avoided the correct rail fare on other occasions". I can confidently say I have always bought a rail ticket for all my travels, and not knowingly paid for the wrong date (apart from the above instance), so I was a bit confused. The letter does say: "If you have a valid railcard but were unable to produce it to the rail official on the day in question, please email a copy of any railcards you hold or previously held for us to review" - I'm not sure if that is standard text for these letters, or refers to the specific issue here being about the use of a railcard. Looking back through my purchase history, I've noticed one instance in 2024 where there was a 2 week gap in me having a valid Network Railcard (11/02/2024 - 27/02/2024), and where one of train journeys (12/02/2024) should have had a valid Network Railcard. Again this was a genuine oversight, and I renewed my Network Railcard soon after it expired. I appreciate, however, that intention isn't a mitigating factor for this.
I've contacted a couple of solicitors, as the letter advises, but the costs would be £1,000+ which feels excessive to the issue at hand.
I suppose my questions would be: Is it worth using a Solicitor in this case, at this stage? I know they would be able to quickly resolve it.
If not, I would email the Fraud team at Chiltern Railways to explain the above, express my genuine apologies, and of course agree to pay the difference owed for travel on 12/02/2024.
Any advice would be gratefully received. Many thanks.
- and you never know, they might settle for less!)