Notice of Intention to Prosecute not received

[bilibalaaaaa]

Hi all,
I was on GWR from reading to paddington and the officer took a witness statement and had my details taken because I did not have a valid ticket. I only bought a Reading to Reading west ticket to get in the barriers. I panicked when they asked how i got in the barriers, so i lied and said the staff let me in because i was in a hurry. He said I will receive updates by email or by post, but I did haven’t received anything. This happened on 13th November, so I’m not sure if them planning to escalate this is the reason I’m not receiving the letter. Should I contact GWR prosecutions team for an update?

Also, I was not given a witness statement receipt, he only gave me an info card with the date of the incident. Is this normal?

Thank you guys.

 

[Titfield]

Yes info cards from GWR are usual.

I would have expected you to have received a letter within 2 months but sometimes they do take longer if they are researching your online booking activity.

The question to contact / not to contact is a difficult one, and one which divides opinion on this forum.

On the one hand they may have forgotten about you or decided no further action (but in that case one would still expect a warning letter), on the other hand the letter may have gone astray.

In my opinion (and there is an alternative view) it is better to chase up yo get this resolved rather than ignore it and it comes back with greater consequences than if it had been resolved earlier.

 

[Ducatist4]

Be super careful not in incriminate yourself if you do contact them. Don't say "on such a date i was stopped for not having a ticket" for example.

Without a reference number though they will find it difficult or impossible to tie everything together which is why its normally better to wait till they contact you.

 

[bilibalaaaaa]

How about the witness statement receipt? Since they took a witness statement, shouldn’t I be given one?

How would they check my booking activity? I normally get my ticket on trainline. Would they have access to those records?

That is completely understandable. Is there a time limit, say if the witness statement was taken on this day, after 6 months, they cannot take any action?

They took my email and my address, so I have been monitoring my email and my post, but I got nothing.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jan 2025 ==

Be super careful not in incriminate yourself if you do contact them. Don't say "on such a date i was stopped for not having a ticket" for example.

Without a reference number though they will find it difficult or impossible to tie everything together which is why its normally better to wait till they contact you.

In this case, how should I ask to follow-up my case? Do I give them my personal details and ask if there is any outstanding penalty/intention for prosecution action under my name?

 

[Titfield]

Yes the Train Operating Companies have access to all your online bookings even those made through third party providers e.g. trainline.

The Train Operating Company has 6 months to lay papers before a court ie commence a prosecution.

You could say "I was given an information card as a result of an interaction with a member of staff on (insert date) at (insert place). The reference on the card is (insert detail).

I have received no correspondence from you and am concerned that any letter may have gone astray in the post. Please can you update me on your enquiries? Thank you."

 

[WesternLancer]

Given the 2 week xmas holiday period when lots of their office staff might have been on holiday personally I'd give this 2 or 3 more weeks before trying to follow it up.

I assume you gave them a correct postal address when you were stopped, you believed they recorded it correctly, that you have not moved since, and you have been regularly checking post, e-mail and spam.

If you need or choose to write to them about this you would write as simply as possible, giving your full name and address and then along lines such as:

'I was stopped and questioned about my train ticket on X date at Y location. I was given a 'GWR Info card' (enclose / attach a copy of it), but I have not heard further about this since then, please can you let me know if I am expecting to hear further about this. Yours sincerely etc'

I would read this document fully so you know more clearly what to expect:

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/revenue-protection-policy/GWR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023.pdf

That document also tells you how to contact them by the various methods, if you opt to do so.

 

[bilibalaaaaa]

There have been multiple occasions that I have only purchased the cheapest ticket for my journey. Will they be able to fine me on those as well? I assume they would be able to see that I have bought reading to reading west, then acton mainline to paddington a lot, if they check my trainline records.

So does this mean that from 13th June, they cannot fine me for the incident? or they just cannot take me to court?

 

[WesternLancer]

There have been multiple occasions that I have only purchased the cheapest ticket for my journey.

Do you really mean the cheapest ticket or your journey? What you go on to describe is called 'short faring' by buying tickets to get through the barriers, in the example you cited you presumably had no ticket for the travel between Reading west and Acton Mainline - that isn't the cheapest ticket - that's no ticket - as deliberate fare evasion.

You need to be honest with yourself about what you have been doing.

Will they be able to fine me on those as well? I assume they would be able to see that I have bought reading to reading west, then acton mainline to paddington a lot, if they check my trainline records.

So does this mean that from 13th June, they cannot fine me for the incident? or they just cannot take me to court?

They won't be 'fining you' for these incidents - they will be asking you to pay the money for the fares you evaded (ie what they believe you have stolen from them) - they will charge you an 'admin fee' of circa £150 to investigate all this all this.

Yes, they will look at your Trainline buying records in details and they will potentially ask you about anything at all they think looks suspicious. What you have done is easy for them to work out.

They won't prosecute you multiple times for all these occasions, they will just prosecute you for the one they caught you red handed, which is all they need to do (where you probably admitted what you had done wrong to one of their staff, so you have probably effectively told them you are guilty already ) they will win, and you will have a criminal record for that incident. They may then seek to ask for the unpaid fares on the other occasions to be taken into consideration by the court.

But what you need to do is to avoid all this getting to court. And the way to avoid it is to seek an out of court settlement with them - as part of that settlement they will probably ask you to pay all the fares you evaded, but you won't have a criminal record.

You also need to read the document I linked to in my last post.

 

[bilibalaaaaa]

Yes I have been trying to evade fares by just getting tickets for the barriers.

In this case, how would you recommend to proceed?

Should I wait another 2-3 weeks and write a vague email, or should I do it now? Is it right to say that GWR will still be leaning towards an out of court settlement? Or it is likely that they will want to prosecute?

 

[AlterEgo]

I wouldn't bother writing to remind the train company of your offences. It's in your interests to keep quiet.

 

[bilibalaaaaa]

Makes sense. So if i havent heard anything after 6 months from the incident, I dont have to worry about it anymore?

 

[WesternLancer]

Yes I have been trying to evade fares by just getting tickets for the barriers.

In this case, how would you recommend to proceed?

Should I wait another 2-3 weeks and write a vague email, or should I do it now? Is it right to say that GWR will still be leaning towards an out of court settlement? Or it is likely that they will want to prosecute?

Given the scale of the evasion, which you did not mention in your first post, it would not seem sensible to me to write to them and draw attention to yourself. It's unlikely they have, but if they have lost your paperwork / case it's not in your interests to remind them.

I think I would simply wait to hear from them without contacting them at all.

Did you give them a correct address?

I don't have enough knowledge to be able to predict whether they will be leaning towards offering you a settlement or if they might be more likely to prosecute you. I doubt they will just offer it to you however, you will have to persuade them you have learned a lesson, offer to pay for your evaded fares, changed your ways, and won't do it again. If you convince them of that they may then agree not to prosecute you.

 

[AlterEgo]

Makes sense. So if i havent heard anything after 6 months from the incident, I dont have to worry about it anymore?

They can still take you to the county court (a civil court) to sue for the unpaid fares, if they wanted to, but you would not be able to be criminally prosecuted for a bylaw offence.

 

[Hadders]

As long as you gave the ticket inspector your correct contact details then I would not be contacting GWR about this. It is for them to contact you.

Once they do contact you GWR will probably offer you an out of court settlement, as long as you co-operate with them. They will want reimbursement for all of the fares you have avoided at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid tickets you did purchase, plus an admin fee typically around £150. Based on what you've told us this is likely to be a large sum so I would carry out your own research of your Trainline purchase history to calculate what sort of sum your looking at so you can start saving.

Once GWR's letter arrives pop back here and we can assist in how to reply.

 

[John R]

So long as you are sure that you gave them your correct address or email I wouldn’t contact them. But given the scale of fare evasion that you are suggesting I think it’s unlikely they will forget about you.

If or when they do write to you then it is likely that you will be offered an out of court settlement based on the Anytime Single fare for each journey , so that would be around £60 for each day (plus the admin fee). You might find it helpful to work out how many times you have done this, to estimate how much you are likely to have to come up with at short notice once they contact you, and plan to have it available. (Payment plans or extended payment dates are rarely offered.)