Notice of intention to prosecute

[rsb18]

Hello,

I have received a letter of Notice of Intention to Prosecute after my details were taken in March for travelling with a discounted ticket (25-30 Railcard) from Godstone to Redhill even though my Railcard had expired in December. I am now 31 and can’t renew the Railcard anymore. I don’t take the train too often and it was honestly a one-off offence. I came back from visiting family in Spain yesterday and saw this letter in the mail, dated 10th July. Can someone help or advise how I can proceed? I have seen other threads and wrote a draft but would appreciate your assistance.

Many thanks,

Draft:
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your correspondence and for providing me with the chance to reply to your letter, reference XXX and dated XXX.

On 14th March 2025 at 18:11 I was rightly stopped by a Revenue Protection Inspector whilst I was on a train from Godstone to Redhill, and was unable to produce a valid ticket for this entire journey.

I had bought a discounted return ticket not acknowledging that my 25-30 Railcard had expired. I am truly sorry for what I did. Having read up about the impact of fare evasion on the railway, I understand that what I did was wrong, and since the incident I have bought the right ticket each time.

I take full responsibility for this error, and accept that it is entirely my fault that I had not ensured that I had a valid ticket prior to boarding the train. I understand that it was up to me to check my Railcard prior to travel, which I did not sufficiently do.

I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to settle the matter with you directly without the need for court action. I am more than willing to pay the full fare of the journey that I took, as well as any fees and administration costs which you may have incurred in looking into this.

I’d once again like to sincerely apologise for my mistake and any inconvenience caused to the staff of Govia Thameslink Railway. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.


Yours Sincerely,

 

[notmyrealname]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Thank you for the details above, I expect the pros will be here later to advise you.

You say it's a one-off, so are you confident that when, as is likely, the rail company goes back over your ticket purchasing history they won't find any other instances where you bought a ticket with an expired card?

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello,

I have received a letter of Notice of Intention to Prosecute after my details were taken in March for travelling with a discounted ticket (25-30 Railcard) from Godstone to Redhill even though my Railcard had expired in December. I am now 31 and can’t renew the Railcard anymore. I don’t take the train too often and it was honestly a one-off offence. I came back from visiting family in Spain yesterday and saw this letter in the mail, dated 10th July. Can someone help or advise how I can proceed? I have seen other threads and wrote a draft but would appreciate your assistance.

Many thanks,

Draft:
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your correspondence and for providing me with the chance to reply to your letter, reference XXX and dated XXX.

On 14th March 2025 at 18:11 I was rightly stopped by a Revenue Protection Inspector whilst I was on a train from Godstone to Redhill, and was unable to produce a valid ticket for this entire journey.

I had bought a discounted return ticket not acknowledging that my 25-30 Railcard had expired. I am truly sorry for what I did. Having read up about the impact of fare evasion on the railway, I understand that what I did was wrong, and since the incident I have bought the right ticket each time.

I take full responsibility for this error, and accept that it is entirely my fault that I had not ensured that I had a valid ticket prior to boarding the train. I understand that it was up to me to check my Railcard prior to travel, which I did not sufficiently do.

I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to settle the matter with you directly without the need for court action. I am more than willing to pay the full fare of the journey that I took, as well as any fees and administration costs which you may have incurred in looking into this.

I’d once again like to sincerely apologise for my mistake and any inconvenience caused to the staff of Govia Thameslink Railway. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.


Yours Sincerely,

My first thought is if this was a genuine error / oversight in failing to renew the railcard. Don’t under any circumstances start mentioning fare evasion in your reply.

Fare evasion implies doing it deliberately and if you can truthfully claim you didn’t do this deliberately do not sow seeds of doubt in the railway company’s mind.

Just delete the sentence that incudes that mention of evasion. If you wish to make the point generally you could say ‘I appreciate that it is important passengers always pay the correct fare’ or some such.

By the way you may be entitled to a Network Railcard for that area ie Redhill etc Tho it has restrictions so may not meet your needs but in case you want to check.

 

[enyoueffsea]

I agree with the above. I would also delete the whole of that sentence including this bit:

I understand that what I did was wrong, and since the incident I have bought the right ticket each time.

This suggests prior to the incident you may not have been buying the correct tickets. If this was definitely a one-off, I would remove this to prevent any possible inference.

 

[30907]

With the suggested amendments you should be fine and I would be very surprised if GTR didn't offer to settle.

 

[WesternLancer]

I agree with the above. I would also delete the whole of that sentence including this bit:



This suggests prior to the incident you may not have been buying the correct tickets. If this was definitely a one-off, I would remove this to prevent any possible inference.

Of course I suspect the op cut and pasted from another draft response on here, which is fair enough. But it did need this editing as per your suggestion

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@rsb18. Minor point. References in your draft response to an expired 25-30 railcard, should actually be to a 26-30 railcard.