Out of court settlement offer.

[advice_wanted]

Hi,

I recently received a penalty fare (completely my fault, I am used to just using my smart card for travel as I hold a season ticket for my usual journey and didn’t buy a valid ticket at the station I was travelling from as I was running late). This I don’t find as it was entirely fault but they have issued me a pre-court settlement notice for £110 + the full fare with no way to have this reduced with prompt payment. From looking online this seems very steep, how do I appeal this amount?

 

[z444z]

This is not a penalty fare, it sounds like you have committed a criminal offence and have been offered a settlement as an alternative to prosecution.

You cannot appeal this. You can take it, or you can accept being prosecuted and getting a criminal record. Paying it is probably best. £110+fare is actually on the slightly lower side for settlements.

What train company are you dealing with, and could you please post redacted copies of whatever correspondence you’ve received?

 

[Mattplans]

Hi,

I recently received a penalty fare (completely my fault, I am used to just using my smart card for travel as I hold a season ticket for my usual journey and didn’t buy a valid ticket at the station I was travelling from as I was running late). This I don’t find as it was entirely fault but they have issued me a pre-court settlement notice for £110 + the full fare with no way to have this reduced with prompt payment. From looking online this seems very steep, how do I appeal this amount?

In addition to

• specifying what train company you are dealing with
• posting redacted copies of correspondence you have received

could you please confirm when this incident took place as well? When were you stopped on the railway?

 

[advice_wanted]

In addition to

• specifying what train company you are dealing with
• posting redacted copies of correspondence you have received

could you please confirm when this incident took place as well? When were you stopped on the railway?

It is GWR and this occurred on the train

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jan 2026 ==

This is not a penalty fare, it sounds like you have committed a criminal offence and have been offered a settlement as an alternative to prosecution.

You cannot appeal this. You can take it, or you can accept being prosecuted and getting a criminal record. Paying it is probably best. £110+fare is actually on the slightly lower side for settlements.

What train company are you dealing with, and could you please post redacted copies of whatever correspondence you’ve received?

I have attached a redacted copy above

 

[z444z]

You should just pay this.

 

[advice_wanted]

You should just pay this.

But why? The Travel Officer I spoke to said he was issuing me a PF then proceeded to ask me questions and take my details. I don’t understand the difference between that and what I have received

 

[z444z]

A penalty fare is issued on the spot and cannot be issued retrospectively. You have not been issued a penalty fare. You have been reported for prosecution.

GWR are entitled to prosecute you, and will do so if you don’t pay the settlement, which will result in a criminal record and fines and costs totalling £300+. This settlement is your best option.

 

[pedr]

A Penalty Fare is an on-the-spot demand to pay a statutory fare, which the person it is issued to can do immediately or within 21 days. Issuing a Penalty Fare is at the discretion of the railway agent, and not all railway staff are qualified and empowered to issue Penalty Fares.

Railway companies also enable their agents to report potential ticketing irregularities and offences to the company’s revenue protection team. Those teams then consider whether the report suggests an offence has been committed and write to the passenger. Where they think it’s evident that the passenger committed a ticketing offence but do not need to investigate further they sometimes offer a straightforward way of resolving the matter without bringing the criminal prosecution they are entitled to. They offer that they won’t prosecute if the passenger contributes to the expense of investigating and processing ticketing crimes and pays the full ticket price that they contend the railway terms entitle them to charge ticketless passengers. Passengers are entitled to reject that offer, but as the offence of boarding a train without a ticket is easy to prove when there is a witness statement demonstrating that a passenger was found without a ticket, in most cases agreeing to the settlement is the rational approach, since the passenger is guilty and the punishment fine and compensation would be in the mid hundreds of pounds.

 

[jfollows]

Agreed.
You’ve already admitted fault.
Paying this means no criminal record and least cost versus the alternatives.
Obviously don’t pay if you think you are not guilty.

 

[advice_wanted]

A Penalty Fare is an on-the-spot demand to pay a statutory fare, which the person it is issued to can do immediately or within 21 days. Issuing a Penalty Fare is at the discretion of the railway agent, and not all railway staff are qualified and empowered to issue Penalty Fares.

Railway companies also enable their agents to report potential ticketing irregularities and offences to the company’s revenue protection team. Those teams then consider whether the report suggests an offence has been committed and write to the passenger. Where they think it’s evident that the passenger committed a ticketing offence but do not need to investigate further they sometimes offer a straightforward way of resolving the matter without bringing the criminal prosecution they are entitled to. They offer that they won’t prosecute if the passenger contributes to the expense of investigating and processing ticketing crimes and pays the full ticket price that they contend the railway terms entitle them to charge ticketless passengers. Passengers are entitled to reject that offer, but as the offence of boarding a train without a ticket is easy to prove when there is a witness statement demonstrating that a passenger was found without a ticket, in most cases agreeing to the settlement is the rational approach, since the passenger is guilty and the punishment fine and compensation would be in the mid hundreds of pounds.

So if I understand correctly despite saying he was issuing a PF he had used his discretion to not do that and to file criminal charges (a fine)

 

[jfollows]

A fine is only the outcome if you are found guilty, but I think you would be.

 

[z444z]

So if I understand correctly despite saying he was issuing a PF he had used his discretion to not do that and to file criminal charges (a fine)

Along the right lines but not quite. He may have told you he was issuing a penalty fare, but either was never going to, or he was but changed his mind. He hasn’t filed criminal charges, he has reported the facts of what happened to the company and the prosecutions team at GWR have sent you a letter offering a settlement instead of being prosecuted.

 

[advice_wanted]

Along the right lines but not quite. He may have told you he was issuing a penalty fare, but either was never going to, or he was but changed his mind. He hasn’t filed criminal charges, he has reported the facts of what happened to the company and the prosecutions team at GWR have sent you a letter offering a settlement instead of being prosecuted.

Thank you for clarifying this for me I appreciate the help

 

[z444z]

Thank you for clarifying this for me I appreciate the help

No problem. As I’ve said, you should pay the settlement, it’s the best option. And of course you need to pay the correct fare in the future, if you come to their attention again they may not be so nice.

 

[Haywain]

But why?

Because you won't get a better offer.

 

[Mawkie]

It's a long shot, but is there any value in ascertaining that the OP started their journey at a station with ticket selling facilities and approved signage?

 

[Haywain]

It's a long shot, but is there any value in ascertaining that the OP started their journey at a station with ticket selling facilities and approved signage?

No. The OP admits not buying a ticket at the station due to running late, so there must be appropriatefacilities, and "approved signage" is only relevant when a Penalty Fare Notice has been issued which is not the case here.

 

[furlong]

Well if you like taking chances, you could state that their costs appear to be very high just to send you one template letter particularly when you offered to pay the fare due on the spot (if you did) so the letter shouldn't even have been necessary. You can see evidence online of other train companies asking for half the amount in similar situations (find one of the GTR threads on here which usually have lower costs). You could point out that the NRCOT 9.3 states:

The sum claimed will not exceed the actual costs of such follow up steps taken.

and therefore ask them to provide a breakdown of the amount showing how it complies with this condition, or, failing that, ask them to accept a similar amount as GTR would (or make your own estimate of what their reasonable actual costs ought to have been).

Or you could just pay it to eliminate the prosecution, and possibly follow up along those lines afterwards - but only do that if you're prepared to put the time in to pursue this issue further, through external bodies (e.g. Transport Focus, Ombudsman, M.P.) if necessary.