Please help panicking (edited ticket)

[person123]

I was caught with an edited ticket (altered railcard type on ticket) and tried to cooperate as much as possible without answering too many questions.

I provided my details like proof of address, id and contact info, but refused to answer a series of questions about my ticket. I am not at all familiar with these situations and I am an international student. I am panicking very much because I have no idea what to expect.

The invoice I received stating what laws i violated and things like that, says that i have to wait for the railway (EMR) to contact me but they have a contact number on it, should I call and ask about my situation? This is the first time i travel with this company.

I really dont know what to do theres no adults that I know in this country to help advise me. I just want this to be settled out of court and not have a criminal record most importantly. Please someone let me know what i should do.

I am also worried that if i explain the situation, I would incriminate myself.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

You need to wait for the railway to contact you. There's nothing to be gained by contacting them first.

There is no guarantee of an out of court settlement, especially if you have altered tickets. Ultimately it is for the train company to decide how to proceed but normally the best way to avoid a court appearance is to co-operate with the train company.

 

[John R]

You say this is the first time travelling with EMR, but you need to consider if you have travelled with any railway company before and bought tickets online. If you have then you can expect EMR to identify those and question you about them too at some point in the process.

As for having nobody to advise you, if you are a student then I would expect your university/students’ union to have an advice service that you could use, although it is likely to offer more general advice around the legal process if you are prosecuted, rather than anything specific to ticketing fraud.

 

[person123]

Welcome to the forum!

You need to wait for the railway to contact you. There's nothing to be gained by contacting them first.

There is no guarantee of an out of court settlement, especially if you have altered tickets. Ultimately it is for the train company to decide how to proceed but normally the best way to avoid a court appearance is to co-operate with the train company.

But there isn't really proof that i altered the other tickets. Also what I did didn't make me avoid complete payment, I just saved a few pounds by using a different railcard than the one I already have.

Another thing, if I have to just wait for them to send me a letter in the mail, is there a chance they don't call me in? Or sort this over the phone/email?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2024 ==

You say this is the first time travelling with EMR, but you need to consider if you have travelled with any railway company before and bought tickets online. If you have then you can expect EMR to identify those and question you about them too at some point in the process.

As for having nobody to advise you, if you are a student then I would expect your university/students’ union to have an advice service that you could use, although it is likely to offer more general advice around the legal process if you are prosecuted, rather than anything specific to ticketing fraud.

Theres a total of 4 trips (including the one i got caught on) all across different companies that they might be suspicious of. And 1 of the 4 trips i refunded because the tickets weren't scanned.

Another issue was that during the panic i lied and just said my friend sent me the tickets. I didnt know what to do in these situations but i tried to just stay calm. I dont know if I made a mistake by giving my info or trying to waffle myself out of the situation but at one point i showed the inspector my real ticket and he saw that it was sent from trainline but he didnt say anything to me.

I'm really praying for an out of court settlement but I dont know what to expect.

 

[John R]

But there isn't really proof that i altered the other tickets.

Yeah right! They aren't born yesterday. If you have applied a discount for a railcard that you don't have for those other tickets, then what else have you done?

Also what I did didn't make me avoid complete payment, I just saved a few pounds by using a different railcard than the one I already have.

Doesn't matter - it's still fraud.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2024 ==

Another thing, if I have to just wait for them to send me a letter in the mail, is there a chance they don't call me in? Or sort this over the phone/email?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2024 ==

You might be able to get it all resolved by email, but definitely not by phone. You are going to have to work hard to get an out of court settlement, as altering tickets is one of the more serious ways to commit fraud, as there clearly is no misunderstanding as to what you were doing, and you must have known it was wrong.

 

[person123]

Yeah right! They aren't born yesterday. If you have applied a discount for a railcard that you don't have for those other tickets, then what else have you done?


Doesn't matter - it's still fraud.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2024 ==


You might be able to get it all resolved by email, but definitely not by phone. You are going to have to work hard to get an out of court settlement, as altering tickets is one of the more serious ways to commit fraud, as there clearly is no misunderstanding as to what you were doing, and you must have known it was wrong.

Yes I definitely understand what I did was wrong, I just didn't know the consequences would be severe as I didn't think I was doing that much damage. I thought the worst case scenario was I pay a fine or but a new ticket on the spot but definitely not breaking the law or anything court involved.

And i thought that they won't make a big deal bc they would only care about the times i did this with their company.

I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to make this go away. Should I send them an email now?

 

[John R]

I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to make this go away. Should I send them an email now?

We advise not to usually. They probably won't have details of you in their system yet, and it will just make work for them.

Rather than "queue-jump", you are best to wait until they contact you, which varies from a matter of days to a few months (they have up to 6 months if they wish to prosecute you).

 

[person123]

So theres a chance they just forget about this? Or am I just supposed to not sleep for the next 6 months .

Does prosecute mean take me to court and I get a criminal record? Or would they ask for a settlement first. My biggest concern right now is that this is gonna be something that affects my future.

Another problem is I travel in about 2 weeks and come back here a month after that. Do i need to notify them of this a few days before I travel or what exactly, I dont want any problems at the airport when I come back.

 

[Gloster]

If you are going to be away for a period you need to make some arrangements for a letter to be dealt with in case one arrives from the railway while you are away: you normally only have a limited period to reply, possibly as little as one week. I can not give any suggestions on this. However, it is highly unlikely to have reached the state of causing you any problems in returning to this country in as short a period as six weeks: even if it goes to court, it would be unlikely to have got there. (I am not an expert and this is a personal opinion.)

You should reflect that if you are so unhappy about the situation, you could have avoided all this distress by not committing any offence in the first place.

 

[ikcdab]

There is no chance they will forget, you just need to wait.
Yes, that's what prosecute means, but they might offer a settlement first. You won't know until you get that letter.
If you are traveling, then you need to make sure that any post is safe for when you get back.

 

[person123]

Yeah the problem is I live alone in this country so there won't be anyone that can receive the letter on my behalf. That's why I want to call them for more info on the matter.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2024 ==

If you are going to be away for a period you need to make some arrangements for a letter to be dealt with in case one arrives from the railway while you are away: you normally only have a limited period to reply, possibly as little as one week. I can not give any suggestions on this. However, it is highly unlikely to have reached the state of causing you any problems in returning to this country in as short a period as six weeks: even if it goes to court, it would be unlikely to have got there. (I am not an expert and this is a personal opinion.)

You should reflect that if you are so unhappy about the situation, you could have avoided all this distress by not committing any offence in the first place.

And yes i definitely regret my actions and know I am in the wrong. I just didnt know I was committing a crime in the moment.