Possible prosecution from southeastern.

[enyoueffsea]

I agree, contact SouthEastern as a first step. You need to remember, they want your money. You have that slight benefit that it works to their advantage to get it.

However, they also don’t like doing things that make it even remotely difficult for them. So they won’t want the hassle of trying to have oversight of a payment plan.

When contacting them you’ll need to keep in mind:

1. They’re going to want the full sum paid (or at least a significant majority) before 6 months of the date of your offence, so they can still pursue court action if you fail to pay.

2. You might want to explain to them how you will be a reliably payer. For example, explaining the exact date and payment amount including where this money will be available from. They’re more likely to agree an exception if they don’t have to rely on chasing you.

3. You’ll almost certainly need to offer a substantial up front payment.

Just being realistic though, it’s extremely unlikely they agree to a repayment plan but you don’t get if you don’t ask.

Your only other options are borrowing the money from friends/families or advance on wages (if possible), or a loan and/or credit card.

The last resort, in my opinion, would be allowing a prosecution, based on your circumstances. But it’s still an option.

 

[AlterEgo]

I don’t think that’s great advice to giving if I’m honest. The OP has mentioned they are studying for a course that leads to a job which is exempt from the rehabilitation of offenders act, and even if they weren’t there are circumstances which can come up, such as visa applications etc, that are exempt as well. The OP should do research, and contact their student union for advice on university policy towards students getting a criminal conviction before they decide to proceed with that avenue.

They don’t have a choice. They cannot afford the settlement fee, so they will have to take the hit of the conviction.

Southeastern do not offer payment plans. And to be blunt, that’s just hard cheese for the OP. It’s thousands of pounds worth of sustained fraud here. They’re lucky they chose the railway to rip off and not another industry; do that with any other business and the call the police and you get arrested. The consequence here will be likely a single Bylaw conviction.

The railway operates a truly perverse punishment scheme, where it pursues trivial offences in the magistrates’ court but is happy to overlook serious and sustained fraud as long as you pay them their money. This has the effect of both:

- criminalising people who have committed a single very low level misdemeanour while insisting those prosecutions are in the public interest, and

- insulating people (often in regulated industries) from the consequences of long term offending as long as they pay some money. It’s of no relevance that the OP couldn’t afford the fare. Pharmacists can kill or seriously harm people if they cut corners, and have to be scrupulously honest, even when their personal circumstances put them under severe pressure. It would be absolutely in the public interest to prosecute the OP, but the company actually doesn’t give a toss about the public interest at all.

All of this notwithstanding, the OP has no prospect of raising the money, the company’s policy is laid out in black and white (and we have not seen them deviate from this to my recollection), and while they have nothing to lose by attempting a Hail Mary, they should be realistic about the outcomes available.