Potential Prosecution (forged ticket)

[penny1234]

I want to preface this by saying I understand what I have done is incredibly stupid.

My friend sent me a screenshot of her ticket from back in April of her travelling from Stratford to Canterbury East. I needed to also go to Canterbury East this August however from London Victoria. I forged her ticket and successfully got onto a Southeastern train heading to Canterbury East. The ticket was scanned multiple times on the train and at the barriers however I was allowed through despite the date on the ticket coming up as from April.

When I was heading back to London Victoria from Canterbury East I forged the ticket again to make it look legitimate. The train inspector however realised it was doctored and took a picture of the ticket's details on his mini tablet. He did not request for my name or address and told me to get off at the next station and book a legitimate ticket heading to London Victoria.

I fear that he may submit the ticket to Southeastern to which they'd be able to link back to my friend's trainline account.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I want to preface this by saying I understand what I have done is incredibly stupid. My friend sent me a screenshot of her ticket from back in April of her travelling from Stratford to Canterbury East. I needed to also go to Canterbury East this August however from London Victoria. I forged her ticket and successfully got onto a Southeastern train heading to Canterbury East. The ticket was scanned multiple times on the train and at the barriers however I was allowed through despite the date on the ticket coming up as from April. When I was heading back to London Victoria from Canterbury East I forged the ticket again to make it look legitimate. The train inspector however realised it was doctored and took a picture of the ticket's details on his mini tablet. He did not request for my name or address and told me to get off at the next station and book a legitimate ticket heading to London Victoria. I fear that he may submit the ticket to Southeastern to which they'd be able to link back to my friend's trainline account. I'd like to acknowledge I did all of this with my friend's consent.

Welcome to the forum!

It's most likely that you won't hear anything more about this: the railway didn't take your details and because someone else bought the ticket in the first place they don't have your details.

But before thinking that this means that you can do it again (which I am sure you don't, but you never know who might read this thread and treat it as advice on how to fare dodge)
- remember that for most ticketing offences, the railway have up to six months to take you to court. So you can't be sure that you won't be charged with a byelaw or Regulation of the Railways Act offence until that long has passed
- and in this particular case, by faking the ticket you have committed fraud. That doesn't have the six month limit on prosecution
- also bear in mind that railway staff are human and remember people they have come across before. If you are caught by the same inspector again (or by a colleague who has been told about you) you shouldn't expect the same level of sympathy.

 

[Haywain]

On balance, you are very fortunate that your details were not taken, as you are effectively untraceable. Your friend could receive a letter about this but isn't obliged to give your details in response and I'm not convinced that action could realistically be taken against you if they did. So take this as a lesson learned and pay your fares in future.

 

[penny1234]

On balance, you are very fortunate that your details were not taken, as you are effectively untraceable. Your friend could receive a letter about this but isn't obliged to give your details in response and I'm not convinced that action could realistically be taken against you if they did. So take this as a lesson learned and pay your fares in future.

In this letter surely they'd be accusing her of fraud after linking her to the ticket? My fear is they might get the police involved when she denies she travelled on that day. The only consolation in my mind is she has been a loyal customer of trainline and has used her account regularly to make legitimate train journeys so my hope is that they think this out of character for her to do.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Aug 2024 ==

Welcome to the forum!

It's most likely that you won't hear anything more about this: the railway didn't take your details and because someone else bought the ticket in the first place they don't have your details.

But before thinking that this means that you can do it again (which I am sure you don't, but you never know who might read this thread and treat it as advice on how to fare dodge)
- remember that for most ticketing offences, the railway have up to six months to take you to court. So you can't be sure that you won't be charged with a byelaw or Regulation of the Railways Act offence until that long has passed
- and in this particular case, by faking the ticket you have committed fraud. That doesn't have the six month limit on prosecution
- also bear in mind that railway staff are human and remember people they have come across before. If you are caught by the same inspector again (or by a colleague who has been told about you) you shouldn't expect the same level of sympathy.

If they have the ticket reference number surely they'd link it back to her trainline account which could spiral into more problems. I've read through other cases on the website in which most are given an out of court settlement, do you think I would be given the same grace?

 

[Haywain]

In this letter surely they'd be accusing her of fraud after linking her to the ticket?

That is possible.

My fear is they might get the police involved when she denies she travelled on that day.

That is unlikely, as the evidence is quite flimsy.

 

[Lewisham2221]

I hope your friend has a perfect history of legitimate and correct ticket purchase and usage. You personally may get off with this one, but there's a pretty good chance that you've just opened up your friend's travel history for investigation.

 

[penny1234]

I hope your friend has a perfect history of legitimate and correct ticket purchase and usage. You personally may get off with this one, but there's a pretty good chance that you've just opened up your friend's travel history for investigation.

Thankfully she does. She has a valid railcard and always buys her tickets ahead of time and ensures to scan them. She was open to this as she has severed ties with trainline has she has found a cheaper alternative. In her mind the worst case scenario is she is barred from trainline however in my mind the worst case scenario would be convictions for the both of us.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Aug 2024 ==

That is possible.

That is unlikely, as the evidence is quite flimsy.

So she should simply deny she travelled on that day and hope for the best?

 

[Kenny G]

Why have you acknowledged this happened with your friends agreement? You have just highlighted an offence of conspiracy and unnecessarily brought her into the frame when she has a perfectly good defence of not having a clue her ticket was going to be used in this way.

 

[Haywain]

So she should simply deny she travelled on that day and hope for the best?

She hasn't had a letter or anything else yet and until, or if, she does it isn't worth worrying about what to say.

 

[penny1234]

Why have you acknowledged this happened with your friends agreement? You have just highlighted an offence of conspiracy and unnecessarily brought her into the frame when she has a perfectly good defence of not having a clue her ticket was going to be used in this way.

I did not acknowledge my friend's agreement to the train inspector. I simply added it to the end of my post to provide clarity as I didn't want unnecessary responses going off topic

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Thankfully she does. She has a valid railcard and always buys her tickets ahead of time and ensures to scan them. She was open to this as she has severed ties with trainline has she has found a cheaper alternative. In her mind the worst case scenario is she is barred from trainline however in my mind the worst case scenario would be convictions for the both of us.

I think I am going off at a tangent as the OP is very clear that they received a copy of the original ticket from their friend, but just in case:

From time to time, we have threads where the original poster is extremely concerned about some irregularity performed by a friend or relation (even, on one occasion, by someone they happened to see on the far side of a station). But the depth of concern and the knowledge they have of the miscreant 's actions and motives makes it pretty clear that it's actually them who are potentially in trouble.

There's no problem with anonymising things like that: we all do it (so I can tell you now that I am not a black and white cat as shown in my picture, and 'Fawkes Cat' is not the name on my passport) and the forum will still try to give our best advice. But if it turns out in this case that the OP bought the original ticket rather than a friend doing so, that rather changes the advice we should give.

I still think (as I said at the top of the thread) that the inspector has done the OP a favour: they have been given a verbal warning and nothing has been written up as a report. But if I am wrong about that, then it's important to note that it's pretty straightforward for the railway to find who bought a ticket online.

If it's the OP who bought the ticket then it's important to keep an eye out for any letters or emails from the railway in the next six months: if the railway get to the stage of writing to you then failing to keep in touch will most likely mean prosecution.

Of course, if the original post was fully accurate and didn't split one person into two, the advice to the friend remains the same - they aren't obliged to help the railway find who used the faked ticket.

 

[jamiearmley]

Of course, there are bylaws which cover supplying tickets to others in order to help others avoid paying the correct fare.

And it's hard to imagine , from the OP's description, any other interpretation of the motive of their friend in supplying them with a screenshot of their used ticket.

Again, as others have said, nothing more might come of this.

However, you would be wise to desist from such ill-advised activities going forward.

 

[tskir]

What I'm really struggling with here is why the ticket inspector took a photo of the ticket but did not take any details?

The first action hints at wanting to investigate this serious incident; the second towards showing discretion to not do anything further at all.

Surely, since the details were not taken, it would be so much more difficult for the TOC to bring their case into court?

 

[penny1234]

What I'm really struggling with here is why the ticket inspector took a photo of the ticket but did not take any details?

The first action hints at wanting to investigate this serious incident; the second towards showing discretion to not do anything further at all.

Surely, since the details were not taken, it would be so much more difficult for the TOC to bring their case into court?

He didn't take a photo of the ticket but the little tablet which I'm assuming has the legitimate date, ticket reference number and when it has been tapped in and out.

 

[Hadders]

I suspect the ticket inspector made an error in not taking your details. In most cases scanning the barcode on the ticket enables the prosecutions department to indetify who the person is - a nice easy non-conflict way for the staff onboard. Except this doesn't work where the ticket is forged - it's your friend who'll get contacted.

Unless the ticket inspector has decided to be very kind to you and let you off.