Pretended to be someone else

[Kdhsisnxh]

18 yo student,
Was travelling to college and realised I didn’t have a ticket, they then asked for my details to give me a usual fare ticket, in a dumb hasty decision I decided to give false information, they clocked on and I give my real information now I’ve been sent a letter asking to explain myself, I’m aware now how serious what I did was, anyone have an idea of the punishment ?

 

[Darandio]

More details will be needed, please follow the steps outlined here.

 

[Kdhsisnxh]

I was travelling from Thatto heath to Wigan, when I realised I didn’t have a ticket, the ticket men at Wigan asked me for my details, address, age all of that to give me a penalty for not having a ticket, I gave the wrong address and name not thinking in the moment as I had already had a penalty before and they hadn’t asked for Id, he clocked on and asked for my real identity, I told him my name&address and the rest of it and he told me had to put it in the system that I did that, I have now received a letter telling me to explain why I did it And to reply in 14 days else legal prosecution will be taken. Want to just know what I should be expecting to happen

 

[najaB]

It is an offence to board a train without first paying your fare (if was possible to do so). Further it is an offence to fail to give your name and address details when requested in consequence of a suspected breach of the above.

Each of these offences are covered by two main pieces of legislation: the Railway Byelaws and the Regulation of Railways Act.

The Byelaws have a lower required standard of evidence as they are what are commonly called strict liability offences. The prosecution merely needs to establish that the breaches occurred. On conviction you would be liable to a fine (usually 1/3 of your weekly wage).

The RoRA requires that the prosecution not only prove that the offence occurred, they must also prove that it was as a result of a willful act. As such, not only would a conviction result in a comparable fine, but it would be entered onto the Police National Computer and would appear on basic DBS checks for at least one year.

From what you have posted the TOC has an iron-clad Byelaw case and would likely succeed in a RoRA prosecution as well.

As such it is in your best interest that this doesn't end up in court. A strategy that has worked successfully in other cases is to write a concise reply in which you don't dispute the facts but rather try to convince the TOC that you have learned your lesson, undertake to always abide by the rules and want to compensate them for the lost revenue and costs incurred.