Prosecution impending on fare dodge

[TSJ]

Hello and thank you for kindly reading this,
I am incredibly ashamed and embarrassed at having bought a ticket from Reading to London, but travelled from Kemble to London on GWR. The price of the ticket at this hour was £84.20 but I had to take the train for a hospital appointment in London. I am a teacher and work for free in mental health for children, teachers and their wider community. I am ashamed of having dodged the correct fare, and I lied to the inspector who approached me at the exit of the platform when he noticed that I had only just bought my ticket and it was for the following day. When he asked me for ID, he saw that my driving license stated my address and he asked me if I was lying about which station I had come from and I said I was lying. He was recording the whole conversation and took all my details. He also read me my rights. Please can you tell me what is likely to happen to me and what I can do, if anything, to help this situation.
In gratitude
TSJ

 

[Gloster]

As long as you are sure that the Inspector took your correct address there is nothing that you can do except wait for a letter or e-mail: this could take anything from a few days to several months, although one to two months is the norm. You do need to keep on the look out, including checking spam boxes and the like, as you only have a few days to answer the letter, which gives you a chance to explain yourself. When it arrives post it, with all identifying details (name, address, reference numbers, etc.) obscured, in this thread for advice.

As long as you do not have a long history of fare evasion you have a reasonable chance of getting an out of court settlement, which means no court appearance and no criminal record. It will cost you up to the full cost of the Anytime Single fare for the journey you made plus the railway’s investigation costs, which are likely to be around £150.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello and thank you for kindly reading this,
I am incredibly ashamed and embarrassed at having bought a ticket from Reading to London, but travelled from Kemble to London on GWR. The price of the ticket at this hour was £84.20 but I had to take the train for a hospital appointment in London. I am a teacher and work for free in mental health for children, teachers and their wider community. I am ashamed of having dodged the correct fare, and I lied to the inspector who approached me at the exit of the platform when he noticed that I had only just bought my ticket and it was for the following day. When he asked me for ID, he saw that my driving license stated my address and he asked me if I was lying about which station I had come from and I said I was lying. He was recording the whole conversation and took all my details. He also read me my rights. Please can you tell me what is likely to happen to me and what I can do, if anything, to help this situation.
In gratitude
TSJ

One thing worth doing now is for you to download and read the pdf version of the GWR revenue protection policy from their website. It will help you understand their approach to what you have done.

Post questions you may have here and look at other threads where people are advised on how to secure an out of court settlement as opposed to being prosecuted in court. That will help you prepare for what to do when they contact you about this.

You will get good advice on here on how to minimise the consequences of your error of judgment on this one, though you need to be aware fare evasion is a criminal offence so you need to take this seriously as I think you appreciate.

EDIT:

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/revenue-protection-policy/GWR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023.pdf

 

[TSJ]

As long as you are sure that the Inspector took your correct address there is nothing that you can do except wait for a letter or e-mail: this could take anything from a few days to several months, although one to two months is the norm. You do need to keep on the look out, including checking spam boxes and the like, as you only have a few days to answer the letter, which gives you a chance to explain yourself. When it arrives post it, with all identifying details (name, address, reference numbers, etc.) obscured, in this thread for advice.

As long as you do not have a long history of fare evasion you have a reasonable chance of getting an out of court settlement, which means no court appearance and no criminal record. It will cost you up to the full cost of the Anytime Single fare for the journey you made plus the railway’s investigation costs, which are likely to be around £150.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration on this; I will follow your advice and post the letter once I receive it.