prosecution letter

[eviesmos]

hi guys,
couple of months ago i was caught having a ticket with a railway card 16-25 even though i don’t have the railcard. my boyfriend does and when i was traveling with him sometimes i saw that inspectors were not checking his card so i thought that maybe i could put on trainline that i had it, to save a bit of money when i travel in the uk (im french and im not living in the uk)
anyway i got caught and i said to the revenue guy that i forgot to untick the card button as i usually buy tickets for my boyfriend. i send them an email the next day saying the exact same stuff.

just got the letter now and they ask me to explain, and i actually bought 4 tickets with the railcard and i was thinking of just telling the truth completely as i don’t want to put my boyfriend in a bad position. im fine with paying anyway its my mistake, just don’t want to end up in court. i only did this for the same route and saved……. 3/4 euros each time. Lol
is telling the truth the best thing to do?
thanks!

 

[SECR 65]

Welcome to the forum,

Are you able to tell us the following please:

• What train operating company you're dealing with
• Upload the letter they sent, ideally, with personal details redacted, or, at least, the gist of what the letter accuses you of.

Did the inspector ask for your details when you were stopped? Presumably so, and has the letter been sent to your home address in France? Did the inspector give you any paperwork, for example a travel irregularity report?

I can't see that your boyfriend would get into any trouble. At the end of the day, this boils down to 'no railcard'. There is no need to mention your boyfriend to be honest, just say that you did not have a railcard.

Does the letter the railway sent mention an audit of ticketing history and past journeys? If they have mentioned them, then you are best off acknowledging and owning up to all journeys. If they have only asked about one specific occasion, then it is best just to mention this one in your reply.

Are you between the ages of 16 and 25, or outside of this range?

You're unlikely to end up in court provided you cooperate with the railway's correspondence.

I don't know how court works for non-UK residents, but I'm sure another member will do.

I will just note at this stage that the forum is legally forbidden from offering immigration advice, not that your are neccecarily looking to move to the UK. Just wanted to mention it at an early opportunity in case.

 

[eviesmos]

thanks for your reply!
i’m dealing with south western railway, the beginning of the letter says :
a person giving the above name and address was questioned by a member of rail staff about an incident that occurred whilst on South Western Railway Limited property; Entered a train for the purpose of travelling without a valid ticket to entitle travel.


Subsequently the matter has been reported to this office for further investigation. »

The inspector did ask me for details, I asked him if he wanted to have my french address and he said he wanted the adress where i was staying at at the moment, so i gave him my boyfriend’s adress. My boyfriend’s mom received the letter on my name today and told me about it.

The letter only mentions that 1 time when they caught me. The thing is, I’m scared they will look in my trainline history and see that I traveled 3 other times with the card, and that they also ask me to explain about it? I don’t know if they took in consideration my first email, but i was lying to them at that point so its either i keep going into that direction hoping i don’t get caught or just give up and tell them the complete truth.
i’m 24 years old!

thank you for your help

 

[SECR 65]

Ok. Thank you for clarifying all of these details.

SWR are usually quite easy to deal with. They almost always offer out-of-court settlements. This will be the anytime single fare for each journey they're looking into plus an admin fee, typically low 3 figures.

It looks to me that the letter implies they are only looking at the one incident. SWR do often audit ticket history but I believe they normally tell you they have done this in the initial letter.

Even if they were to later look at your Trainline history, which I doubt, but could happen, I cannot see any benefit in openly admitting to other journeys without a valid ticket.

I would not suggest continuing to lie. That said, I don't think you have to go too far the other way. Everything you say needs to be true, but you only need to respond to what they are asking about.

As I said above, I think the chance of your boyfriend getting into trouble is very limited. A 16-25 railcard is open to anyone, and you are eligible age-wise. Had this been a staff pass or similar, you would be in deep trouble.

We must continue to bear in mind that if you are not a UK resident, this may impact the way the legal process works, but, as I said, I do not have the knowledge of how this works to advise. Hopefully another member can help us out in that regard.

A fairly straightforward reply in the usual format we suggest on the forum should be just fine. See examples:

SWR Investigation letter - Please help!

Hi all I have received a letter from SWR after its Travel Irregularity Report after an incident in April. The letter says "Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof." The context is here that I found a discounted oyster card at start...

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SWR Letter for prosecution

I have recieved the letter below from SWR. I have already responded via email but I am wondering whether I need to still send the letter back with the information completed on the back? Or whether because I have already responded in an email I no longer need to do anything with the physical...

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SWR, questioned in Waterloo about journeys

Hi all, I am hoping for some advice regarding a letter I received from South Western Railway's Revenue Protection team approximately two weeks ago, which I only became aware of today. On 29 December 2025 I was stopped at London Waterloo by a Revenue Protection officer. I presented a ticket from...

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SWR Report for prosecution

Hi all, I was hoping for some advice, I short fared a trip on SWR from Waterloo to shepperton and instead went from waterloo to vauxhall, I truly understand the seriousness of this matter and and asking for advice on my response to the letter i received today, which states...

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Examples from other train operating companies e.g. GTR, or any other SWR ones you find, should be perfectly valid help as well. Maybe stay away from complext cases where they are looking at all past journeys - other than to just see what the process is like.

You will very quickly identify the usual template used. Basically:

• Acknowledge that you travelled without a valid ticket and apologise for this.
• Make it clear you understand the importance of having a valid ticket for your journeys, and that you will always ensure that you do in future.
• Express a desire to settle the matter without the need for court action, and say you are happy to pay the oustanding fare plus any admin fees incurred by SWR.

 

[eviesmos]

i will do that then!
thanks again for your help

 

[SECR 65]

i will do that then!
thanks again for your help

You're very welcome!

In case this is not apparent from other threads, then once you've written a draft letter, post it on here and members including myself can proofread and suggest any changes to it.

Do let us know if you have any further questions at any point.