Provisional prosecution with Soutern eastern railway for fair evasion

[YattyBatty]

Don't say "I am willing to", as it's not up to you what you are willing to pay. Ask very nicely eg "I would be very grateful if..." etc.

The railcard appears to be a red herring, unless you mean by that your season ticket, in which case say so. And you're somewhat ambiguous as to what the infringement was - you need to apologise for travelling without a valid ticket, and buying one from a station nearer than where you travelled from approaching the barriers.

The only reason i'm ambiguous about the incident is because i'm trying to avoid incriminating myself if they choose not to settle out of court. They have the body cam and the statemnet from their team member. They know i purchased an incorrect ticket, is it necessary for me to go into detail about this

 

[John R]

You're not incriminating yourself. They have enough proof of what you did to prosecute you.

 

[duncombec]

In my experience (which, in fairness, is mostly evenings and weekends), the ticket barriers on the SouthEastern platforms at St Pancras are almost always closed, and frequently "set up" (if you'll pardon my potentially incorrect understanding/terminology) to reject all manner of tickets which may require further checking, e.g. railcards - to the point that on occasions, I'll aim for the manual gate to save trying to elbow my way back out of the building queue behind me.

Only the OP will know if they are used to seeing this on their regular commute, but SouthEastern may well question any plausibility of purchasing "as I was getting off", rather than earlier in the journey, as indeed they might any suggestion that Stratford was chosen accidentally for Sittingbourne, given the need to type in a minimum of three characters on their systems, at least, and 11 stations between the two even if picking from an alphabetical list.

 

[PaulJ]

I know this is picky but is the name of the TOC Southeastern?

Agreed!

 

[YattyBatty]

Hi All,

Just wanted to update you and say i received a letter to settle out of court on the weekend.
Thank you to all who provided advice, saved me from getting a solicitor and also potentially losing my job. This process has really made me reflect on my actions.

Do you think I need to respond and confirm that I have made payment also?

 

[island]

If you have made payment, keep proof of payment (such as a screenshot of the payment confirmation screen if paying online). You do not also need to write to them.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi All,

Just wanted to update you and say i received a letter to settle out of court on the weekend.
Thank you to all who provided advice, saved me from getting a solicitor and also potentially losing my job. This process has really made me reflect on my actions.

Do you think I need to respond and confirm that I have made payment also?

Thanks for letting us know the outcome - that will be helpful for other people in future too