Hi there - I have read various helpful posts on this site and would be really grateful for any advice received on this matter. Thank you in advance.
In December 2025 my 20 year old son was stopped by a SWR ticket inspector at London Waterloo and asked to show his ticket and railcard. He was happy to do so believing all was in order, but was horrified to realise his Railcard (which I had purchased for him) had run out of date in August 2025. He had held it on a separate Railcard App rather than on the Trainline App through which he purchased his ticket and just didn't think to check across to the different App to ensure his railcard was still in date when buying his ticket. He's since realised he has never been asked to show his railcard on any rail journey and so it had not occurred to him to check it for previous journeys between August and Dec 2025 either.
He was happy to provide all his contact details at the time and offered to buy a new railcard on the spot and pay for the ticket discrepancy but the inspector said that wasn't possible as they had already processed the matter and he'd hear from SWR in due course.
The evening that he was stopped he purchased a new 16-15 railcard valid for 3 years until Dec 2028. He also emailed SWR that evening to apologise and say that it was a genuine mistake, he was horrified, and that he'd purchased a new railcard and offered to make any payment required to rectify his genuine mistake.
On 13 May he's received a letter from SWR stating the stopping incident in Dec and that investigation into his online account showed other potential inconsistencies in his ticket purchase history. They said they were contacting him to initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to a case management team.
Having sought permission I responded on behalf of my son as he was away. I explained this was a genuine mistake, he was horrified, he'd purchased a new railcard valid now for 3 years, that I understood there has been a recent independent review of train operator protection practices and that it recognised that passengers often buy tickets not really knowing if they are truly valid because the ticket purchasing and pricing processes are confusing and often lack transparency. I understood that there are new verification steps that are going to be trialled this year to help passengers have the reassurance that they are travelling with the correct ticket and that this will include a process for validating railcards at the point of purchase.
I explained we welcomed these initiatives and that my son had offered to rectify anything he owed and continued to make this offer. I acknowledged that he might have made some other ticket purchases presumably between the end of the expiry of his railcard in August 2025 and the ticket inspection incident in Dec 2025 and that he was very happy to rectify these with any appropriate payment. I reiterated that he never intended to travel with the incorrectly priced ticket for any journey and whilst he is not a regular rail traveller he would always wish to have purchased the correctly priced ticket for any journey.
He has since received a further letter from SWR on 27 May stating in bold that on xx Dec 2025 he was questioned by a member of rail staff about an incident that occurred whilst on SWR ltd property; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fair with intent to avoid payment thereof.
The letter goes on to ask if he would like to submit any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter and that he can do this within 21 days of the date of the letter.
He has therefore written the following response and we'd be very grateful for any thoughts/advice on it. The reason for showing all railcard history is because I don't think SWR will know about previous railcards and may attempt to say all his previous tickets ever bought prior to the railcard they checked might be incorrect and they may try to include these in any revenue collection process.
Dear [ ],
I am writing to respond to your letter dated [xx] regarding the incident on xx/xx/xx.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond and to provide explanations and mitigating factors to assist with decision making regarding this matter.
I sincerely apologise for travelling unknowingly with an expired railcard. When this was brought to my attention by your Officer, I was horrified that I had appeared to have done this and wish to reiterate that at no time have I ever intended to travel and avoid any correct payment required. I offered to pay the required fare on the spot, or to purchase a new rail card at that time, but was informed that it was too late as the Officer had already processed the report.
On completion of my travel that same day I purchased a railcard which is valid for 3 years until xx/xx/28, in order to ensure my honest mistake does not occur again. The Railcard Number is [ ].
On xx/xx/xx and for all my journeys I have always genuinely believed I have paid the correct fare for my journey.
I have received a further letter from SWR Prosecutions Department dated xx/xx/xx suggesting that there may be other potential inconsistencies in my ticket purchase history. I assume that these relate to tickets purchased between the end of the expiry date of my railcard (dated expiry xx/xx/xx) and the purchase of my new railcard (purchased on xx/xx/xx). I am not sure if I ended up travelling on these dates but I agree that my purchases show that tickets were bought. If I did travel on these dates then I also believed that I was travelling with the correctly priced ticket and these were also genuine errors and completely unintentional and caused by my shoddy admin skills, nothing else.
I wholeheartedly apologise for overlooking my railcard expiry date. My expired railcard was purchased for me by a relative and loaded onto a Railcard App. I had not loaded it onto the Trainline App through which I purchase my tickets. I have now uploaded my new valid Railcard onto The Trainline App, as I realise this is a more reliable way for me to be able to validate my ticket purchases using my in-date Railcard, and to ensure I do not make this mistake another time. I realise that having the Railcard on a completely separate app is not helpful for this kind of validation process and I have now learned that this was an error on my part which I have now rectified.
I did not intend to travel without paying the correct fare and have never had this intention. Since I was at College and on leaving college I have had a railcard purchased for me by a relative. I attach an Appendix showing all the railcards I have had and which have enabled me to travel having purchased the correctly priced ticket.
The railcards I have had are as follows:
I appreciate and understand the importance of paying the correct fare for a journey and have never intended ever to travel without doing this. I have formally diagnosed Dyslexia and as I get older and try to be more independent I am now more aware that I struggle with processing skills relating to certain tasks and my ability to be organised can be challenging for me. I appreciate that this is no excuse, as it is important for all rail users to pay the correct fares for their journeys and that this in turn is vital for the rail companies in order that they can continue to operate and provide this important travel service for everyone.
I have therefore now done everything I can to try to ensure this doesn’t happen again by purchasing a new railcard, uploading it to the App that I use to purchase tickets on (to help with the validation process when purchasing a ticket) and I have also set a reminder for its renewal date with myself and also a relative so that this doesn’t happen again.
If possible, I would be grateful for the opportunity to pay any outstanding fares and any administrate costs to resolve this matter out of court, and reiterate that I am extremely sorry for making this genuine error. I am keen to find a suitable resolution and very happy to make any amends deemed suitable.
Yours sincerely
[ ]
Letter will have attached an appendix showing photos of all 3 railcards and proof of purchase of these railcards.
In December 2025 my 20 year old son was stopped by a SWR ticket inspector at London Waterloo and asked to show his ticket and railcard. He was happy to do so believing all was in order, but was horrified to realise his Railcard (which I had purchased for him) had run out of date in August 2025. He had held it on a separate Railcard App rather than on the Trainline App through which he purchased his ticket and just didn't think to check across to the different App to ensure his railcard was still in date when buying his ticket. He's since realised he has never been asked to show his railcard on any rail journey and so it had not occurred to him to check it for previous journeys between August and Dec 2025 either.
He was happy to provide all his contact details at the time and offered to buy a new railcard on the spot and pay for the ticket discrepancy but the inspector said that wasn't possible as they had already processed the matter and he'd hear from SWR in due course.
The evening that he was stopped he purchased a new 16-15 railcard valid for 3 years until Dec 2028. He also emailed SWR that evening to apologise and say that it was a genuine mistake, he was horrified, and that he'd purchased a new railcard and offered to make any payment required to rectify his genuine mistake.
On 13 May he's received a letter from SWR stating the stopping incident in Dec and that investigation into his online account showed other potential inconsistencies in his ticket purchase history. They said they were contacting him to initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to a case management team.
Having sought permission I responded on behalf of my son as he was away. I explained this was a genuine mistake, he was horrified, he'd purchased a new railcard valid now for 3 years, that I understood there has been a recent independent review of train operator protection practices and that it recognised that passengers often buy tickets not really knowing if they are truly valid because the ticket purchasing and pricing processes are confusing and often lack transparency. I understood that there are new verification steps that are going to be trialled this year to help passengers have the reassurance that they are travelling with the correct ticket and that this will include a process for validating railcards at the point of purchase.
I explained we welcomed these initiatives and that my son had offered to rectify anything he owed and continued to make this offer. I acknowledged that he might have made some other ticket purchases presumably between the end of the expiry of his railcard in August 2025 and the ticket inspection incident in Dec 2025 and that he was very happy to rectify these with any appropriate payment. I reiterated that he never intended to travel with the incorrectly priced ticket for any journey and whilst he is not a regular rail traveller he would always wish to have purchased the correctly priced ticket for any journey.
He has since received a further letter from SWR on 27 May stating in bold that on xx Dec 2025 he was questioned by a member of rail staff about an incident that occurred whilst on SWR ltd property; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fair with intent to avoid payment thereof.
The letter goes on to ask if he would like to submit any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter and that he can do this within 21 days of the date of the letter.
He has therefore written the following response and we'd be very grateful for any thoughts/advice on it. The reason for showing all railcard history is because I don't think SWR will know about previous railcards and may attempt to say all his previous tickets ever bought prior to the railcard they checked might be incorrect and they may try to include these in any revenue collection process.
Dear [ ],
I am writing to respond to your letter dated [xx] regarding the incident on xx/xx/xx.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond and to provide explanations and mitigating factors to assist with decision making regarding this matter.
I sincerely apologise for travelling unknowingly with an expired railcard. When this was brought to my attention by your Officer, I was horrified that I had appeared to have done this and wish to reiterate that at no time have I ever intended to travel and avoid any correct payment required. I offered to pay the required fare on the spot, or to purchase a new rail card at that time, but was informed that it was too late as the Officer had already processed the report.
On completion of my travel that same day I purchased a railcard which is valid for 3 years until xx/xx/28, in order to ensure my honest mistake does not occur again. The Railcard Number is [ ].
On xx/xx/xx and for all my journeys I have always genuinely believed I have paid the correct fare for my journey.
I have received a further letter from SWR Prosecutions Department dated xx/xx/xx suggesting that there may be other potential inconsistencies in my ticket purchase history. I assume that these relate to tickets purchased between the end of the expiry date of my railcard (dated expiry xx/xx/xx) and the purchase of my new railcard (purchased on xx/xx/xx). I am not sure if I ended up travelling on these dates but I agree that my purchases show that tickets were bought. If I did travel on these dates then I also believed that I was travelling with the correctly priced ticket and these were also genuine errors and completely unintentional and caused by my shoddy admin skills, nothing else.
I wholeheartedly apologise for overlooking my railcard expiry date. My expired railcard was purchased for me by a relative and loaded onto a Railcard App. I had not loaded it onto the Trainline App through which I purchase my tickets. I have now uploaded my new valid Railcard onto The Trainline App, as I realise this is a more reliable way for me to be able to validate my ticket purchases using my in-date Railcard, and to ensure I do not make this mistake another time. I realise that having the Railcard on a completely separate app is not helpful for this kind of validation process and I have now learned that this was an error on my part which I have now rectified.
I did not intend to travel without paying the correct fare and have never had this intention. Since I was at College and on leaving college I have had a railcard purchased for me by a relative. I attach an Appendix showing all the railcards I have had and which have enabled me to travel having purchased the correctly priced ticket.
The railcards I have had are as follows:
- July 2023 - First railcard purchased by a relative. I held it on the Railcard App in July 2023 – I was a child at this time and under 18 and at college. This was valid until 29 July 2024. ID number [ ]
- August 2024 - Second railcard purchased by a relative. I held it on the Railcard App in August 2024 – I had just left college. This was valid until 14 August 2025. ID number [ ]
- December 2025 - Third railcard purchased by me and uploaded to The Trainline App to ensure more accurate ticket validation process. This is valid until 18 December 2028. ID number [ ]
I appreciate and understand the importance of paying the correct fare for a journey and have never intended ever to travel without doing this. I have formally diagnosed Dyslexia and as I get older and try to be more independent I am now more aware that I struggle with processing skills relating to certain tasks and my ability to be organised can be challenging for me. I appreciate that this is no excuse, as it is important for all rail users to pay the correct fares for their journeys and that this in turn is vital for the rail companies in order that they can continue to operate and provide this important travel service for everyone.
I have therefore now done everything I can to try to ensure this doesn’t happen again by purchasing a new railcard, uploading it to the App that I use to purchase tickets on (to help with the validation process when purchasing a ticket) and I have also set a reminder for its renewal date with myself and also a relative so that this doesn’t happen again.
If possible, I would be grateful for the opportunity to pay any outstanding fares and any administrate costs to resolve this matter out of court, and reiterate that I am extremely sorry for making this genuine error. I am keen to find a suitable resolution and very happy to make any amends deemed suitable.
Yours sincerely
[ ]
Letter will have attached an appendix showing photos of all 3 railcards and proof of purchase of these railcards.
