Seeking Advice – Fare Evasion (SWR)

[Flight876]

Hi all,

I'm posting here to seek some guidance regarding a serious mistake I’ve made, which I fully acknowledge and deeply regret.

Between September and February, I travelled on several occasions from Vauxhall to Waterloo, despite needing to get a ticket from West Byfleet to Waterloo. I now understand how wrong this was and that my actions constitute fare evasion. I am truly sorry for what I’ve done and am committed to resolving this matter responsibly.

I have recently received an email from the rail company's fraud team, outlining one specific instance of fare evasion. I will attach that email below. My hope is to settle the matter out of court if at all possible.

My question is: should I only respond in relation to the single instance they've identified, or should I be upfront and confess to the multiple occurrences during that period?

Thank you in advance for any advice or insights.

“On Tuesday 4th February 2025, you were questioned by a member of rail staff about an incident that occurred whilst on First MTR South Western Trains Limited property. Subsequently the matter has been passed for investigation.

On the day in question, you were stopped having produced a ticket which did not cover your entire journey.

Please be aware that all emails and their contents may be admissible in court if this case progresses to that stage. Please exercise caution if your response involves mentioning or implicating another individual in this investigation. If you respond with a truthful account, there may be an opportunity for an out-of-court settlement. It is important to be aware that we have analysed our data and have additional evidence, including Ticket Tap Data (which shows where a ticket was scanned and used to open a ticket barrier), Refund data, which may be presented if your case proceeds to court.

I have attached the pre-court partial disclosure document (X), which includes your online ticket purchase history. The suspicious journeys are numbered XXX to XXX and highlighted. Please provide an accurate account of each journey, specifying the Correct start and finish points, whether you Travelled on a ticket with a Railcard discount when entitled or whether you travelled on a ticket after it had been Refunded. Kindly complete the attached form and return it via email, filling out columns R, S, T and U for each highlighted line.”

 

[AlterEgo]

I have recently received an email from the rail company's fraud team, outlining one specific instance of fare evasion. I will attach that email below. My hope is to settle the matter out of court if at all possible.

My question is: should I only respond in relation to the single instance they've identified

...they haven't identified a single instance! They've identified loads and are asking you to explain your journeys.

, or should I be upfront and confess to the multiple occurrences during that period?

They've clearly identified all the other misdemeanours you've committed, as they have audited your accounts, and you have no choice but to engage with their honesty test and be upfront with them.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all,

I'm posting here to seek some guidance regarding a serious mistake I’ve made, which I fully acknowledge and deeply regret.

Between September and February, I travelled on several occasions from Vauxhall to Waterloo, despite needing to get a ticket from West Byfleet to Waterloo. I now understand how wrong this was and that my actions constitute fare evasion. I am truly sorry for what I’ve done and am committed to resolving this matter responsibly.

I have recently received an email from the rail company's fraud team, outlining one specific instance of fare evasion. I will attach that email below. My hope is to settle the matter out of court if at all possible.

My question is: should I only respond in relation to the single instance they've identified, or should I be upfront and confess to the multiple occurrences during that period?

Thank you in advance for any advice or insights.

If you fill in the table accurately to the best of your ability they will highly likely offer you an out of court settlement based on the Anytime Single fares plus admin fee. If you don’t do this they will almost certainly prosecute you in court.

Not sure why you think they only had one incident? They only caught you once but digital fingerprints helped them find the rest.

 

[Flight876]

If you fill in the table accurately to the best of your ability they will highly likely offer you an out of court settlement based on the Anytime Single fares plus admin fee. If you don’t do this they will almost certainly prosecute you in court.

Not sure why you think they only had one incident? They only caught you once but digital fingerprints helped them find the rest.

Thanks for your reply.

They included every journey that I have taken dating back to 2019 and have only highlighted the day of the offence that needs to be explained. Are they expecting me to explain other journeys as well as a sort of honest test?

I will fill out the table with each instance to the best of my ability as I really don’t want it to be escalated. Since February I have got the full joinery and will continue to do so from now on.

 

[John R]

Thanks for your reply.

They included every journey that I have taken dating back to 2019 and have only highlighted the day of the offence that needs to be explained. Are they expecting me to explain other journeys as well as a sort of honest test?

I will fill out the table with each instance to the best of my ability as I really don’t want it to be escalated. Since February I have got the full joinery and will continue to do so from now on.

The letter says they have highlighted suspicious journeys (plural) and given them numbers. Those are the ones you need to fill out the details for.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Between September and February, I travelled on several occasions from Vauxhall to Waterloo, despite needing to get a ticket from West Byfleet to Waterloo. I now understand how wrong this was and that my actions constitute fare evasion. I am truly sorry for what I’ve done and am committed to resolving this matter responsibly.

@Flight876 just a word of warning if your case gets to the stage where you need to express remorse for what you've done. Please don't use phrases like the one I've highlighted - its inconceivable that you didn't realise at the time that what you were doing was wrong, so don't say you *now* realise it was wrong, it won't help

 

[Pushpit]

They included every journey that I have taken dating back to 2019 and have only highlighted the day of the offence that needs to be explained. Are they expecting me to explain other journeys as well as a sort of honest test?

Short fares between Vauxhall and Waterloo are such obvious attempts at fare evasion that this route - along with about a dozen others - comes up routinely in this forum. In which case it must come up daily with SWT's prosecution team. It is tantamount to wearing a bright red hat with the words "Fare Evader" on it. Contactless is cheaper and easier than an e-ticket. So bear that in mind when you fill in the form, they are probably not so stupid. In which case honesty will get you through this, dishonesty will make matters worse for you. If you honestly don't know about a particular trip or set of trips, then again just be honest.

 

[WesternLancer]

They included every journey that I have taken dating back to 2019 and have only highlighted the day of the offence that needs to be explained. Are they expecting me to explain other journeys as well as a sort of honest test?

I think you are sort of misunderstanding what they are asking. They are not asking you to got into some sort of explanation about why or how you evaded fares on all those occasions, they are giving you the chance to admit that you did or state / explain why on any particular occasion any of them in their table were in fact the correct fare for a legitimate journey (which does not sound like it was the case so you won't be saying that - but if it was the case you should expect to supply some supporting reason or ideally evidence if you have it).

You don't really have 'an explanation' as such for any of it - well not one that they would find acceptable as an excuse. Your explanation is probably no more than along these lines

"I admit that I made a serious error of judgment by not paying the correct fare on the journey when your member of staff stopped and questioned me about my ticket. I apologise, and regret to say that I have also done this on other occasions. I have completed your table to the best of my ability and have done all I can to complete this as accurately as possible as I am anxious to co-operate with your investigation in the hope you can allow me to pay the fares that I owe rather than the matter be dealt with in court"

or some such

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum.

Based on what you've said, and the text of the letter you were sent by SWR you were caught red handed. SWR are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court in respect of this offence which they would win. You would have a criminal conviction and have to pay a fine, surcharge, costs and compesation.

Alternatively, SWR are offering you the chance to settle the matter out of court but in order to do so you must co-operate with their investigation. They have searched your ticket purchasing account and identified journeys they believe are suspicious. They are asking you to confirm these journeys were made with invalid tickets, or if they were valid journeys provide an explanation, and will want to factor into the settlement cost the cost of all the journeys you've made with invalid tickets. If the matter is settled out of court then there's no criminal conviction.

 

[Flight876]

Thank you for your replies everyone.

I will make sure to fill out the table to the best of my ability and express how stupid it was try and evade the system. This is definitely something I will learn from and I won't be doing in the future ever again. An out of court settlement is the route I would like to go down and I will do my best to co-operate.