Short fare - SWR

[bob777]

Hello everyone.

On the 25th of July I was stopped by a SWR revenue protection officer at Waterloo station for short faring.

After scanning my ticket and checking my railcard (which is valid and always has been). I gave over my details and was told I would hear back from the prosecutions department in a matter of weeks/months.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading through these forums and have a basic understanding of how this process usually goes but I have a few questions.

How is it that SWR usually communicate as I gave both my address and email. I’m asking this as I’m going back to University in August so provided my parents address as (at the time) that was my current residence.

However, I don’t want to miss any correspondence so was wondering if they usually send written letters or emails during the investigation?

Thanks for your help

 

[MotCO]

Are you happy for your parents to open your post? Or at least look out for a letter from SWR?

 

[bob777]

Are you happy for your parents to open your post? Or at least look out for a letter from SWR?

I don’t usually get much mail so think I’m just going to get them to forward all my mail to my new address once I’ve moved in.

If they do send a letter will they also send a email?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

If they do send a letter will they also send a email?

I think it's unlikely. So I would not suggest relying on there being an email.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

SWR are likely to send a physical letter in the first instance, so getting your parents to forward it to you is a good strategy. Bear in mind that you’ll probably only have 14 days to reply so make sure you parents know to forward it to you promptly.

When the letter does come, pop back here with a redacted copy of it, along with your draft reply and forum members can assist with proof reading.

 

[simonw]

I don’t usually get much mail so think I’m just going to get them to forward all my mail to my new address once I’ve moved in.

If they do send a letter will they also send a email?

You can always pay to have your mail redirected.

 

[bob777]

Welcome to the forum!

SWR are likely to send a physical letter in the first instance, so getting your parents to forward it to you is a good strategy. Bear in mind that you’ll probably only have 14 days to reply so make sure you parents know to forward it to you promptly.

When the letter does come, pop back here with a redacted copy of it, along with your draft reply and forum members can assist with proof reading.

As an update I've received this letter today and was wondering how to proceed. All help is appreciated. I’ve copied the contents of the letter below.


On X date, 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; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof.

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

All the evidence available is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate. If you consider that there are any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter you are invited to respond, in writing or to prosecutions@swrailway.com, within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Please ensure that ALL details below are completed and returned to ensure our records are correct.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PAYMENT

Failure to respond to this letter will lead to the matter being progressed without further notification. If we do write to you again, we may seek a contribution to our costs of recovering the amount owed.



Yours sincerely,



Susan Gray

Prosecutions and Fraud Manager

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

Following on from this I admit to having short fared the same or similar journeys 4 times in the past for a total of 5 times. Is this something I should include in my initial reply? or shall I wait for it to be mentioned directly. I am happy to pay to cover these multiple trips, I just want to make sure I'm replying with the information that they are requesting. Below I've included a draft of my reply if anyone could have a look over it that would be great.

Dear Susan Gray,


Thank you for the letter dated X, with the reference number X referring to the incident during travel that occurred on Friday, 25th of July 2025 between the stations of Teddington and Waterloo. Please accept this email as a response to your letter and this incident.


Firstly, see below the information that was requested.

X


Secondly, I accept full responsibility for purchasing a short ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo in order to avoid the full fare from Teddington to Waterloo. I can now see that my behaviour was completely unacceptable, I deeply regret my decision and apologise for it.


With reflexion I now understand the importance of always holding a valid ticket and going onwards I promise to follow the ticketing requirements correctly. I fully understand the seriousness of the offence and this has been an important wake-up call for me


I would be grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court and am willing to cover the full cost of the fare as well as any administrative costs you may have occurred in dealing with this matter.


As mentioned above I sincerely apologise for this incident and hope that we can come to an agreement, if there is anymore information required please let me know.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

As an update I've received this letter today and was wondering how to proceed. All help is appreciated. I’ve copied the contents of the letter below.


On X date, 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; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof.

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

All the evidence available is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate. If you consider that there are any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter you are invited to respond, in writing or to prosecutions@swrailway.com, within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Please ensure that ALL details below are completed and returned to ensure our records are correct.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PAYMENT

Failure to respond to this letter will lead to the matter being progressed without further notification. If we do write to you again, we may seek a contribution to our costs of recovering the amount owed.



Yours sincerely,



Susan Gray

Prosecutions and Fraud Manager

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

Following on from this I admit to having short fared the same or similar journeys 4 times in the past for a total of 5 times. Is this something I should include in my initial reply? or shall I wait for it to be mentioned directly. I am happy to pay to cover these multiple trips, I just want to make sure I'm replying with the information that they are requesting. Below I've included a draft of my reply if anyone could have a look over it that would be great.

Dear Susan Gray,


Thank you for the letter dated X, with the reference number X referring to the incident during travel that occurred on Friday, 25th of July 2025 between the stations of Teddington and Waterloo. Please accept this email as a response to your letter and this incident.


Firstly, see below the information that was requested.

X


Secondly, I accept full responsibility for purchasing a short ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo in order to avoid the full fare from Teddington to Waterloo. I can now see that my behaviour was completely unacceptable, I deeply regret my decision and apologise for it.


With reflexion I now understand the importance of always holding a valid ticket and going onwards I promise to follow the ticketing requirements correctly. I fully understand the seriousness of the offence and this has been an important wake-up call for me


I would be grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court and am willing to cover the full cost of the fare as well as any administrative costs you may have occurred in dealing with this matter.


As mentioned above I sincerely apologise for this incident and hope that we can come to an agreement, if there is anymore information required please let me know.

As an update I've received this letter today and was wondering how to proceed. All help is appreciated. I’ve copied the contents of the letter below.


On X date, 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; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof.

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

All the evidence available is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate. If you consider that there are any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter you are invited to respond, in writing or to prosecutions@swrailway.com, within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Please ensure that ALL details below are completed and returned to ensure our records are correct.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PAYMENT

Failure to respond to this letter will lead to the matter being progressed without further notification. If we do write to you again, we may seek a contribution to our costs of recovering the amount owed.



Yours sincerely,



X

Prosecutions and Fraud Manager

Following on from this I admit to having short fared the same or similar journeys 4 times in the past for a total of 5 times. Is this something I should include in my initial reply? or shall I wait for it to be mentioned directly. I am happy to pay to cover these multiple trips, I just want to make sure I'm replying with the information that they are requesting. Below I've included a draft of my reply if anyone could have a look over it that would be great.

Dear X,


Thank you for the letter dated X, with the reference number X referring to the incident during travel that occurred on Friday, 25th of July 2025 between the stations of Teddington and Waterloo. Please accept this email as a response to your letter and this incident.


Firstly, see below the information that was requested.

X


Secondly, I accept full responsibility for purchasing a short ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo in order to avoid the full fare from Teddington to Waterloo. I can now see that my behaviour was completely unacceptable, I deeply regret my decision and apologise for it.


With reflexion I now understand the importance of always holding a valid ticket and going onwards I promise to follow the ticketing requirements correctly. I fully understand the seriousness of the offence and this has been an important wake-up call for me


I would be grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court and am willing to cover the full cost of the fare as well as any administrative costs you may have occurred in dealing with this matter.


As mentioned above I sincerely apologise for this incident and hope that we can come to an agreement, if there is anymore information required please let me know.

 

[WesternLancer]

As an update I've received this letter today and was wondering how to proceed. All help is appreciated. I’ve copied the contents of the letter below.


On X date, 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; Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof.

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

All the evidence available is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate. If you consider that there are any mitigating factors or explanations that may influence any decision that may be made about this matter you are invited to respond, in writing or to prosecutions@swrailway.com, within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Please ensure that ALL details below are completed and returned to ensure our records are correct.

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PAYMENT

Failure to respond to this letter will lead to the matter being progressed without further notification. If we do write to you again, we may seek a contribution to our costs of recovering the amount owed.



Yours sincerely,



Susan Gray

Prosecutions and Fraud Manager

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

Following on from this I admit to having short fared the same or similar journeys 4 times in the past for a total of 5 times. Is this something I should include in my initial reply? or shall I wait for it to be mentioned directly. I am happy to pay to cover these multiple trips, I just want to make sure I'm replying with the information that they are requesting. Below I've included a draft of my reply if anyone could have a look over it that would be great.

Dear Susan Gray,


Thank you for the letter dated X, with the reference number X referring to the incident during travel that occurred on Friday, 25th of July 2025 between the stations of Teddington and Waterloo. Please accept this email as a response to your letter and this incident.


Firstly, see below the information that was requested.

X


Secondly, I accept full responsibility for purchasing a short ticket from Vauxhall to Waterloo in order to avoid the full fare from Teddington to Waterloo. I can now see that my behaviour was completely unacceptable, I deeply regret my decision and apologise for it.


With reflexion I now understand the importance of always holding a valid ticket and going onwards I promise to follow the ticketing requirements correctly. I fully understand the seriousness of the offence and this has been an important wake-up call for me


I would be grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court and am willing to cover the full cost of the fare as well as any administrative costs you may have occurred in dealing with this matter.


As mentioned above I sincerely apologise for this incident and hope that we can come to an agreement, if there is anymore information required please let me know.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

Seems like a reasonable draft reply to me.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Aug 2025 ==

Actually I wonder if perhaps better to say in third paragraph along lines of: ‘I take responsibility for not having the correct ticket for my journey’ rather than specifically admitting that you deliberately had a short ticket- though you may have admitted that already when questioned I suppose.

 

[bob777]

Yep I did admit it when questioned. Do you think I should mention the previous times this has happened, as I expect them to have looked through my trainpal history?

 

[WesternLancer]

Yep I did admit it when questioned. Do you think I should mention the previous times this has happened, as I expect them to have looked through my trainpal history?

Don’t mention them yet unless they have asked you. Though they will almost certainly check and might ask you about it later / seek payment for it as part of any out of court settlement offer.

Similarly do not say or imply that this was a one off in your response however.

 

[bob777]

Don’t mention them yet unless they have asked you. Though they will almost certainly check and might ask you about it later / seek payment for it as part of any out of court settlement offer.

Similarly do not say or imply that this was a one off in your response however.

Thanks for the advice. I don’t believe I imply that this was a one off offence in my email draft. Do you agree?

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks for the advice. I don’t believe I imply that this was a one off offence in my email draft. Do you agree?

Yes. I agree. My point was more fyi.

 

[MotCO]

'With reflexion' should be 'with reflection'

 

[bob777]

Hello everyone.

On the 25th of July I was stopped by a SWR revenue protection officer at Waterloo station for short faring.

After scanning my ticket and checking my railcard (which is valid and always has been). I gave over my details and was told I would hear back from the prosecutions department in a matter of weeks/months.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading through these forums and have a basic understanding of how this process usually goes but I have a few questions.

How is it that SWR usually communicate as I gave both my address and email. I’m asking this as I’m going back to University in August so provided my parents address as (at the time) that was my current residence.

However, I don’t want to miss any correspondence so was wondering if they usually send written letters or emails during the investigation?

Thanks for your help

Sent off a email on the 30th of August and haven’t heard back or had an auto-reply in my inbox. The original letter gave me 21 days (12th of September) to reply.

If I haven’t heard back by then should I call to confirm they’ve received my email or is it best to wait?

Thanks for everyone’s help once again

 

[Egg Centric]

Sent off a email on the 30th of August and haven’t heard back or had an auto-reply in my inbox. The original letter gave me 21 days (12th of September) to reply.

If I haven’t heard back by then should I call to confirm they’ve received my email or is it best to wait?

Thanks for everyone’s help once again

Just wait, no point in poking the bear. They have many more months to do something.

 

[WesternLancer]

Sent off a email on the 30th of August and haven’t heard back or had an auto-reply in my inbox. The original letter gave me 21 days (12th of September) to reply.

If I haven’t heard back by then should I call to confirm they’ve received my email or is it best to wait?

Thanks for everyone’s help once again

Whilst I would not ring them either, but if you are concerned that they may not have got your e-mail reply then you could print off what you sent, make sure it has ref number your name and postal address on it - then handwrite on top eg 'as sent by e-mail on xx date' and put it in the post. If you want proof of delivery then use a post office and send it using the cheapest 'tracked postage'. If you do that in the next day or today it will get there before 12th sept and the tracking would enable you to prove it did if you ever needed that proof.