Short fare

[emu123852]

Back in May I was caught with a short ticket by South Western Rail and issued a travel irregularity report. No excuses and extremely stupid of me. I very rarely take the train on this route to work and only did so as my usual tube journey was disrupted which I’ve never done anything like this on. This is the first time I have been stopped and issued with a travel irregularity report.

I’m in a profession that requires a clean record and no doubt would get kicked out if I got prosecuted. This would ruin me. My mental health has not been great recently and a few months ago I sought help. If I were to be kicked from my profession I fear what I would do to myself.

I want to put things right:

1. From what I’ve read SWR seem an operator more likely to offer a settlement assuming an appropriate response is sent and I’m cooperative, is that generally still the case? I was polite and honest to the officer that stopped me at the time and am willing to cooperate with their investigation.

2. I’m going to use a solicitor when the time comes to draft a response assuming no settlement offer is provided to me in the first correspondence. It will likely be the one most frequently talked about on this forum. Does anyone know whether fare evasion solicitors tend to do the correspondence with SWR on my behalf? Or will they help write an appropriate response which I then personally email?

Sorry if these are silly questions. The anxiety of this incident has made me spiral badly and I want to get this resolved. I feel terrible and will never be engaging in anything like this again. The lesson is truly learnt.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Back in May I was caught with a short ticket by South Western Rail and issued a travel irregularity report. No excuses and extremely stupid of me. I’ve done this on 2 other occasions. I very rarely take the train on this route to work and only did so as my usual tube journey was disrupted which I’ve never done anything like this on. This is the first time I have been stopped and issued with a travel irregularity report.

I’m in a profession that requires a clean record and no doubt would get kicked out if I got prosecuted. This would ruin me. My mental health has not been great recently and a few months ago I sought help. If I were to be kicked from my profession I fear what I would do to myself.

I know how stupid I was for doing this and don’t need reminding. The anytime day singles without applying my valid railcard for these journeys total about £30.

I want to put things right:

1. From what I’ve read SWR seem an operator more likely to offer a settlement assuming an appropriate response is sent and I’m cooperative, is that generally still the case? I was polite and honest to the officer that stopped me at the time.

2. I’m moving abroad soon and leaving the UK for an extended period of time. That means moving out of the house I currently rent with which the details are on the TIR given to me. I have set up a postal redirect via Royal Mail to a relative. On the date I move out assuming nothing is received, is it worth me emailing SWR informing them to send any correspondence to this new address of my relative? Or is the Royal Mail redirect reliable enough? Assuming I do need to inform SWR in advance, presumably I need to use the reference number on the TIR, however I am struggling to read some of the letters on the printed receipt.

3. I’m going to use a solicitor when the time comes to draft a response assuming no settlement offer is provided to me in the first correspondence. It will likely be the one most frequently talked about on this forum. Does anyone know whether fare evasion solicitors tend to do the correspondence with SWR on my behalf? Or will they help write an appropriate response which I then personally email? If it’s an apologetic response is it not better off coming from me?

Sorry if these are silly questions. The anxiety of this incident has made me spiral badly and I want to get this resolved. I feel terrible and will never be engaging in anything like this again. The lesson is truly learnt.

Welcome to the forum.

It's our general advice that
- you probably won't be kicked out of your profession even with a conviction, and
- you can probably sort things out without a solicitor, and
- even if you do get a solicitor, you can leave that for a while*.

But your case is rather out of the ordinary. Given your expected relocation and health issues, then if money isn't a problem I think the balance moves towards instructing a solicitor sooner rather than later. It won't be cheap, but it might make things simpler.

*In fairness, our solicitor members tend to disagree quite strongly with this third point.

 

[furlong]

Yep, you'll normally get a settlement.
Little point bothering with a solicitor.
Royal Mail redirection cannot be relied upon.
Shortly before you move, email their prosecutions team with the change of address. Mention you're willing to settle at the same time. Make sure it's acknowledged. (SWR may then complete everything by email.)
If you hear nothing further, keep emailing them at regular intervals (say monthly) to check no correspondence went astray.

 

[emu123852]

Welcome to the forum.

It's our general advice that
- you probably won't be kicked out of your profession even with a conviction, and
- you can probably sort things out without a solicitor, and
- even if you do get a solicitor, you can leave that for a while*.

But your case is rather out of the ordinary. Given your expected relocation and health issues, then if money isn't a problem I think the balance moves towards instructing a solicitor sooner rather than later. It won't be cheap, but it might make things simpler.

*In fairness, our solicitor members tend to disagree quite strongly with this third point.

Many thanks for your response.

Regarding the solicitor, the reason I haven’t contacted them yet is because I haven’t heard from SWR.

Are you saying I should contact them sooner?

The reason I’ve been waiting is in case I get a settlement offer in the first correspondence.

 

[emu123852]

Yep, you'll normally get a settlement.
Little point bothering with a solicitor.
Royal Mail redirection cannot be relied upon.
Shortly before you move, email their prosecutions team with the change of address. Mention you're willing to settle at the same time. Make sure it's acknowledged. (SWR may then complete everything by email.)
If you hear nothing further, keep emailing them at regular intervals (say monthly) to check no correspondence went astray.

Many thanks for the advice.

Interesting to hear you recommend asking for a settlement when I tell them of a change in address. I’m guessing if I’m going to do that I should probably give my full apology at the same time? Or are you saying to gently drop it in after telling them that I’m moving address.

 

[WesternLancer]

Many thanks for your response.

Regarding the solicitor, the reason I haven’t contacted them yet is because I haven’t heard from SWR.

Are you saying I should contact them sooner?

The reason I’ve been waiting is in case I get a settlement offer in the first correspondence.

I don’t think we typically see SWR just sending out settlement offers but I’ll stand corrected.

Have you searched for and studied other swr cases on here? That will give you an idea of what they do and how quickly you can expect to hear from them.

I too would think you can settle with them yourself but if it’s high stakes due to work, and causing mental health stress you might favour engaging one. Ball park £750 + sort of fee from what we see.
A list of firms that have been mentioned on here over the years can be provided if you want to get quotes.

You can do research on here, ask questions about anything you like and decide next week on how you’d like to progress it. If you’ve not heard from them you don’t need to rush a decision.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jun 2026 ==

Back in May I was caught with a short ticket by South Western Rail and issued a travel irregularity report. No excuses and extremely stupid of me. I’ve done this on 2 other occasions. I very rarely take the train on this route to work and only did so as my usual tube journey was disrupted which I’ve never done anything like this on. This is the first time I have been stopped and issued with a travel irregularity report.

I’m in a profession that requires a clean record and no doubt would get kicked out if I got prosecuted. This would ruin me. My mental health has not been great recently and a few months ago I sought help. If I were to be kicked from my profession I fear what I would do to myself.

I know how stupid I was for doing this and don’t need reminding. The anytime day singles without applying my valid railcard for these journeys total about £30.

I want to put things right:

1. From what I’ve read SWR seem an operator more likely to offer a settlement assuming an appropriate response is sent and I’m cooperative, is that generally still the case? I was polite and honest to the officer that stopped me at the time.

2. I’m moving abroad soon and leaving the UK for an extended period of time. That means moving out of the house I currently rent with which the details are on the TIR given to me. I have set up a postal redirect via Royal Mail to a relative. On the date I move out assuming nothing is received, is it worth me emailing SWR informing them to send any correspondence to this new address of my relative? Or is the Royal Mail redirect reliable enough? Assuming I do need to inform SWR in advance, presumably I need to use the reference number on the TIR, however I am struggling to read some of the letters on the printed receipt.

3. I’m going to use a solicitor when the time comes to draft a response assuming no settlement offer is provided to me in the first correspondence. It will likely be the one most frequently talked about on this forum. Does anyone know whether fare evasion solicitors tend to do the correspondence with SWR on my behalf? Or will they help write an appropriate response which I then personally email? If it’s an apologetic response is it not better off coming from me?

Sorry if these are silly questions. The anxiety of this incident has made me spiral badly and I want to get this resolved. I feel terrible and will never be engaging in anything like this again. The lesson is truly learnt.

Looking at your specific questions
How soon are you moving?

Redirects need a few days to be set up so check the time table.

I’d be informing swr of the change of address, asking them to contact be e mail too. They will want both.
There’s a template I can share.

AND doing a Royal Mail redirection as well.

If you instruct a solicitor I would expect them to handle all the correspondence on your behalf, especially if you are out of the country.
I expect you get what you pay for though.

Yes, SWR typically do settle out if court if you are co-operating. And I’m sure a solicitor would make that even more probable.

If your employment depends on it then I’d suggest typical legal fee is relatively low proportion of professional earnings potential when looked at overall.

 

[emu123852]

I don’t think we typically see SWR just sending out settlement offers but I’ll stand corrected.

Have you searched for and studied other swr cases on here? That will give you an idea of what they do and how quickly you can expect to hear from them.

I too would think you can settle with them yourself but if it’s high stakes due to work, and causing mental health stress you might favour engaging one. Ball park £750 + sort of fee from what we see.
A list of firms that have been mentioned on here over the years can be provided if you want to get quotes.

You can do research on here, ask questions about anything you like and decide next week on how you’d like to progress it. If you’ve not heard from them you don’t need to rush a decision.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jun 2026 ==


Looking at your specific questions
How soon are you moving?

Redirects need a few days to be set up so check the time table.

I’d be informing swr of the change of address, asking them to contact be e mail too. They will want both.
There’s a template I can share.

AND doing a Royal Mail redirection as well.

If you instruct a solicitor I would expect them to handle all the correspondence on your behalf, especially if you are out of the country.
I expect you get what you pay for though.

Yes, SWR typically do settle out if court if you are co-operating. And I’m sure a solicitor would make that even more probable.

If your employment depends on it then I’d suggest typical legal fee is relatively low proportion of professional earnings potential when looked at overall.

Many thanks for this, I appreciate your detailed response.

I move out of my current address in 9 days time however won’t be moving abroad for another 3 weeks. I have a Royal Mail redirect already set up to start from 4 days before my move out date.

If you could kindly share the template used for address changes, that would be much appreciated. I will send it out to the SWR prosecutions email the day before I move out assuming I haven’t had a letter by that point. On the date I send, I may post some of the letters in the reference number that I can’t make out due to the way the receipt was printed to get a second view from some members on the forum.

Regarding your point on solicitors, I understand this adds significantly to the cost and have weighed it up. Given I will be living abroad with the moving stress that entails and my career is dependent on this, I would rather engage a solicitor for peace of mind.

 

[WesternLancer]

Many thanks for this, I appreciate your detailed response.

I move out of my current address in 9 days time however won’t be moving abroad for another 3 weeks. I have a Royal Mail redirect already set up to start from 4 days before my move out date.

If you could kindly share the template used for address changes, that would be much appreciated. I will send it out to the SWR prosecutions email the day before I move out assuming I haven’t had a letter by that point. On the date I send, I may post some of the letters in the reference number that I can’t make out due to the way the receipt was printed to get a second view from some members on the forum.

Regarding your point on solicitors, I understand this adds significantly to the cost and have weighed it up. Given I will be living abroad with the moving stress that entails and my career is dependent on this, I would rather engage a solicitor for peace of mind.

Sounds like you have your redirection plan already in place which is good. I guess if post comes for you and the redirection is to another UK address (I suspect redirections abroad might be significantly delayed and not always reliable?) then if there is a trusted person at that address they can open any post, scan it and e-mail it to you. It's possible it may be longer than the 3 weeks you are still in the UK before they write.

But informing SWR of a change of address is also a thing to do.


Yes, here's the template - it's obviously just the basic info



Dear Sir/ Madam

Reference number (insert this from receipt slip you have - if some digits unclear I would use '?' eg ABC345?777???)

I was stopped on x date at y location and questioned about the validity of my rail ticket.

Please note on x date I will be moving address.
My address was (the address given when questioned):

My new address as of x date is:

My e-mail address is:

Please can any letters be sent to my new address so that I can respond to them promptly, or preferably sent to me by e-mail.

Yours faithfully
-------------------------

SWR address from other cases:

prosecutions@swrailway.com


Prosecutions Department
South Western Railway Ltd
FREEPOST
SWR Prosecutions Department

This is on the reverse of the slip uploaded in post 5 of this thread - so you probably have the same on your slip?

SWR fare evasion criminal record

I (18M) recently got caught for buying a shorter ticket on SWR than my ticket entailed. I have stupidly done this before to no consequence until now. What are the likely repercussions? How will this affect my university and future job prospects (likely in finance)? Thank you in advance for the...

www.railforums.co.uk

--------------------------

In case you need it - list of solicitors previously mentioned on this forum - I have no connection with any of them

Some solicitors have indicated that they have 'back channel' routes to contact some train companies quickly about fares issues, which is probably why some suggest contacting them before the railway has contacted you. But of course if you were to be offered a settlement directly then the saving in legal fees would be substantial.

SWR as a matter of course seem to check purchase records for suspicious activity - but you seem clear they are only going to find 2 other occasions - so there may be an argument for just telling them about them at an early point in the interest of speedily resolving matters and being fully co-operative (or telling your solicitor you are minded to share that information and see what the solicitors advises)

Manak Solicitors

manaksolicitors.co.uk


Makwanas

Fare Evasion Solicitors London | High Success Rate | TFL Solicitors

www.makwanas.co.uk

http://www.grayhooperholt.co.uk/default.asp?id=30

https://penmansedgwick.com/fare-evasion/

 

[AlterEgo]

If you're going to go with a solicitor, just instruct them and don't post about the case online. Solicitors aren't cheap and our advice cannot replace that of your solicitor; you are paying for their expertise, so use it.

 

[furlong]

Just tag a couple of sentences onto the end telling them you're going abroad for an extended period followed by a simple apology (no details needed) and that if they can let you know how much you owe for the outstanding fares by email you'd like to settle up quickly and put the matter behind you before you leave.
Once it's clear you're about to leave the country, that should make them treat it as a priority as it's difficult to pursue someone abroad!

 

[emu123852]

Thank you all for your responses.

My planned course of action is as follows:

1) Inform of my change in address just prior to moving out.

2) Wait to hear from the railway

3) Assuming no offer for settlement is provided in the first correspondence, engage a solicitor once I hear back.

I acknowledge some members suggestions to request for a settlement in my change of address email which I may consider. Also that a solicitor may be able to resolve this prior to a letter. As of now, I feel more comfortable engaging a solicitor once I’ve heard back from the railway.

I’m open to others suggestions of course.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you all for your responses.

My planned course of action is as follows:

1) Inform of my change in address just prior to moving out.

2) Wait to hear from the railway

3) Assuming no offer for settlement is provided in the first correspondence, engage a solicitor once I hear back.

I acknowledge some members suggestions to request for a settlement in my change of address email which I may consider. Also that a solicitor may be able to resolve this prior to a letter. As of now, I feel more comfortable engaging a solicitor once I’ve heard back from the railway.

I’m open to others suggestions of course.

I think your plan is in line with advice I have often seen given on this forum by various people, and in my mind strikes a good balance between seeing what happens vs incurring a not insignificant cost for a solicitor now.

Point in post #10 about adding to the template that you are due to go abroad might well
a) mean they move to contacting you by e-mail rather than post (or use both maybe)
b) might also speed them up a bit in terms of contacting you perhaps - in the interests of them doing so as it probably being more difficult for them to pursue you if you are out of the country (even if it escalated to court ultimately eg without you knowing about it) - ie they don't know you will ever come back to the UK for example.

 

[emu123852]

I think your plan is in line with advice I have often seen given on this forum by various people, and in my mind strikes a good balance between seeing what happens vs incurring a not insignificant cost for a solicitor now.

Point in post #10 about adding to the template that you are due to go abroad might well
a) mean they move to contacting you by e-mail rather than post (or use both maybe)
b) might also speed them up a bit in terms of contacting you perhaps - in the interests of them doing so as it probably being more difficult for them to pursue you if you are out of the country (even if it escalated to court ultimately eg without you knowing about it) - ie they don't know you will ever come back to the UK for example.

Thanks for this. In terms of adding to the template, would the following sentence suffice, added above the final paragraph:

‘Please be advised I will be relocating abroad to {location} on {date} until {expected return date}’.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks for this. In terms of adding to the template, would the following sentence suffice, added above the final paragraph:

‘Please be advised I will be relocating abroad to {location} on {date} until {expected return date}’.

Yes, I would think that's all you need to tell them.