Short faring prosecution southeastern railway

[montpelliertra]

Hi,

Last night I was caught for short faring. Having only bought a ticket from Bromley south to London Victoria. The officer gave me a prosecution notice. However, I am now concerned that they will go through my past tickets; as my railcard ran out a month ago. If I was just caught for short-faring, what are the chances of them picking up the railcard issue?

Thank you

 

[z444z]

what are the chances of them picking up the railcard issue?

We don’t see a huge number of SE cases so it’s hard to know, but if I had to guess I’d say somewhere between 25% and 75%. You need to be prepared, financially, for them to ask you to repay those fares too, and all fares will be at the Anytime Single rates (return journeys charged as 2x singles).

 

[montpelliertra]

We don’t see a huge number of SE cases so it’s hard to know, but if I had to guess I’d say somewhere between 25% and 75%. You need to be prepared, financially, for them to ask you to repay those fares too, and all fares will be at the Anytime Single rates (return journeys charged as 2x singles).

Great, thank you for your help. Just out of interest, how do they check the lack of railcard given the existence of plastic ones etc.

 

[WesternLancer]

Great, thank you for your help. Just out of interest, how do they check the lack of railcard given the existence of plastic ones etc.

They assume you didn't have one and ask you to prove that you did! So prepare by finding and keeping safe your proof of all previous railcards or as many as you can find

You should assume they will look at your ticket buying records if you have been picked up for deliberate evasion.

This general advice often given here will tell you what to expect going forwards:


Firstly, you committed a criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and railway companies are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is they will normally offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them and who haven't come to their attention before.

Next, what happens is the railway company will write to you. The letter will go to the address that you gave them / on any of your ID they checked so you need to be able to access hard copy post at that address as they often send things that way (but also check e-mail and spam). It is extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have a limited time to do so (often 14 days from the date on their communication).

When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter

The railway will probably offer you an out of court settlement. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. They will also audit your online ticket purchase history and if this shows you've purchased other tickets that were not valid (eg railcard discounted tickets when you did not have a valid railcard, or tickets for only part of the journey, or tickets bought after boarding the train you travelled on ) they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement offer. Depending on how many journeys you've made over the period concerned this could end up being expensive.

Settlements usually have to be paid in full within a few days of them being offered so if money is tight you might want to think about how you will raise the sum required at short notice.

 

[montpelliertra]

They assume you didn't have one and ask you to prove that you did! So prepare by finding and keeping safe your proof of all previous railcards or as many as you can find

You should assume they will look at your ticket buying records if you have been picked up for deliberate evasion.

This general advice often given here will tell you what to expect going forwards:


Firstly, you committed a criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and railway companies are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is they will normally offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them and who haven't come to their attention before.

Next, what happens is the railway company will write to you. The letter will go to the address that you gave them / on any of your ID they checked so you need to be able to access hard copy post at that address as they often send things that way (but also check e-mail and spam). It is extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have a limited time to do so (often 14 days from the date on their communication).

When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter

The railway will probably offer you an out of court settlement. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. They will also audit your online ticket purchase history and if this shows you've purchased other tickets that were not valid (eg railcard discounted tickets when you did not have a valid railcard, or tickets for only part of the journey, or tickets bought after boarding the train you travelled on ) they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement offer. Depending on how many journeys you've made over the period concerned this could end up being expensive.

Settlements usually have to be paid in full within a few days of them being offered so if money is tight you might want to think about how you will raise the sum required at short notice.

Thank you I really appreciate the detailed replies! I’m particularly worried as I had purchased off peak tickets between London and Bristol which were around £40 but I’ve checked and the anytime single ticket is hugely more at £147! Do they always go for the anytime single ticket?

 

[z444z]

I’m particularly worried as I had purchased off peak tickets between London and Bristol which were around £40 but I’ve checked and the anytime single ticket is hugely more at £147! Do they always go for the anytime single ticket?

Almost invariably yes.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you I really appreciate the detailed replies! I’m particularly worried as I had purchased off peak tickets between London and Bristol which were around £40 but I’ve checked and the anytime single ticket is hugely more at £147! Do they always go for the anytime single ticket?

Unfortunately if you’ve been caught for deliberate evasion, ie the short faring, it’s going to pretty difficult to appeal to their better nature and expect them to charge you eg off peak. So you need to be prepared to pay this sort of sum.

Your appeals to them need to focus on avoiding prosecution

As you know, the evasion is criminal act. A settlement is going to have a punitive element and they can achieve that by charging you for the highest fare they can.

I realise this isn’t going to be the news you want to hear of course. But things could be worse.

It might be some time before they contact you so perhaps you can use that time to save up funds to cover this, or see if trusted family or friends might be able to lend you some money.

 

[montpelliertra]

Hi! On the 13th of March this year I got stopped at Victoria for shortfaring and given a witness statement. I have yet to receive any correspondence from southeastern. From looking at this forum I can see that the southeastern prosecution department isn’t moving forward at the moment - is there any update on this?! Is my best bet just to wait and see…? Thanks for all your help again! This forum has saved me a lot of stress!

 

[John R]

Yes, your best bet is to wait and see. (So long as you are sure that they have your correct name and address, and that you are able to access post delivered to that address.)

 

[SECR 65]

Welcome to the forum,

You may be aware that SE have up to 6 months from the date where you were stopped if they wish to start court proceedings. So they still have just over a month. It’s possible you'll hear from them.

Provided you have been regularly checking post and emails, I would not suggest that you take any further action. We have not seen many (if any) SE cases on the forum recently where they have been in touch.

With some Train Operating Companies, we might suggest proactively contacting them after 4-5 months (the time frame you're at now). This is to avoid them sending you straight to court without asking for your viewpoint first. However, personally, I'd just leave it and see if you hear from them in the next month and a half.

By the way, I assume you're not fare evading any more? You might have been lucky on this occasion, but most Train Operating Companies have a harsher stance to fare evading, will always follow up, and often prosecute people. Southeastern may well get their act together in the near future. Just felt the need to mention that getting off like this is uncommon.