Short-Faring

[joebloggs]

Hi there,

I short-fared many times by buying tickets from Vauxhall to Waterloo as opposed to Esher to Waterloo and got caught. Obviously I completely regret it and haven't been doing it since.

I received an email today which I now need to respond to as I do not want to get taken to court.

FYI: I missed the first two emails (obviously not a great start...) as I do not check this email account very often (and I was waiting expecting a letter tbh) but the third email that I received looks like this:

"It is with regret that I have not yet received a response to my previous inquiry sent on XXX, seeking an accurate account of your ticket purchases and Railcards held for the corresponding journeys that you undertook on South Western Railway Network, between the dates of XXX to the XXX.

Your cooperation in providing a truthful account within the stipulated timeframe is crucial. I have reattached the form labelled Exhibit SJW-1. Kindly complete the form by providing information for each highlighted lines per my previous request. Once completed, please return the form to me via email. This action presents an opportunity for a potential out-of-court settlement. It is essential to emphasize that we possess supplementary evidence, including Ticket Tap data, and we may access CCTV footage, which could be presented if your case was to proceed to court.

I kindly request your immediate attention to this matter and ask that you respond by XXX. Failure to provide the requested information within the specified timeframe will compel me to refer this case to our prosecutor, triggering further legal action, including court proceedings.

I strongly advise seeking independent legal advice specialised in dealing with fare evasion. Assistance and guidance can be obtained from the Citizens Advice Service, and I have attached a link for your reference: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ .

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or require further clarification."

My response to this email is looking like this:

"Dear XXX,

Firstly, I would like to apologise for my delayed response, I completely missed your first two emails as I do not check this particular email account very often.

I have attached the Excel spreadsheet which outlines the correct journeys taken, specifying whether they were taken with or without a railcard and whether or not they were refunded.

My Railcard confirmation emails are also attached. You can see that one railcard was valid from XXX until XXX. The other (more recent) railcard has been valid from XXX and is still valid for roughly two more years.

There were multiple instances where I used a short-fare ticket however, and I would like to sincerely apologise for this. I realise how foolish this was and I am ashamed of my behaviour. I understand that this is unacceptable, illegal, and wrong. Since the incident on XXX, I have made sure to travel with the correct ticket on each train and will continue to do so in the future.

I am truly sorry for my behaviour and understand that there are no excuses for this but I would be very grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court. I am more than willing to cover the cost of any outstanding fares, as well as any administrative costs that my actions may have incurred.

I hope that my regret and lessons learned have come across in this email and I sincerely hope that my wrongdoings will not result in any criminal convictions.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Many thanks,

XXX"

Is this a decent response? Should I get a solicitor involved for the best outcome at this point? Should I include a signature at the end of my email? Or should I write this response in the format of a letter and attach it to the email?

All help is massively appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi there,

I short-fared many times by buying tickets from Vauxhall to Waterloo as opposed to Esher to Waterloo and got caught. Obviously I completely regret it and haven't been doing it since.

I received an email today which I now need to respond to as I do not want to get taken to court.

FYI: I missed the first two emails (obviously not a great start...) as I do not check this email account very often (and I was waiting expecting a letter tbh) but the third email that I received looks like this:

"It is with regret that I have not yet received a response to my previous inquiry sent on XXX, seeking an accurate account of your ticket purchases and Railcards held for the corresponding journeys that you undertook on South Western Railway Network, between the dates of XXX to the XXX.

Your cooperation in providing a truthful account within the stipulated timeframe is crucial. I have reattached the form labelled Exhibit SJW-1. Kindly complete the form by providing information for each highlighted lines per my previous request. Once completed, please return the form to me via email. This action presents an opportunity for a potential out-of-court settlement. It is essential to emphasize that we possess supplementary evidence, including Ticket Tap data, and we may access CCTV footage, which could be presented if your case was to proceed to court.

I kindly request your immediate attention to this matter and ask that you respond by XXX. Failure to provide the requested information within the specified timeframe will compel me to refer this case to our prosecutor, triggering further legal action, including court proceedings.

I strongly advise seeking independent legal advice specialised in dealing with fare evasion. Assistance and guidance can be obtained from the Citizens Advice Service, and I have attached a link for your reference: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ .

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or require further clarification."

My response to this email is looking like this:

"Dear XXX,

Firstly, I would like to apologise for my delayed response, I completely missed your first two emails as I do not check this particular email account very often.

I have attached the Excel spreadsheet which outlines the correct journeys taken, specifying whether they were taken with or without a railcard and whether or not they were refunded.

My Railcard confirmation emails are also attached. You can see that one railcard was valid from XXX until XXX. The other (more recent) railcard has been valid from XXX and is still valid for roughly two more years.

There were multiple instances where I used a short-fare ticket however, and I would like to sincerely apologise for this. I realise how foolish this was and I am ashamed of my behaviour. I understand that this is unacceptable, illegal, and wrong. Since the incident on XXX, I have made sure to travel with the correct ticket on each train and will continue to do so in the future.

I am truly sorry for my behaviour and understand that there are no excuses for this but I would be very grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter out of court. I am more than willing to cover the cost of any outstanding fares, as well as any administrative costs that my actions may have incurred.

I hope that my regret and lessons learned have come across in this email and I sincerely hope that my wrongdoings will not result in any criminal convictions.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Many thanks,

XXX"

Is this a decent response? Should I get a solicitor involved for the best outcome at this point? Should I include a signature at the end of my email? Or should I write this response in the format of a letter and attach it to the email?

All help is massively appreciated.

Thank you!

Your draft looks pretty good - if you want to wait say 24 hours for forum comments on it before sending it may be wise to immediately (ie now) send a 'holding reply' to say you have only just found the e-mail and will respond in full very soon - just so they don't escalate it imminently. But if you don't want to do this I'd be aiming to get your reply to them before say 12 noon Friday due to the weekend non work days coming up.

 

[ikcdab]

I think that's a good reply. On the assumption that you have completed the spreadsheet truthfully and that they won't find any discrepancies, then I would go ahead and send it. If you need been truthful, then I think the chance of an out of court settlement is positive.

 

[Hadders]

I think your reply is fine.

 

[joebloggs]

Hi there,

Last week I received an email from SWR asking for a truthful account of all my past journeys on Trainline. I responded the other day and then received this response earlier:

“Hi,

Thank you for your email and confirmation of your travel history, I have noted your points in your email and have added this to your case.

I will now return your case to our prosecutions department, with my recommendation of an out of court settlement for fares owed to South Western Railway, who will be in contact in the near future regarding the next steps in your case.

I will have no further dealings with your case, should you have any more questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our prosecutions team via email at XXX or by phone at XXX, referencing XXX.

Kind Regards”

Does anyone know what the likely outcome will be from here?

Does the prosecutions department normally accept the recommendation from the Fraud Investigator?

Any help is massively appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi there,

Last week I received an email from SWR asking for a truthful account of all my past journeys on Trainline. I responded the other day and then received this response earlier:

“Hi,

Thank you for your email and confirmation of your travel history, I have noted your points in your email and have added this to your case.

I will now return your case to our prosecutions department, with my recommendation of an out of court settlement for fares owed to South Western Railway, who will be in contact in the near future regarding the next steps in your case.

I will have no further dealings with your case, should you have any more questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our prosecutions team via email at XXX or by phone at XXX, referencing XXX.

Kind Regards”

Does anyone know what the likely outcome will be from here?

Does the prosecutions department normally accept the recommendation from the Fraud Investigator?

Any help is massively appreciated.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum!

I don't recall seeing this before, but from my experience in other organisations (outside the railway) I think that it's more likely than not that you will get the out of court settlement. But whoever wrote to you is very sensibly covering their back just in case they get knocked back and go to prosecution after all.

Incidentally, if the email address is generic (so something like prosecutions@swr-or-whatever, not john.smith@swr-or-whatever) it would be really helpful if you could share that with us: we're trying to put together a list of email addresses for the various train companies, as it can be helpful for other people if they need to try and make urgent contact with the railway.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Does anyone know what the likely outcome will be from here?

It would be very surprising if they didn't offer an out of court settlement based on that e-mail. While it can't be certain, most companies simply want the money without the hassle of going to court, and if you've admitted everything and expressed willingness to pay, I think it'll be fine.

 

[methecooldude]

Incidentally, if the email address is generic (so something like prosecutions@swr-or-whatever, not john.smith@swr-or-whatever) it would be really helpful if you could share that with us: we're trying to put together a list of email addresses for the various train companies, as it can be helpful for other people if they need to try and make urgent contact with the railway.

prosecutions@swrailway.com (I was trying to find the thread, but can't see it)