Southeastern, Fare Shorting

[pointcrowd982]

I received this mg11 in the past week, 1st (and last) time caught. They have now started scanning Aztec barcodes when you enter the adjacent stations to mine, and they could tell I hadn’t scanned in, they asked basic questions name, DOB, address, then asked me questions like was it intentional I said yes, I don’t think lying would be wise, they also looked at my trainpal on my phone and saw I had done this previously.

For roughly the last two years I have been travelling to university and buying return tickets (trainpal) to and from the closest station, I checked my emails and roughly 100 singles (50ish returns), have been brought over the past two years. I won’t be using e-tickets anymore and only my Oyster card. All day single is roughly £6, I was paying £2-3 less.

I actually already emailed southeastern, asking if I could settle this, though they said the inspector is yet to submit a witness statement, though they thanked me for trying to resolve the matter. I know it’s silly, but I honestly didn’t know this could go to court. I would prefer to settle this as quickly as possible, I want to avoid court at all costs and the only outcome I would be happy with is out of court settlement.

I won’t make excuses as to why I did it, I know I have messed up. I have issues with general anxiety, and it is very stressful, and I do hope this forum helps with that, I’m not looking for pity.

If you need more information I can give it, but I avoided saying the stations as I’m worried that it could come back to bite me.

The train company I received this ticket from was southeastern, how likely are they to allow me to settle this outside of court?

Thank you!

 

[jfollows]

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly, to be clear, if you have a regular ticket (not Oyster, contactless, flexi-season) you do not have to scan it at an open ticket gate. Normally you need to scan it to open the gate, but if the gate is open you do not need to scan a ticket.

Nonetheless they can infer things from ticket scans. Just not from their absence.

Southeastern will normally settle if you engage with them. Wait for them to write to you first. Full single fare for each journey they deem to be invalid, plus about £150 for their costs.

If you won’t tell us more details we are limited in our advice, but that’s your choice. I only advise not allowing them to tell you that you must scan a ticket, which is untrue

 

[pointcrowd982]

Okay I will be more clear, so I was at dartford station, the e-ticket scanner was disabled so I went to the inspector to leave, he then told me that at slade green there was a person who was scanning e-ticket‘s on their phone as you enter slade green though the open barriers at the station, and the inspector told me I hadn’t had it scanned as it was absent. I hope that’s clearer, are you saying that the person falsified that?

 

[tram21]

Okay I will be more clear, so I was at dartford station, the e-ticket scanner was disabled so I went to the inspector to leave, he then told me that at slade green there was a person who was scanning e-ticket‘s on their phone as you enter slade green though the open barriers at the station, and the inspector told me I hadn’t had it scanned as it was absent. I hope that’s clearer, are you saying that the person falsified that?

No in this case that will be true, with the sole intention of catching exactly what you did, and you fell into their trap.

This was a revenue protection operation stopping a short faring hotspot.

What the above poster was probably saying was that they can't guarantee you didn't actually travel between these two stations, despite it not being scanned (as that's not a requirement), but given how obvious it is from your app history, and the fact you admitted it (which i would say is definitely the right thing to do), this is somewhat irrelevant.

You should be able to negotiate an out of court settlement of all the tickets you short fared (Including what you've already paid, there is no discount for that generally), plus an admin fee of £100-200. So therefore approx £6 x 100 journeys plus admin fee. So have around £1000 ready to pay instantly once you recieve an offer.

The experts will be along to assist!

 

[pointcrowd982]

Ah ok, i misunderstood, it puts my mind at rest knowing I’ll likely be able get an out of court settlement, I appreciate the heads up, I will have that money ready. I will come back when I receive a letter so I can hopefully get some advice on how to respond. Thank you both very much!

 

[pointcrowd982]

Hi all, I have received this letter today and would appreciate any feedback you may have with my response I drafted, I took a lot of inspiration from what I have seen on this forum. I was planning to send it via email, would you recommend sending it by post as well?

Dear prosecutions team,


Thank you for your letter dated (date). I am writing in response to the incident reported on xth October 2025 between Station X and Station Y, under reference numberETMGXXXXXXXX.

I fully accept responsibility for not having the correct ticket for my entire journey. I completely understand this was wrong and I sincerely apologise for my actions.

I deeply regret what I have done and cannot apologise enough. The decisions I made were thoughtless, without fully considering the consequences and it has been a wake up call on how serious my actions have been. I guarantee I will never do this again, and since this incident, I have begun only using oyster for all of my travel.

I want to make this right, and I would be extremely grateful for the opportunity to have this matter resolved without the need for court action, through an out of court settlement. I am fully willing to pay any outstanding fare, including any costs incurred by Southeastern in handling this case.

Once again, I sincerely apologise for my actions, and deeply regret what I have done, as well as the inconvenience I have caused. Please let me know how I can proceed in resolving this issue as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely,

Name