Southeastern out of court settlement

[mokshbhatt24]

Hi,
I got caught travelling on 21st may at chatham station situated in kent. I was travelling from deptford to chatham in thameslink train where usually ticket officers do not come to check tickets in the evening and same thing happened no one came to check my ticket but while going out from the station officer caught me because i purchased the ticket which i bought 15 minutes ago and which was 1 station before and officer caught me at the station and took my statement i gave the statement and i told that i did not avoid any fare but eventually what i used to do that i used to buy off peak day return ticket online from trainpal everyday but when i try scanning the ticket it doesn't go through barriers. So many times station staff let me go without scanning the ticket. Initially i was not taking refund for the ticket but i got to know that you get refund on unused tickets but they charge admin fees for it but when you do it within 15 minutes of window they don't charge you anything the refund was straightforward. So, i used to travel like this for longer time.

Now, southeastern claims that i haven't paid for 35 train journies and they issued me fine £684 for out of court settlement so shall i accept it and pay because i am a recent graduate and i don't have this huge amount with me. So what shall i do i am confused can anyone help me with this because i have to pay it within 15 days and already 2 days are over.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Sounds like SouthEastern have investigated your travel history and offered you a settlement to keep the case out of court. So, you have 2 options:

1) Pay the settlement (in full) to keep it out of court
2) Go to court and face prosecution

Your call...

 

[30907]

SE are likely to ask for the full Anytime fare for the journeys when you cheated, p,us a sum for admin.
When you look at your own travel history, and check the Anytime prices online, does £684 seem about right? For example, the Anytime Single for the journey when you were caught is £25 and you have cheated 35 times...
If it is way out, then you could reasonably ask SE for a list of the fares to compare with your own, but otherwise your only sensible choice is to pay up.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi,
I got caught travelling on 21st may at chatham station situated in kent. I was travelling from deptford to chatham in thameslink train where usually ticket officers do not come to check tickets in the evening and same thing happened no one came to check my ticket but while going out from the station officer caught me because i purchased the ticket which i bought 15 minutes ago and which was 1 station before and officer caught me at the station and took my statement i gave the statement and i told that i did not avoid any fare but eventually what i used to do that i used to buy off peak day return ticket online from trainpal everyday but when i try scanning the ticket it doesn't go through barriers. So many times station staff let me go without scanning the ticket. Initially i was not taking refund for the ticket but i got to know that you get refund on unused tickets but they charge admin fees for it but when you do it within 15 minutes of window they don't charge you anything the refund was straightforward. So, i used to travel like this for longer time.

Now, southeastern claims that i haven't paid for 35 train journies and they issued me fine £684 for out of court settlement so shall i accept it and pay because i am a recent graduate and i don't have this huge amount with me. So what shall i do i am confused can anyone help me with this because i have to pay it within 15 days and already 2 days are over.

As a recent graduate I expect you will be doing plenty of job applications going forwards. If this goes to court you will be convicted and presumably have to declare the criminal record on those job applications. I would suggest this is best avoided.

You could ask them for a breakdown to check it but they want what you avoided paying them at a punitive undiscounted fare rate. But it’s probably best to pay and avoid court.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

The law says you are required to possess a valid ticket for your journey before you board the train. There are a handful of exceptions to this but they're highly unlikely to be relevent in this case.

Based on what you've told us you didn't possess a valid ticket when you boarded the train and so Southeastern are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. If this happens you would be found guilty, have to pay a fine and associated costs and have a criminal conviction.

As an alternative to court Southeastern are offering you an out of court settlement. Southeastern have searched your online ticket purchasing history and calculated the value of fares you have avoided. If you pay them this sum of money (which will include an admin fee) then they won't prosecute you in the Magistrates Court and you won't be convicted.

If the case ends up in court it's likely to cost you more than £684, in addition to the conviction. If £684 is reasonable given the number of times you've done this (Deptford to Chatham Anytime Single is £25.10) then I would pay the sum requested to make the matter go away.

I appreciate it might be difficult to find this sum of money at short notice, and Southeastern won't accept payment in installments, but I would encourage you to try and borrow the money from family or friends given the stakes here are quite high if it ends up in court.