Southeastern Prosecution – Seeking Settlement Advice

[Manico123]

I’d follow it up by asking them about progress. South eastern have got form on this forum for losing people’s replies and then sending cases to court which can be stressful and frustrating to sort out in a time window set by the court. This is best avoided imho.

Okay, should I reach out by post or email?

And what should I say?

 

[Haywain]

Okay, should I reach out by post or email?

And what should I say?

Do not poke the bear, it is not in your interests. It's like saying, "Excuse me, you seem to have forgotten to prosecute me!". Just wait.

 

[enyoueffsea]

I wouldn’t follow it up at all. I’m assuming the date of the incident may have been early 2025 based on the dates of your post, they can only have 4 weeks or so to lay papers at court.

Even if they haven’t seen your reply and proceed to court, I’d expect re-sending your original response and appending their auto response to evidence you sent it would reverse any prospect of them pursuing a prosecution.

There is of course a risk they proceed to court and fail to play ball at that stage but I think it’s a small risk. It’s down to your own risk appetite really.

 

[WesternLancer]

Okay, should I reach out by post or email?

And what should I say?

Seems like the consensus here is not to raise it. What’s your own preference?

 

[Manico123]

Seems like the consensus here is not to raise it. What’s your own preference?

I get the feeling that there's no way they forgot. And they have assumed that I haven't responded and are preparing to bring me to court.

How rare is it that they just forget? I doubt it ever happens.

What does happen though is they lose track of the trail of communication, assume the offender is ignoring them, and file for court action. I think this is the much liklier possibility.

I will be going away soon for around 12 days. I worry that if I get a letter to prosecute within that time period, I will not respond within the time window and it's game over.

 

[WesternLancer]

I get the feeling that there's no way they forgot. And they have assumed that I haven't responded and are preparing to bring me to court.

How rare is it that they just forget? I doubt it ever happens.

What does happen though is they lose track of the trail of communication, assume the offender is ignoring them, and file for court action. I think this is the much liklier possibility.

I will be going away soon for around 12 days. I worry that if I get a letter to prosecute within that time period, I will not respond within the time window and it's game over.

That would be a problem if you were away. If court papers arrive that sets the time window in which you then have to hassle SE trains with a ‘did you receive my previous reply’ urgent message etc.

Being away doesn’t help resolve that easily as court papers only come in hard copy post aiui. The court doesn’t e mail them afaik.

 

[AlterEgo]

I get the feeling that there's no way they forgot. And they have assumed that I haven't responded and are preparing to bring me to court.

How rare is it that they just forget? I doubt it ever happens.

They can forget, or they can discover they do not have the required evidence for example (mishandled, destroyed, report was insufficient, etc).

Would you badger the police to make a charging decision if you were on bail? No. So don’t poke the bear here.

 

[Hadders]

It's a tricky one.

If I've got this right @Manico123 sent a reply by email and got a response saying they would respond by letter via the post. It is possible that SOutheastern have responded but the letter has got lost. On the other hand Southeastern might have forgotten about it. Essentially there are two options:

1. Chase Southeastern. If the letter has got lost in the post then the matter can get resolved easily. If they have forgotten about it then contacting them means you've reminded them about the case when you didn't need to.
2. Do nothing. If southeastern have forgotten then the case will time out as they have to lay papers before the court within six months of the date of they offence. On the other hand, if the offer of an out of court settlement has got lost in the post then court papers will be on their way to you in dur course. If you do receive court papers, then you should be able to contact Southeastern, explain you haven't received a settlement offer, and they will probably reinstate it. It's highly unlikely that a settlement offer and court papers would go missing in the post but if this did happen the court case would go ahead in your absence and you'd be convicted. There is a way to undo something like this by making a Statutory Declaration but there is some faff involved.

Ultimately only you can decide what to do.

 

[Manico123]

It's a tricky one.

If I've got this right @Manico123 sent a reply by email and got a response saying they would respond by letter via the post. It is possible that SOutheastern have responded but the letter has got lost. On the other hand Southeastern might have forgotten about it. Essentially there are two options:

1. Chase Southeastern. If the letter has got lost in the post then the matter can get resolved easily. If they have forgotten about it then contacting them means you've reminded them about the case when you didn't need to.
2. Do nothing. If southeastern have forgotten then the case will time out as they have to lay papers before the court within six months of the date of they offence. On the other hand, if the offer of an out of court settlement has got lost in the post then court papers will be on their way to you in dur course. If you do receive court papers, then you should be able to contact Southeastern, explain you haven't received a settlement offer, and they will probably reinstate it. It's highly unlikely that a settlement offer and court papers would go missing in the post but if this did happen the court case would go ahead in your absence and you'd be convicted. There is a way to undo something like this by making a Statutory Declaration but there is some faff involved.

Ultimately only you can decide what to do.

I guess I have to look at things from the perspective of which is more likely going to get me prosecuted.

Possibility 1 - They might have forgotten about it, but if I remind them, I think the most likely worst possible outcome is I have to pay for the total price of the fares that I short fared. Southeastern almost always settle out of court for those that cooperate. If I don't remind them, they forget and they can't take action after 6 months. Which is around 3 months away. I think it's pretty unlikely they forgot though

Possibility 2 - Their letter got lost in the mail or they assumed I didn't respond to their initial letter. They are going foward to prosecute me. This is a much more stressful affair and the stakes are much higher and there is a higher likelihood here that I will actually be brought to court. Time is much more constrained here and I'd need to move quick. The likely outcome is they will settle out of court and I will have to pay the total price of all the journeys that I have short fared. I'd potentially have to look into getting a solicitor if they still proceed with court.

So I think following up with them is likely the most sensible option all things considered

 

[WesternLancer]

I guess I have to look at things from the perspective of which is more likely going to get me prosecuted.

Possibility 1 - They might have forgotten about it, but if I remind them, I think the most likely worst possible outcome is I have to pay for the total price of the fares that I short fared. Southeastern almost always settle out of court for those that cooperate. If I don't remind them, they forget and they can't take action after 6 months. Which is around 3 months away. I think it's pretty unlikely they forgot though

Possibility 2 - Their letter got lost in the mail or they assumed I didn't respond to their initial letter. They are going foward to prosecute me. This is a much more stressful affair and the stakes are much higher and there is a higher likelihood here that I will actually be brought to court. Time is much more constrained here and I'd need to move quick. The likely outcome is they will settle out of court and I will have to pay the total price of all the journeys that I have short fared. I'd potentially have to look into getting a solicitor if they still proceed with court.

So I think following up with them is likely the most sensible option all things considered

You've obviously weighed it up

I was going to say that
- you can work out what they are likely to want from you as you know the fares you have evaded and the likely admin fee. You can calculate a reasonable estimate of that sum if you do anything now to trigger them from not forgetting about you

- It's worth bearing in mind if you did get prosecuted there is a way to wind back the clock (using the Statutory Deceleration process) - but you can find cases on here where people have had to do that for various reasons - legit reasons - and you can see it's rather a faff and does not come without stress for some people. You can get a sense of if that is what you want to spend your time and effort on because you will know how busy you are etc

If you don't want to remind them at this stage (and I don't think this is what you are minded to do) - I suspect the main issue you have is the period of time you say you are expecting to be away for soon (12 days) - options ref that would be:

- is there a trusted person who could check your post every day, open it and send you scanned copies so you could deal with it whilst away, if it happened
or
- sort out a Royal Mail redirect for the period you are away to a trusted person who could do the above - a royal mail redirects itself involves a cost, and you can look up their website for info - be aware you need to set these up a few days before you want it to commence so factor in time for that (and if you want to test it after its started you can post a letter to yourself and see if it turns up at the redirect address)

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

or as you have identified, you could e-mail SE Trains now to see what may yet have happened, on the basis that your assessment of the situation is they are unlikely to forget about you anyway....

 

[Haywain]

Possibility 3 - They have forgotten about it or lost the file and run out of time to prosecute or demand other monies under threat of prosecution because you have not reminded them. As you said:

If I don't remind them, they forget and they can't take action after 6 months. Which is around 3 months away. I think it's pretty unlikely they forgot though

If it's 3 months away what is the rush? It is far from uncommon for cases to take 4, 5 or even 6 months to reach a conclusion. Your absence for 12 days will make no difference at all.

 

[AlterEgo]

I guess I have to look at things from the perspective of which is more likely going to get me prosecuted.

Possibility 1 - They might have forgotten about it, but if I remind them, I think the most likely worst possible outcome is I have to pay for the total price of the fares that I short fared. Southeastern almost always settle out of court for those that cooperate. If I don't remind them, they forget and they can't take action after 6 months. Which is around 3 months away.

Possibility 2 - Their letter got lost in the mail or they assumed I didn't respond to their initial letter. They are going foward to prosecute me. This is a much more stressful affair and the stakes are much higher. And the likely outcome is they will settle out of court and I will have to pay the total price of all the journeys that I have short fared.

So I think following up with them is likely the most sensible option all things considered

Look at it this way.

Following up with them only works to your advantage if you contact them in the slim 2-3 week period between them sending a letter and them expecting a response. If you contact them before that, nothing that benefits you can happen, and you will achieve nothing other than reminding them about your criminal offences. After that, and court proceedings will have commenced anyway, leading to the inconvenience associated with Option 2 anyway.

 

[Manico123]

I think I will send them an email with the previous chain of emails included. And I'll say that I have not been contacted via post since then.

But I need help drafting this email to word it correctly.

 

[WesternLancer]

I think I will send them an email with the previous chain of emails included. And I'll say that I have not been contacted via post since then.

But I need help drafting this email to word it correctly.

Just keep it polite and simple.

Eg perhaps along these lines

I was contacted before about a ticketing issue, and I responded on x date (copies attached below for your reference).

I have not heard subsequent to my own reply and would be grateful if you could let me know when I might expect to hear the results of your investigation.

I remain anxious to resolve this matter without the need for court action and would be grateful if you could consider this.

 

[Manico123]

So, I didn't reach out to them in the end.

Today, I got a letter through the post and they have offered me an out of court settlement for £360 total. I thought it was going to be a good bit more than that!

God, I'm so relieved. It was proper scary opening that letter and seeing it's from Southeastern.

I'm going to pay it now and get the case closed ASAP.

Thanks all for your help.

 

[Hadders]

Thanks for letting us know. That sounds like a decent result.

 

[GoodVibes]

Hi! Has there been any update?

 

[NorthernSystem]

Hi! Has there been any update?

OP was last seen on the forum 30/05, so unlikely. If you have a similar issue, please open your own thread so we can assist.

EDIT: Looks like this case was also finalised by way of Out of Court Settlement, so unsure of what update you're looking for.