Southeastern prosecution

[JM1234567]

Hi,

I am not proud of it and looking back I am an absolute idiot, but have been dodging fares for the past 10-11 months and got caught today.

They said that I would get a letter through the post within 3 weeks or so.

What are the chances of settling this out of the court?

I have been avoiding fares by buy a ticket from London Bridge to Charing Cross, where my station has no barriers.

What will happen next etc?

 

[RobertsN]

Hi @jmwaterton ,
Please check the pinned post at the top so that the more knowledgeable members of the forum can provide assistance:

Please read before posting in Disputes & Prosecutions

Guidance for those asking for advice: Please bear in mind the following, when asking for advice in this section: We need to know all relevant facts in order to assist you, including, for example: The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey The stations* where you changed...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[island]

Southeastern will almost always settle matters out of court – but this will not be cheap.

They will be able to access your purchase history and see how many times you have done this, and they will be wanting the full fare for all the journeys made. They’ll also be adding a few hundred pounds more in costs. This will almost certainly need to be paid as a lump sum. So I’d advise that you start saving.

In the meantime you need to wait for the letter. When it comes, post it up (covering any personal information) and we can advise further.

 

[WFrimpong]

I just curious, what happens if the post gets lost?

 

[Haywain]

I just curious, what happens if the post gets lost?

That's a strange question to be asking. If you have a problem of your own, please start a new thread so that we can give appropriate advice.

 

[JM1234567]

Thanks for this, in what cases will they decide to take it to court?

 

[ikcdab]

Thanks for this, in what cases will they decide to take it to court?

I don't think we know and each train company will be different. But in general terms,
If you don't cooperate with the process, eg you don't respond to the letters
If they don't believe you are sincere or you are not telling the truth
You have evaded more than a few fares.

But they will only take to to court if they believe they can win and as the law is very clear, the vast majority of cases are found guilty.

 

[JM1234567]

Hi, still no letter.

But I had a thought, I did the same thing on a thameslink train but was never caught for fare evasion.

Since southeastern caught me, will they look at the thameslink tickets on Trainline, and look to prosecute on their behalf aswell? Or will they disregard this and only look to prosecute for themselves?

 

[Skimpot flyer]

I would say the lack of a letter after what, 7 weeks, may indicate they are looking at your online purchase history and yes, they can look at (short) tickets you may have purchased and used on Thameslink trains too.
Without your stating what your origin station was, I can’t advise further. Though my guess would be somewhere on the Maidstone East or Sevenoaks routes?

 

[JM1234567]

So I was going from Swanley to Sevenoaks, for around a year, sometimes buying the right tickets, sometimes not. I then moved jobs so had to go into London, and got a ticket from London Bridge to Charing Cross for the past 10 months, where the service is southeastern

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jul 2024 ==

I guess what I am asking is, will they prosecute me for the thameslink incident, even though it happened over a year ago

 

[skyhigh]

I guess what I am asking is, will they prosecute me for the thameslink incident, even though it happened over a year ago

Normal practice is to offer a settlement for every occasion they find, and if you decline their offer they will prosecute you for the one single specimen offence when you were stopped.

If they just prosecuted for the one offence, they also have the option of claiming the unpaid amount via a civil court case - however as far as I'm aware we've only seen this happen/threatened once.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

You're in a spot of bother here. Essentially there are three possible outcomes:

1. The case is dropped - this is highly unlikely
2. Southeastern offer you an out of court settlement. To obtain this you would need to co-operate with their investigation and pay the cost of the fares avoided at the full Anytime rate (with no credit given for the invalid tickets you did purchase) plus an admin fee to reflect the costs of investigating your case, typically around £150. In return Southeastern would drop any court case against you.
3. Southeastern prosecute you for the single offence where you were caught. You would need to pay a fine based on your income, a surcharge, compensation for the fare avoided on the day you were caught and a contribution towards Southeastern's court costs. In addition you will have a criminal conviction which could cause other 'issues'.

I assume that your preference is an out of court settlement. It's likely that Southeastern will research your online ticket purchasing history which might explain why it is taking them longer than normal to contact you.