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Southeastern witness statement mg11

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love234

Member
Joined
8 Dec 2023
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6
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chatham
Good evening please someone help me

Two days I boarded a train from Chatham to Gravesend

I bought a ticket with job seeker railcard I’m on universal credit but I don’t have the rail card the rail card I have is national rail card

I beg the officer but he never budge

Now I got a witness statement can some please point me to the right direction please
 
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30907

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Good evening please someone help me

Two days I boarded a train from Chatham to Gravesend

I bought a ticket with job seeker railcard I’m on universal credit but I don’t have the rail card the rail card I have is national rail card
Which Railcard do you have?
I beg the officer but he never budge
Unfortunately, if you don't have a Railcard from the Jobcentre you aren't allowed the discount.
Now I got a witness statement can some please point me to the right direction please
You will receive a letter in the post which will ask for your version of events. This will be your opportunity to persuade Southeastern not to take you to court - they are usually happy to do this, and it will cost you less than the court fine.

When the letter comes, post here again and we will advise what to say. Meanwhile, it would help if you could upload a photo of the MG11 with your personal detailscobscured.

Meanwhile, welcome to the forum - and don't panic, it's not a disaster ")
 

fandroid

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Hampshire
Unfortunately, people applying Jobseeker Railcard discounts when they don't have one is extremely common and the railway companies know that.

It would have been far better to have applied your actual Railcard discount, as there is normally some discretion about forgetting to carry them. That's assuming that it was valid for the date and time you travelled.
 

WesternLancer

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The railcard I had was national railway card which I forgot at home at the time
There is no such Railcard as this - do you perhaps mean Network Railcard?

Can you look at this list of Railcards and indicate which one you actually have :


It will be important to familiarise yourself with the terms of the Railcard you have as they have various differences, including the times you can use them, the different discounts they give, and the fares concerned in some cases.
 

love234

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6
Location
chatham
hi guys thank you for your reply's I sincerely appreciate it

i meant i have the network Railcard
 

WesternLancer

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hi guys thank you for your reply's I sincerely appreciate it

i meant i have the network Railcard
It would be best if you can now follow the advice in post #2

which was:

You will receive a letter in the post which will ask for your version of events. This will be your opportunity to persuade Southeastern not to take you to court - they are usually happy to do this, and it will cost you less than the court fine.

When the letter comes, post here again and we will advise what to say. Meanwhile, it would help if you could upload a photo of the MG11 with your personal details obscured.
 

love234

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Location
chatham
morning guys i received the attached letter today

and was wondering what i should say

what i wanted to say was I am sorry for what happened i made a mistake due to me being in an hurry i wanted to click nation railway card because that is what have but choose different i am happy to pay the fine and i can promise this wont happen agaon
 

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WesternLancer

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morning guys i received the attached letter today

and was wondering what i should say

what i wanted to say was I am sorry for what happened i made a mistake due to me being in an hurry i wanted to click nation railway card because that is what have but choose different i am happy to pay the fine and i can promise this wont happen agaon
Have a go at drafting that up as a formal letter and post the draft wording here for people to check for you.

But word of caution - do you really mean you made a mistake in selecting the Job Seeker railcard not the Network railcard - ie you just randomly clicked on the wrong Railcard? Or did you choose it because it offers a better discount? If the latter it might be better to describe it as 'an error of judgment' as opposed to a 'mistake' in what you write in your reply. You will get more credit for honesty in what you write I think.
 

AndroidBango

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I suppose the immediate reaction is: is this a convincing claim? On the Trainline app you have to scroll well past the Network Railcard option to get to the Job Centre Plus option. Telling an untruth would not be wise.

(Not saying this to be argumentative, just pointing out that Southeastern may find your claim hard to believe).
 

love234

Member
Joined
8 Dec 2023
Messages
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Location
chatham
To whom it may concern

First i am very sorry I bought a ticket with the wrong railcard the truth is it was a bad judgement on my part and I’m so sorry I do have a railcard but it’s national railcard no excuse but I want to say I am happy to pay the fine
 

spyinthesky

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Bulford
I suppose the immediate reaction is: is this a convincing claim? On the Trainline app you have to scroll well past the Network Railcard option to get to the Job Centre Plus option. Telling an untruth would not be wise.

(Not saying this to be argumentative, just pointing out that Southeastern may find your claim hard to believe).
On Southeastern and on some other platforms they are next one down.
 

Hadders

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To whom it may concern

First i am very sorry I bought a ticket with the wrong railcard the truth is it was a bad judgement on my part and I’m so sorry I do have a railcard but it’s national railcard no excuse but I want to say I am happy to pay the fine
Do not send this, it needs to be a bit longer and come across as more sincere. I suggest you mention the following points:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Have a look at some of the other threads in this section of the forum to get some idea of the the way to write it. We will be happy to proof read it for you and suggest amendments.

One final point - you don't want to pay a fine, only a court can impose a fine as a punishment following a conviction. What you want the train company to do is to offer an out of court settlelment where you pay them some money in return for them not taking you to court. Paying the train company money in these circumsyances might feel as though you are paying a fine but technically it isn't a fine and you won't have a criminal record if you pay an out of court settlement.
 

LA50041

Established Member
Joined
20 Feb 2017
Messages
3,218
I suppose the immediate reaction is: is this a convincing claim? On the Trainline app you have to scroll well past the Network Railcard option to get to the Job Centre Plus option. Telling an untruth would not be wise.

(Not saying this to be argumentative, just pointing out that Southeastern may find your claim hard to believe).
Also worth pointing out that a Network Railcard would not have entitled any discount as there is a £13 Minimum fare on Monday-Friday and the most expensive return fare between Chatham and Gravesend is £12.50. You will need to be totally honest with Southeastern as to why you selected the discount you would not have been entitled to
 

AlterEgo

Verified Rep - Wingin' It! Paul Lucas
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Southeastern may also audit your ticket purchasing accounts to see how many times you have made this "mistake".
 

love234

Member
Joined
8 Dec 2023
Messages
6
Location
chatham
To whom it may concern

I boarded a train from Chatham to gravened with a wrong train discount, the truth is I don't have an excuse or explanation to why i did that and from the bottom of my heart I am sorry I have learnt a lot about the situation and one of the things I learnt is never use your own selfishness to hurt others also learnt to pay more attention is choosing the right train discount and if you do not have one use the full fare i am keen to settle out of court i have never had a criminal record before and i do wish if you can let us settle out of court

i am offering to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with this matter and i promise this situation will never repeat itself

thank you
 

Fawkes Cat

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8 May 2017
Messages
5,353
To whom it may concern

I boarded a train from Chatham to gravened with a wrong train discount, the truth is I don't have an excuse or explanation to why i did that and from the bottom of my heart I am sorry I have learnt a lot about the situation and one of the things I learnt is never use your own selfishness to hurt others also learnt to pay more attention is choosing the right train discount and if you do not have one use the full fare i am keen to settle out of court i have never had a criminal record before and i do wish if you can let us settle out of court

i am offering to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with this matter and i promise this situation will never repeat itself

thank you
I think there are maybe three things that you need to think about before sending this

- what you want is for the railway to believe that you won't fare dodge again. If they think that you have learnt your lesson, they may be prepared to let you settle out of court. If they don't think that you have learnt your lesson, then they may decide that taking you to court (which will cost you quite a lot more money) is the best way to teach you.
- all the power here is with the railway. So basically you need to grovel and see if they will agree to be nice to you.
- breaking what you've written up into short sentences would make it easier to read.

I'd suggest changing what you've put to something like the following:

To whom it may concern Dear Sir or Madam

On 8 December 2023
I boarded a train from Chatham to gravened Gravesend with a wrong train discount. The truth is I don't have an excuse or explanation to why I did that. and from the bottom of my heart I am sorry Now that I have had to look at what I have done I have learnt a lot about the situation: and one of the things I have learnt is never use your own selfishness to hurt others. I have also learnt to pay more attention is to choosing the right train discount and if you do not have one to use the full fare. From the bottom of my heart I am sorry for not paying the right fare.

I
am keen to settle out of court: I i have never had a criminal record before and i do wish if you can let us settle out of court. i am offering to I hope that you will let me pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with this matter and I promise this situation will never repeat itself

thank you

I expect that other posters will be along shortly with even better ideas of how to say that you're sorry and that you won't do it again, but I hope that this is a start!
 

Bungle158

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17 Jul 2019
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Benaulim Goa
There will be letters written and "approved" in similar cases on neighbouring threads. Perhaps cast around for a suitable example and use as a template.
 

30907

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Joined
30 Sep 2012
Messages
22,004
Location
Airedale
To whom it may concern

I boarded a train from Chatham to Gravesend with a wrong train discount, the truth is I don't have an excuse or explanation to why i did that and from the bottom of my heart I am sorry I have learnt a lot about the situation and one of the things I learnt is never use your own selfishness to hurt others also learnt to pay more attention is choosing the right train discount and if you do not have one use the full fare i am keen to settle out of court i have never had a criminal record before and i do wish if you can let us settle out of court

i am offering to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with this matter and i promise this situation will never repeat itself

thank you
Fawkes Cat has beaten me to it, but may I just emphasise that the person who reads this will find it easier if you split your sentence up into chunks with capital letters and full stops.
Fawkes Cat has generously done this for you, but the point applies to anything you write. Ask a friend to help if need be :)
 
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