SWR - Expired Railcard used

[Perfanneigh]

Hi everyone

First time posting and looking for some advice.

My partner traveled today from Walton-On-Thames to London Waterloo using an expired 26-30 railcard. They were stopped by protection officers upon exiting at Waterloo, and when asked to present a railcard with the ticket explained they did not have one. A report for prosecution was issued with the reason of 'discount not entitled (no railcard)'. We do not dispute the offence and my partner offered to pay at the time, the encounter with the staff was cordial and my partner was apologetic.

As my partner became very anxious during the encounter, they explained to the officer that they did not have a railcard (which was true). What was not detailed is that they have had a valid railcard previously (it expired in September) and the majority of previous journeys in their travel history would have been valid with this card. Having reviewed their journey history, we have identified that they have traveled on a further 3 journeys as well as today's using the railcard discount since it expired. They accept this was wrong and that there are likely to be consequences for this.

From previous advice from this forum it looks as though there may come the chance to settle out of court with SWR in order to avoid prosecution - likely an admin fee and anytime singles x2 for the invalid journeys. However there are a few questions we have that we would appreciate your advice on:

1. Will SWR likely try and charge for ALL railcard journeys in my partner's travel history, given that they might think my partner has never had a valid railcard from what their officer was told? This is a big worry for us as this would push any settlement amount presumably from hundreds into thousands. If so, will presenting evidence of their previously valid railcard be enough to clarify that only 4 journeys were made that were invalid? We still have their most recently expired railcard on the railcard app so hopefully this would be sufficient? Would previous year's railcards likely be required as evidence as well?

2. Are they likely to interrogate other journeys made in their history for reasons not related to railcards? My partner is adamant they haven't tried to game the system in other ways but occasionally the gates at Walton are open and we will walk through without scanning our tickets. Is there a risk that this could be flagged as attempts to short? (We travel from Walton all the time so I would hope this would not be viewed as anything malicious)

3. Is there any current estimate for how long it might take to receive the letter? We also provided an email address however the prosecution notice only mentions writing to us and it appears all correspondence on here is in writing so we assume this is how the contact will arrive? (appreciate you may not be able to answer this)

4. The address my partner provided is the home address of their parents rather than our current residence (they provided this as this is what matches their licence). We visit regularly and of course their parents would be in regular contact if the letter arrives, but it would be much more convenient for the letter(s) to arrive to our residence. I understand advice on the forums suggest not reaching out first, however is it wise to email SWR to ask this be adjusted? We are also very conscious that we do not want this to appear as though they gave a false address as we understand this is an offence in of itself.

Appreciate any advice you are able to provide, my partner is in extreme distress over this and are spiraling, so I'm really just looking for any clarity on what to expect at this early stage. We both appreciate the seriousness of this and they will not make the mistake again!

 

[WesternLancer]

Welcome.

Your partner should not worry. Overlooked railcard renewals are regular matters on this forum. You’ll get the help you need to minimise the consequences but you are both right to take this seriously. See below for brief answers to your questions starting point.

Ask any questions you want here. Answers will be by well informed people.

Hi everyone

First time posting and looking for some advice.

My partner traveled today from Walton-On-Thames to London Waterloo using an expired 26-30 railcard. They were stopped by protection officers upon exiting at Waterloo, and when asked to present a railcard with the ticket explained they did not have one. A report for prosecution was issued with the reason of 'discount not entitled (no railcard)'. We do not dispute the offence and my partner offered to pay at the time, the encounter with the staff was cordial and my partner was apologetic.

As my partner became very anxious during the encounter, they explained to the officer that they did not have a railcard (which was true). What was not detailed is that they have had a valid railcard previously (it expired in September) and the majority of previous journeys in their travel history would have been valid with this card. Having reviewed their journey history, we have identified that they have traveled on a further 3 journeys as well as today's using the railcard discount since it expired. They accept this was wrong and that there are likely to be consequences for this.

From previous advice from this forum it looks as though there may come the chance to settle out of court with SWR in order to avoid prosecution - likely an admin fee and anytime singles x2 for the invalid journeys. However there are a few questions we have that we would appreciate your advice on:

1. Will SWR likely try and charge for ALL railcard journeys in my partner's travel history, given that they might think my partner has never had a valid railcard from what their officer was told? This is a big worry for us as this would push any settlement amount presumably from hundreds into thousands. If so, will presenting evidence of their previously valid railcard be enough to clarify that only 4 journeys were made that were invalid? We still have their most recently expired railcard on the railcard app so hopefully this would be sufficient? Would previous year's railcards likely be required as evidence as well?

There is no central railcard database so being able to prove past railcards held will help you. Dig out and keep safe any proof you can find. Eg email order confirmations etc. SWR will not charge for discounted tickets if you can show some evidence of having the railcard. They might not even bother going back before the last railcard.

2. Are they likely to interrogate other journeys made in their history for reasons not related to railcards? My partner is adamant they haven't tried to game the system in other ways but occasionally the gates at Walton are open and we will walk through without scanning our tickets. Is there a risk that this could be flagged as attempts to short? (We travel from Walton all the time so I would hope this would not be viewed as anything malicious)

There is no obligation to scan a ticket at a barrier if the gates are open. Unless they find suspicious activity you can’t explain there is nothing to worry about. By suspicious I mean tickets bought from Clapham hct or Vauxhall to Waterloo when you live in Walton for example (known as short faring)

3. Is there any current estimate for how long it might take to receive the letter? We also provided an email address however the prosecution notice only mentions writing to us and it appears all correspondence on here is in writing so we assume this is how the contact will arrive? (appreciate you may not be able to answer this)

Might take some weeks eg 4 to 8. Hard to know

But they may e mail so watch that and check spam regularly too.

4. The address my partner provided is the home address of their parents rather than our current residence (they provided this as this is what matches their licence). We visit regularly and of course their parents would be in regular contact if the letter arrives, but it would be much more convenient for the letter(s) to arrive to our residence. I understand advice on the forums suggest not reaching out first, however is it wise to email SWR to ask this be adjusted? We are also very conscious that we do not want this to appear as though they gave a false address as we understand this is an offence in of itself.

If the address given is a reliable location and family can be sure to actively check for post and alert you to it promptly I don’t think I’d bother trying to get the postal address altered at this point.

Appreciate any advice you are able to provide, my partner is in extreme distress over this and are spiraling, so I'm really just looking for any clarity on what to expect at this early stage. We both appreciate the seriousness of this and they will not make the mistake again!

try not to be over concerned. The matter can be resolved in a straightforward manner with advice from here. It will just cost some money as you have seen in other cases.

One thing to do is renew the railcard if eligible now. That is something you can actively point to having done promptly once the matter was brought to your attention.

 

[z444z]

From previous advice from this forum it looks as though there may come the chance to settle out of court with SWR in order to avoid prosecution

Almost certainly.

1. Will SWR likely try and charge for ALL railcard journeys in my partner's travel history, given that they might think my partner has never had a valid railcard from what their officer was told?

Possibly.

If so, will presenting evidence of their previously valid railcard be enough to clarify that only 4 journeys were made that were invalid?

Yes.

We still have their most recently expired railcard on the railcard app so hopefully this would be sufficient?

Yes.

Would previous year's railcards likely be required as evidence as well?

Ideally yes, though if you can't find anything it's still worth explaining to SWR that a railcard was held - we generally find they're very reasonable as long as they think you're being truthful.

2. Are they likely to interrogate other journeys made in their history for reasons not related to railcards? My partner is adamant they haven't tried to game the system in other ways but occasionally the gates at Walton are open and we will walk through without scanning our tickets. Is there a risk that this could be flagged as attempts to short? (We travel from Walton all the time so I would hope this would not be viewed as anything malicious)

If this does happen, which I think is unlikely, proof of home or work address near Walton should be the end of that issue.

3. Is there any current estimate for how long it might take to receive the letter? We also provided an email address however the prosecution notice only mentions writing to us and it appears all correspondence on here is in writing so we assume this is how the contact will arrive? (appreciate you may not be able to answer this)

SWR do sometimes make initial contact by email. I haven't noticed any pattern to this so no clue what's more likely in your case, but even if I had it wouldn't change the fact that you gave them two methods of contact and so need to keep a close eye on both!

4. The address my partner provided is the home address of their parents rather than our current residence (they provided this as this is what matches their licence). We visit regularly and of course their parents would be in regular contact if the letter arrives, but it would be much more convenient for the letter(s) to arrive to our residence. I understand advice on the forums suggest not reaching out first, however is it wise to email SWR to ask this be adjusted? We are also very conscious that we do not want this to appear as though they gave a false address as we understand this is an offence in of itself.

If you can access post there, don't bother getting it changed. There's close to zero chance the "false" address will be an issue, and if anything by bringing their attention to it you probably raise that chance from 0.01% to 0.02%.

 

[Perfanneigh]

Much appreciated, we will update when we have received the letter. Thank you!

 

[Perfanneigh]

Hi all

Have heard back from SWR now. The letter I received stated the following:

'On 10th March 2026, you presented ticket number XXXXXXXXXXX at London Waterloo to a member of Revenue Protection. Upon questioning, it was established that you did not hold a valid 26-30 Railcard for the discount applied. You were issued a Report for Prosecution, number XXXXXXXXXX.

Further investigation of your online account has highlighted other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.

Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you and initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to our case management team.

Please contact etc etc....'

I held valid railcards up until September last year and still have proof of my most recent one on the railcard app. I could probably track back through my bank records to find payments for railcards in the years prior to this. However should I offer up this information in my initial response or wait to see which journeys they are querying? I was thinking of responding with the following based upon previous posts on these forums:

'Dear XXX,

Thank you for your letter regarding the above reference.

I would like to sincerely apologise for purchasing and travelling using discounted tickets that I was not entitled to. I fully understand that it was my responsibility to ensure that I held a valid Railcard for any discount I claimed, and I accept that I failed to do so. I deeply regret my actions and appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

Since being spoken to by the Revenue Protection Officer, I have made sure that the railcard discount has not been applied to any tickets I have bought. You should be able to see this from my purchase history since this incident. I had held a valid 26-30 railcard up to the date of September 2nd 2025 and I am able to provide evidence of this.

I am truly sorry for the inconvenience and time my actions have caused South Western Railway and your investigation team.

I would be extremely grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter by way of an administrative settlement rather than pursuing prosecution. I am willing to pay any outstanding fares identified, together with any administrative costs incurred by South Western Railway.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. I appreciate your consideration and hope you will give me the opportunity to resolve this matter without court proceedings.

Yours sincerely,
XXXXX'

Would appreciate any feedback on this and particularly whether to address my prior railcard at this stage or wait until they provide the spreadsheet of inconsistencies

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all

Have heard back from SWR now. The letter I received stated the following:

'On 10th March 2026, you presented ticket number XXXXXXXXXXX at London Waterloo to a member of Revenue Protection. Upon questioning, it was established that you did not hold a valid 26-30 Railcard for the discount applied. You were issued a Report for Prosecution, number XXXXXXXXXX.

Further investigation of your online account has highlighted other potential inconsistencies in your ticket purchase history. This suggests that you may not be paying the correct fare for journeys made on the UK rail network.

Given the serious nature of this matter, we have taken this step to contact you and initiate a resolution, prior to escalating the matter to our case management team.

Please contact etc etc....'

I held valid railcards up until September last year and still have proof of my most recent one on the railcard app. I could probably track back through my bank records to find payments for railcards in the years prior to this. However should I offer up this information in my initial response or wait to see which journeys they are querying? I was thinking of responding with the following based upon previous posts on these forums:

'Dear XXX,

Thank you for your letter regarding the above reference.

I would like to sincerely apologise for purchasing and travelling using discounted tickets that I was not entitled to. I fully understand that it was my responsibility to ensure that I held a valid Railcard for any discount I claimed, and I accept that I failed to do so. I deeply regret my actions and appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

Since being spoken to by the Revenue Protection Officer, I have made sure that the railcard discount has not been applied to any tickets I have bought. You should be able to see this from my purchase history since this incident. I had held a valid 26-30 railcard up to the date of September 2nd 2025 and I am able to provide evidence of this.

I am truly sorry for the inconvenience and time my actions have caused South Western Railway and your investigation team.

I would be extremely grateful if you would consider allowing me to resolve this matter by way of an administrative settlement rather than pursuing prosecution. I am willing to pay any outstanding fares identified, together with any administrative costs incurred by South Western Railway.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. I appreciate your consideration and hope you will give me the opportunity to resolve this matter without court proceedings.

Yours sincerely,
XXXXX'

Would appreciate any feedback on this and particularly whether to address my prior railcard at this stage or wait until they provide the spreadsheet of inconsistencies

Couple of points I would suggest adding in relation to your draft - the draft seems generally good but:

- If you can evidence the previous Railcard, then enclose that evidence now and say that you have attached it (it's in your interests to do so)

- don't just offer to pay anything they have identified, instead amend it a bit - ask them to 'provide you with a list of fares they believe have not been correctly paid so that you can try to check it against your own records in the hope this will allow them to identify any fares owed'

It's standard for them to provide such lists (see other SWR threads) and they do make the occasional mistake so it's best you see the list and check it over.