SWR have not contacted me regarding my penalty fare

[pomsky]

Hi,

Awhile ago back in very late October, I was told I would be fined as I accidentally had been using the 16-17 railcard option (as I previously had one) despite very recently turning 18 a few months prior in late June and I had forgotten to change it out on trainline.
To my absolute horror, it had come to my attention that I had been doing this since early September to October for all my trips weekly from Tuesday to Friday from Winchester to Eastleigh - which are only one stop away from eachother as they're pretty local.

I have not heard back from SWR, or recieved a letter and i'm quite worried as it's been a bit (5 months?) and i'm not sure how much they'll charge me? Does anyone know when they may get back to me on this? I'm quite worried as I don't know what the fine price will be.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[walkingsophie]

Is this a report for prosecution or a penalty fare? Are you sure you gave them the correct address?

 

[z444z]

This will not be a penalty fare unless you were given one at the time. It sounds like you’ve been reported for prosecution which sounds scary but it is usually, with most train companies, possible to settle by paying the fares you’ve avoided as well as an admin fee.

However it sounds like something might have gone wrong here because SWR don’t usually take this long -though it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Have you checked your email and spam folder? SWR do often make initial contact via email although it would be poor form not to follow up with a letter if no response.

It’s probably not in your interests to contact them though. They have 6 months from the date of the incident to prosecute - if that deadline passes they lose the main thing they can threaten you with. They may later pursue civil action but this would be a much less scary process involving a lower amount of money and would be unlikely to actually make it to court as both parties are required to attempt to settle before that stage.

On the off chance they’ve prosecuted you without your knowledge, if you ever became aware of this you would, I believe, be able to reverse this through the statutory declaration process, as long as you do so as soon as you become aware.

As above, are you certain you provided the correct address and do you know whether it was recorded correctly? Were you given any documentation at the time - if so it would help for us to see this (redact personal details and reference numbers).

 

[pomsky]

This will not be a penalty fare unless you were given one at the time. It sounds like you’ve been reported for prosecution which sounds scary but it is usually, with most train companies, possible to settle by paying the fares you’ve avoided as well as an admin fee.

However it sounds like something might have gone wrong here because SWR don’t usually take this long -though it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Have you checked your email and spam folder? SWR do often make initial contact via email although it would be poor form not to follow up with a letter if no response.

It’s probably not in your interests to contact them though. They have 6 months from the date of the incident to prosecute - if that deadline passes they lose the main thing they can threaten you with. They may later pursue civil action but this would be a much less scary process involving a lower amount of money and would be unlikely to actually make it to court as both parties are required to attempt to settle before that stage.

On the off chance they’ve prosecuted you without your knowledge, if you ever became aware of this you would, I believe, be able to reverse this through the statutory declaration process, as long as you do so as soon as you become aware.

As above, are you certain you provided the correct address and do you know whether it was recorded correctly? Were you given any documentation at the time - if so it would help for us to see this (redact personal details and reference numbers).

Hiya,

I'm so sorry you're completely correct, I managed to find the paper (documentation) I had recieved from the ticket inspector at the time in which it happened and it says "Report for prosecution" at the top.
I also got the dates wrong, it was early September to early november as opposed to late october, but it wasn't too much of a difference.

I've checked my email and spam, to which i've recieved absolutely nothing from SWR. Though to be fair all they asked for was my name and address, which has been noted down correctly on the paper I recieved.
i've attached an image of the paper below and just cut out my personal details, but it had my correct address, name, date of birth and the location in which it was issued along with the reason - though i accidentally cut these out as opposed to blurring them

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Apr 2026 ==

Is this a report for prosecution or a penalty fare? Are you sure you gave them the correct address?

it was for a prosecution, my mistake

and yeah, I checked the documentation I had recieved just to make sure and they have my correct address

 

[z444z]

What date is recorded on that document?

 

[pomsky]

What date is recorded on that document?

7/11/2025

 

[z444z]

Ok so quite close to the original guess of very late October. I think you, unfortunately for stress levels, just need to sit tight and see if anything comes of this. Others will be along in the morning to clarify anything else that needs it and give their thoughts

 

[pomsky]

Ok so quite close to the original guess of very late October. I think you, unfortunately for stress levels, just need to sit tight and see if anything comes of this. Others will be along in the morning to clarify anything else that needs it and give their thoughts

Okay! I'll check in when I can!

Thank you for being so helpful! especially at this hour of night!