SWR investigation: Wrong Railcard used and was caught

[kunle]

Hi everyone,


I’m looking for some advice from anyone who has experience with South Western Railway investigations.


Earlier this year, I was reported by an SWR Revenue Protection Inspector after I travelled with a ticket that had a 16–17 Railcard discount applied even though I hold a 26–30 Railcard.


I emailed SWR after the incident to apologise and explain that I had selected the wrong railcard when purchasing the ticket.


Several months later, the prosecutions team replied saying they had reviewed my online ticket purchase history and identified:

• 169 previous days where tickets had been purchased using a 16–17 Railcard discount; and
• 12 days where they believe the tickets purchased did not cover the full journey travelled.

They sent me a spreadsheet showing their findings and asked me to respond. In particular, they said:


“I appreciate that you may not be able to remember every journey exactly but I’m looking for a general acknowledgement of the trend, regardless of the individual journeys.”


They haven’t offered me an administrative settlement at this stage; they’ve only asked for an explanation.


My questions are:

1. Is it common for SWR to ask for an explanation like this before deciding whether to offer an administrative settlement?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience with SWR where they asked for a response before making a settlement offer?
3. Does this suggest they’re still deciding how to proceed, or is it more likely they’re preparing for prosecution?

I’m intending to respond honestly, apologise, accept responsibility where appropriate, and ask whether the matter can be resolved by an administrative settlement. I’m just trying to understand whether anyone has seen SWR follow this process before.


Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[Towers]

Hi everyone,


I’m looking for some advice from anyone who has experience with South Western Railway investigations.


Earlier this year, I was reported by an SWR Revenue Protection Inspector after I travelled with a ticket that had a 16–17 Railcard discount applied even though I hold a 26–30 Railcard.


I emailed SWR after the incident to apologise and explain that I had selected the wrong railcard when purchasing the ticket.


Several months later, the prosecutions team replied saying they had reviewed my online ticket purchase history and identified:

• 169 previous days where tickets had been purchased using a 16–17 Railcard discount; and
• 12 days where they believe the tickets purchased did not cover the full journey travelled.

They sent me a spreadsheet showing their findings and asked me to respond. In particular, they said:


“I appreciate that you may not be able to remember every journey exactly but I’m looking for a general acknowledgement of the trend, regardless of the individual journeys.”


They haven’t offered me an administrative settlement at this stage; they’ve only asked for an explanation.


My questions are:

1. Is it common for SWR to ask for an explanation like this before deciding whether to offer an administrative settlement?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience with SWR where they asked for a response before making a settlement offer?
3. Does this suggest they’re still deciding how to proceed, or is it more likely they’re preparing for prosecution?

I’m intending to respond honestly, apologise, accept responsibility where appropriate, and ask whether the matter can be resolved by an administrative settlement. I’m just trying to understand whether anyone has seen SWR follow this process before.


Thank you in advance for any advice.

You’ll likely end up with the choice of a (possibly quite substantial) out of court settlement to make it all go away, which may well be all of the full fares for the journeys identifed (their ‘maths’ being that the tickets you did buy were invalid) plus their admin fee added on top.

I’m afraid it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll decide to do anything other than proceed having identified that sort of history.

 

[Swedenorer]

When were you stopped?

 

[kunle]

March 10

 

[AlterEgo]

So they will demand the Anytime Single for each occasion you evaded the full fare. If that's 169 days, and those are all return trips, that will be 338 x Anytime Single fares. How much that will be depends on where you have been travelling from, but a good way to work this out is as follows:

- take all the 16-17 fares you've bought at half price
- add them all up
- double it

That is what will need to be paid. No account is taken of partial payment of any improperly used tickets.

They will also be looking for a contrite and apologetic response and a commitment not to do it again, as well as recognition that your actions were wrong.

Else, SWR will simply prosecute you for (most likely under the Railway Bylaws) for the offences in the magistrates' court.

 

[kunle]

So they will demand the Anytime Single for each occasion you evaded the full fare. If that's 169 days, and those are all return trips, that will be 338 x Anytime Single fares. How much that will be depends on where you have been travelling from, but a good way to work this out is as follows:

- take all the 16-17 fares you've bought at half price
- add them all up
- double it

That is what will need to be paid. No account is taken of partial payment of any improperly used tickets.

They will also be looking for a contrite and apologetic response and a commitment not to do it again, as well as recognition that your actions were wrong.

Else, SWR will simply prosecute you for (most likely under the Railway Bylaws) for the offences in the magistrates' court.

Thank you for this, i hope it doesn’t get to court at all.

 

[flitwickbeds]

- take all the 16-17 fares you've bought at half price
- add them all up
- double it

That is what will need to be paid.

Wouldn't you need to (roughly) double it again at the end to account for single journeys being charged in a settlement vs return fares being purchased and calculated in your first step? the first double is to account for the 50% discount on return fares afforded by the Railcard - the second double is to roughly get you to single journeys rather than returns?

 

[Haywain]

1. Is it common for SWR to ask for an explanation like this before deciding whether to offer an administrative settlement?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience with SWR where they asked for a response before making a settlement offer?
3. Does this suggest they’re still deciding how to proceed, or is it more likely they’re preparing for prosecution?

1. Yes, nothing at all unusual here.
2. Lots of similar cases on the forum.
3. They are still deciding how to proceed, and will prosecute if you don't reach a settlement with them.

I emailed SWR after the incident to apologise and explain that I had selected the wrong railcard when purchasing the ticket.

As mentioned above, they will be looking for an apology and acceptance that what you did was wrong. Don't try and tell them again that it was accidental though, that just doesn't pass the smell test.

 

[Swedenorer]

They have until September 9 to lay court papers for the single offence so you need to reach a settlement with them prior to that. Only you know what the journeys are but taking a typical London commuter journey say Kingston to Waterloo the calculation could be 169x2x£9.40 with the admin fee say £3300. No credit is normally given at least by SWR for fares paid.

 

[MacMan]

Hi everyone,


I’m looking for some advice from anyone who has experience with South Western Railway investigations.


Earlier this year, I was reported by an SWR Revenue Protection Inspector after I travelled with a ticket that had a 16–17 Railcard discount applied even though I hold a 26–30 Railcard.


I emailed SWR after the incident to apologise and explain that I had selected the wrong railcard when purchasing the ticket.


Several months later, the prosecutions team replied saying they had reviewed my online ticket purchase history and identified:

• 169 previous days where tickets had been purchased using a 16–17 Railcard discount; and
• 12 days where they believe the tickets purchased did not cover the full journey travelled.

They sent me a spreadsheet showing their findings and asked me to respond. In particular, they said:


“I appreciate that you may not be able to remember every journey exactly but I’m looking for a general acknowledgement of the trend, regardless of the individual journeys.”


They haven’t offered me an administrative settlement at this stage; they’ve only asked for an explanation.


My questions are:

1. Is it common for SWR to ask for an explanation like this before deciding whether to offer an administrative settlement?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience with SWR where they asked for a response before making a settlement offer?
3. Does this suggest they’re still deciding how to proceed, or is it more likely they’re preparing for prosecution?

I’m intending to respond honestly, apologise, accept responsibility where appropriate, and ask whether the matter can be resolved by an administrative settlement. I’m just trying to understand whether anyone has seen SWR follow this process before.


Thank you in advance for any advice.

How long did it take for them to send the list of journeys post the initial email/letter?

 

[kunle]

How long did it take for them to send the list of journeys post the initial email/letter?

24 hours

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Aug 2026 ==

So they will demand the Anytime Single for each occasion you evaded the full fare. If that's 169 days, and those are all return trips, that will be 338 x Anytime Single fares. How much that will be depends on where you have been travelling from, but a good way to work this out is as follows:

- take all the 16-17 fares you've bought at half price
- add them all up
- double it

That is what will need to be paid. No account is taken of partial payment of any improperly used tickets.

They will also be looking for a contrite and apologetic response and a commitment not to do it again, as well as recognition that your actions were wrong.

Else, SWR will simply prosecute you for (most likely under the Railway Bylaws) for the offences in the magistrates' court.

Hello, please I am kind of worried, I still haven’t heard back from them since on Friday to know what the outcome is. Is this a positive or negative sign?

 

[AlterEgo]

Neither. It just takes them a while to sort through cases. They will get to you soon, most likely.

 

[kunle]

Neither. It just takes them a while to sort through cases. They will get to you soon, most likely.

Hello sorry for disturbing you again, I just received a mail that says my case has been transferred to debt recovery & prosecution teams for revenge that the next decision will be from them.

 

[Haywain]

Hello sorry for disturbing you again, I just received a mail that says my case has been transferred to debt recovery & prosecution teams for revenge that the next decision will be from them.

That's nothing unusual, you still need to be patient.

 

[Oldgaloot]

Reading this thread and following Fare Dodgers I'm forming the impression that SWR are getting more determined to sort out revenue loss. Is that an accurate impression?

 

[antharro]

@Oldgaloot It's not entirely relevant to this person's thread - you'll find the answer you require here on the forum: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...terloo-doughnuts-short-fares-also-gtr.305495/ and on the Evening Standard's website: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/lon...-short-faring-vauxhall-waterloo-b1292246.html

 

[Oldgaloot]

Thank you.

 

[swt_passenger]

Hello sorry for disturbing you again, I just received a mail that says my case has been transferred to debt recovery & prosecution teams for revenge that the next decision will be from them.

Is that what you really meant to write, or might it have been for ‘review’?

 

[kunle]

Is that what you really meant to write, or might it have been for ‘review’?

Oh I meant review, that is a mistake

 

[summerspring]

Oh I meant review, that is a mistake

Have you had a response from the recovery & prosecution team yet?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Have you had a response from the recovery & prosecution team yet?

Hi @summerspring - welcome to the forum! It's up to the original poster in this thread whether they want to share how things are going, but if you would like us to talk about any problems you are having with the railway, please start your own thread for it. We've found that it gets very confusing if we're trying to help more than one person on a thread, so it's easier for everyone to have one problem on one thread.