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I got caught short fairing from Vauxhall to Waterloo instead of my zone 3 station. A very stupid thing to do considering the minimal amount it saved me (not anymore) and I didnt know the consiquences. This is the first time I was caught, looking back I did it about 30 times but after getting caught and the anxiety of it safe to say I will never do it again.
My only other run in was once was caught on another train traveling to a station outside contactless I had tapped and honestly didnt know it wouldnt work at the other end, the inspector on the train let me buy a full price fair on the train but I can't remember if he took my details it wasn't an SWR train.
I got the TIR and it has my correct address but my email isn't written on it. The officer said I might be contacted by email and I am a bit worried they got my email wrong as I havent recieved anything in 3 weeks. I have checked my spam etc.
Could someone please let me know if SWR always send a letter by post first or is it sometimes by email?
Unlike many other operators, SWR are usually happy to converse back-and-forth by email. HOWEVER looking at other SWR cases on the forum most of them seem to have an initial postal letter. (To be honest I haven't looked thoroughly, but that's from what I remember.)
Three weeks is not very long when it comes to railway companies dealing with fare evasion. SWR have less of a backlog compared to other operators, but agin, it is perfectly likely to be months that we're talking about here. If you haven't heard anything in 4-5 months, come back here and members can suggest possible follow-up steps. In the meantime, let us know if you have any further questions.
I got caught short fairing from Vauxhall to Waterloo instead of my zone 3 station. A very stupid thing to do considering the minimal amount it saved me (not anymore) and I didnt know the consiquences. This is the first time I was caught, looking back I did it about 30 times but after getting caught and the anxiety of it safe to say I will never do it again.
My only other run in was once was caught on another train traveling to a station outside contactless I had tapped and honestly didnt know it wouldnt work at the other end, the inspector on the train let me buy a full price fair on the train but I can't remember if he took my details it wasn't an SWR train.
I got the TIR and it has my correct address but my email isn't written on it. The officer said I might be contacted by email and I am a bit worried they got my email wrong as I havent recieved anything in 3 weeks. I have checked my spam etc.
Could someone please let me know if SWR always send a letter by post first or is it sometimes by email?
Could easily be 6 to 8 weeks before they contact you. They will be investigating your purchase history for other occasions when you have done this as they know the time you were caught was unlikely to be the first time you did this.
Search some other threads for SWR cases on here to get a timeline idea.
Maybe just search’ Vauxhall’.
Does anyone please have recent advice on how long it took to recieve the first letter from SWR? It has now been 7 weeks, I live in a shared house, some people have moved in and out and Im worried the letter could have been missed by me and accidentally binned, unlikely but possible.
Does anyone please have recent advice on how long it took to recieve the first letter from SWR? It has now been 7 weeks, I live in a shared house, some people have moved in and out and Im worried the letter could have been missed by me and accidentally binned, unlikely but possible.
Hi, thanks you, I have been not so many with complete timeliness but will keep digging. I am worried that I was too open when stopped, I admitted everything, and was thanked by the officer. Do you think this will increase my chances of prosecution?
Here are some - it seems to vary which may relate to workload or the complexity of cases (if a lot of evasion discovered or admitted to I suspect they seek info from external on line retailers (esp Trainline) and that will take some time to get the data for them to study - so if you have done a lot of short faring they will certainly be checking this from what we see with SWR - tickets bought Vauxhall to Waterloo is an almost guarantee of it as far as they are concerned so they will almost certainly be seeking other data about you - this could take them a bit longer
Some other cases:
I was reported by SWR in January 2026 after travelling using a Railcard-discounted ticket without holding a valid Railcard. I received a Travel Irregularity Report at the time. Over four months later, I have now received an email from an SWR Investigator stating that they have identified...
www.railforums.co.uk
This one today is nearly 6 months (case similar to your perhaps?)
Hello all, In need of general support / information with the current situation I have put myself in! On Jan the 12th of this year I was stopped at Waterloo with an incorrect 16-17 railcard, when questioned I admitted to using the wrong railcard & the dude took my details down etc etc. Fast...
www.railforums.co.uk
This - stopped on 29 April - got letter 19 may (v quick!)
Hi all I have received a letter from SWR after its Travel Irregularity Report after an incident in April. The letter says "Did travel on a Railway without having previously paid the fare with intent to avoid payment thereof." The context is here that I found a discounted oyster card at start...
I have recieved the letter below from SWR. I have already responded via email but I am wondering whether I need to still send the letter back with the information completed on the back? Or whether because I have already responded in an email I no longer need to do anything with the physical...
Hi. Urgent help pls My wife got caught short faring in Nov. Professional person , v sorry , no excuse blah blah. V embarrassing So SWR sent her a dump today of all journeys over 5 yrs We have whittled it down to 100 journeys where she short fared. The cost of these would be £1100 full price...
I am worried that I was too open when stopped, I admitted everything, and was thanked by the officer. Do you think this will increase my chances of prosecution?
Not really from what we usually see - the fact you admitted to stuff means that it could be argued you were co-operative, which in general terms is a pre-requisite to a strong chance of out of court settlement from what we see.
The increased chance of prosecution is most likely to be because people have not received / ignored a letter sent to them - not what they actually did
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Personally I'd probably wait a few more weeks until contacting them (if at all - so long as you are reasonably confident about your post some would argue it's rather in your interests not to contact them on the - probably slim - chance they might forget about you within 6 months)
BUT - if you do want to contact them I'd suggest something as per below - keep it minimal:
----------------------------
Prosecutions Department
SWR (We can find the correct e-mail / postal address for you off other threads)
Date:
Dear Sir/ Madam
I was stopped on x date at y location and questioned about the validity of my rail ticket.
I was given this ref number xxxxx [If you were given a ref number - otherwise delete this line]
I was advised by the member of staff who spoke to me that I would hear from you in due course. Since some time has gone by since that date I would be grateful if you could let me know if there is any further action related to this that I need to respond to.
We are aware of an issue with emails from the Forum to Microsoft-based email accounts (hotmail/outlook/live.com email addresses). This is being looked into currently, thanks for your patience meanwhile.
