SWR: Travel Irregularity Report

[Olu1]

Hello All, I am caught in a situation where I did not realise my railcard had expired for about 3 months. I was issued a TIR by SWR. There is an email address in the TIR. I wanted to ask if it's worth while sending an email to that address now. Does that cut the back and forth I have to do looking at my letter box. Just want to get this sorted now and for all. I welcome your advise.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello All, I am caught in a situation where I did not realise my railcard had expired for about 3 months. I was issued a TIR by SWR. There is an email address in the TIR. I wanted to ask if it's worth while sending an email to that address now. Does that cut the back and forth I have to do looking at my letter box. Just want to get this sorted now and for all. I welcome your advise.

Basically the general advice usually given on here will tell you want to expect and then what to do - copied that here, but you will have to check your post / e-mail / spam - might be spam weeks before you hear from them
General advice is as below:

Firstly, you committed a criminal offence by travelling with an invalid ticket and railway companies are entitled to prosecute you in the Magistrates Court if they want to. The good news is they will normally offer an out of court settlement to people who co-operate with them and who haven't come to their attention before.

Next, what happens is the railway company will write to you. The letter will go to the address that you gave them / on any of your ID they checked so you need to be able to access hard copy post at that address as they often send things that way (but also check e-mail and spam). It is extremely important that you reply, and you'll only have a limited time to do so (often 14 days from the date on their communication).

When you receive the letter post a redacted copy of it in this thread, along with your draft reply and forum members will proof read it for you. You'll find lots of example letters you can use in this section of the forum but the reply basically needs to mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident and will not do this again
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the railway company’s administrative costs in dealing with the matter

The railway will probably offer you an out of court settlement. Expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate with no credit given for the invalid ticket you purchased. In addition they will charge an admin fee, typically £150. They will also audit your online ticket purchase history and if this shows you've purchased other tickets that were not valid (eg railcard discounted tickets when you did not have a valid railcard, or tickets for only part of the journey, or tickets bought after boarding the train you travelled on ) they will probably factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement offer. Depending on how many journeys you've made over the period concerned this could end up being expensive.

Settlements usually have to be paid in full within a few days of them being offered so if money is tight you might want to think about how you will raise the sum required at short notice.

 

[SECR 65]

Welcome to the forum,

It is generally not advised to contact the railway until they contact you. If you get in touch with SWR, there is the posibility that this could accelerate progress with your case, but in reality they may wish to stick to their order, and you could end up incriminating yourself unneccecarily. So we would normally suggest againgst proactive contact. If you do decide you want to get in touch with them, post what you plan to say on here so we can help review your draft.

 

[tatitiliti]

Hello All, I am caught in a situation where I did not realise my railcard had expired for about 3 months. I was issued a TIR by SWR. There is an email address in the TIR. I wanted to ask if it's worth while sending an email to that address now. Does that cut the back and forth I have to do looking at my letter box. Just want to get this sorted now and for all. I welcome your advise.

Just to reiterate a really important point:

Do *not* contact them before they contact you. It will not help your case and you do not want to incriminate yourself beyond what journey(s) they question when they write to you. All you can do at this point is wait and keep an eye on your mail/emails.

We also occasionally see cases where they miss the 6-month deadline they have to issue an NIP which would be to your advantage…

Don’t worry though, whatever happens, you will almost certainly be able to settle out of court for an issue like this, especially if you are eligible for that railcard and had one previously.

 

[Olu1]

Thank you

tatitiliti​

I actually did email them with the text below before I saw your response

I am writing regarding the Travel Irregularity Report issued to me today (XX/XX/26).

I sincerely apologise for the oversight concerning my Network Railcard's expiration. This was an unintentional error, and I fully acknowledge my responsibility to ensure my Railcard is valid at all times.

I have promptly renewed my Network Railcard today and am prepared to provide proof of renewal if required.

I am willing to pay the fare difference and any reasonable administrative costs to resolve this matter amicably.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

And they came back with this


There Reply
Good morning,

Thank you of your email and letting us know what happened on the day that you were spoken to by one of our colleagues. I note from your email below that you have stated that you have renewed your Network Railcard as your matter is currently in a queue for review coud you please send evidence of your new Network Railcard to us so that when we review your matter we can be sure we have all the correct, up to date information in font of us.

We will need to see a screen shot/photo of your Railcar, which incudes the following QR code, photo, Expiry date. You may need to get a friend or family member to assist you.

It was from a Prosecution Admin Clerk

What will be your advise and how I should word my response

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you

tatitiliti​

I actually did email them with the text below before I saw your response

I am writing regarding the Travel Irregularity Report issued to me today (XX/XX/26).

I sincerely apologise for the oversight concerning my Network Railcard's expiration. This was an unintentional error, and I fully acknowledge my responsibility to ensure my Railcard is valid at all times.

I have promptly renewed my Network Railcard today and am prepared to provide proof of renewal if required.

I am willing to pay the fare difference and any reasonable administrative costs to resolve this matter amicably.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

And they came back with this


There Reply
Good morning,

Thank you of your email and letting us know what happened on the day that you were spoken to by one of our colleagues. I note from your email below that you have stated that you have renewed your Network Railcard as your matter is currently in a queue for review coud you please send evidence of your new Network Railcard to us so that when we review your matter we can be sure we have all the correct, up to date information in font of us.

We will need to see a screen shot/photo of your Railcar, which incudes the following QR code, photo, Expiry date. You may need to get a friend or family member to assist you.

It was from a Prosecution Admin Clerk

What will be your advise and how I should word my response

Sounds like a fortunate reply from them

wording for your response - simply thank them for the reply, quote the ref number and do ask they ask - enclose the copy of the railcard showing what they ask for (you could add in a coy of a receipt for good measure I suppose, if that's simple for you to do)

You could, if tyou wish, re-iterate your offer to pay for any 'outstanding fare you may owe to resolve the matter'

You should note that they may not allow you to pay the difference - so I would not push that request again, but if they only ask for the difference over what you paid, so much the better.

You have already given your 'mitigation' ion your original reply (ie unintentional overlooked railcard renewal, thus not intentional evasion) and what you have done about it (ie bought a new one ASAP)

Be aware that they will likely trawl your purchasing records to see what other tickets were bought with the expired railcard - and ask you about that. But they have not done so yet so don't mention it - but it would be worth you going through your own records to make a list of that in preparation, and thus get an idea of how much they might want to cover those tickets.