SWR Travel Irregularity Report

[Nightfire007]

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice.


Today I travelled from Egham to Hook (return) using tickets bought on TrainPal. Unfortunately, both tickets had a 16–25 Railcard discount, even though I don’t own a 16–25 Railcard. I genuinely didn’t realise the discount had been applied.


On the outward journey, I was issued a £20 Penalty Fare. I had already bought the return ticket before being stopped and believed the matter had been dealt with, so I used the return ticket. On the return journey, I was stopped again, interviewed, and given a Travel Irregularity Report, with SWR saying they would contact me.


After checking my previous TrainPal bookings, I realised that the same 16–25 Railcard discount had also been applied on around 5–6 TrainPal bookings over my 3 years in the UK. I normally buy tickets from station ticket machines, so I rarely use TrainPal. Looking back, I was grossly negligent for not noticing the Railcard discount, and I genuinely didn’t appreciate the seriousness of travelling on tickets with a discount I wasn’t entitled to.


This is my first ever revenue protection issue. I’m not trying to avoid responsibility—I know I made a mistake. I’m just trying to understand what I can realistically expect from SWR and whether anyone has had a similar experience.

 

[AlterEgo]

When were you issued a Penalty Fare? They haven't been £20 for several years.

 

[Nightfire007]

The ticket is titled as unpaid fare notice. And amount due is 20.80£

 

[AlterEgo]

The ticket is titled as unpaid fare notice. And amount due is 20.80£

Okay, so it's not a Penalty Fare.

Are you of the correct age to qualify for a 16-25 Railcard? One thing you could do in the interim is buy the railcard if you qualify. Else all you can do is wait to be contacted. SWR will conduct an audit of your ticket purchases so it may take some weeks or months until they contact you. They will usually require every improperly used ticket to be paid for again at the full fare in order to avoid being prosecuted.

 

[Nightfire007]

Okay, so it's not a Penalty Fare.

Are you of the correct age to qualify for a 16-25 Railcard? One thing you could do in the interim is buy the railcard if you qualify. Else all you can do is wait to be contacted. SWR will conduct an audit of your ticket purchases so it may take some weeks or months until they contact you. They will usually require every improperly used ticket to be paid for again at the full fare in order to avoid

Thanks, i have only booked 5-6 tickets on trainpal with a railcard in 3 yesrs of my stay. Gives me one more reason to be more aware and stick to buying the physical tickets from the ticket machine (usually anytime day fare)

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

Okay, so it's not a Penalty Fare.

Are you of the correct age to qualify for a 16-25 Railcard? One thing you could do in the interim is buy the railcard if you qualify. Else all you can do is wait to be contacted. SWR will conduct an audit of your ticket purchases so it may take some weeks or months until they contact you. They will usually require every improperly used ticket to be paid for again at the full fare in order to avoid being prosecuted.

Also i will buy a railcard meanwhile. But in cases like these (like 5-6 misused railcard in 3 years, negligence on another fckin level from my side rather than any malicious intent) do you think SWR usually goes for settlement than prosecution if theres full co operation and truthfulness?

 

[WesternLancer]

Thanks, i have only booked 5-6 tickets on trainpal with a railcard in 3 yesrs of my stay. Gives me one more reason to be more aware and stick to buying the physical tickets from the ticket machine (usually anytime day fare)

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



Also i will buy a railcard meanwhile. But in cases like these (like 5-6 misused railcard in 3 years, negligence on another fckin level from my side rather than any malicious intent) do you think SWR usually goes for settlement than prosecution if theres full co operation and truthfulness?

Settlement is the a very likely outcome if you engage with swr when they contact you.
Even more so if you seek and follow advice from this forum on how to respond to them.

It’s a shame it wasn’t explained to you or you didn’t understand what was being said, that before you took the return journey you could have bought the railcard and regularised the return ticket portion and thus avoided the report for investigation.

Come to think of it having been charged what you perhaps thought was a penalty fare (those are actually £100 reduced to £50 for prompt payment) outbound for an erroneous ticket why did you think the return ticket would be ok? (Genuine question)

I suspect you need to pay the unpaid fare notice promptly. Keep proof of payment as this is something you can use in support of your request for a settlement in due course I suspect.

 

[Nightfire007]

Settlement is the a very likely outcome if you engage with swr when they contact you.
Even more so if you seek and follow advice from this forum on how to respond to them.

It’s a shame it wasn’t explained to you or you didn’t understand what was being said, that before you took the return journey you could have bought the railcard and regularised the return ticket portion and thus avoided the report for investigation.

Come to think of it having been charged what you perhaps thought was a penalty fare (those are actually £100 reduced to £50 for prompt payment) outbound for an erroneous ticket why did you think the return ticket would be ok? (Genuine question)

I suspect you need to pay the unpaid fare notice promptly. Keep proof of payment as this is something you can use in support of your request for a settlement in due course I suspect.

I had already bought the return ticket before I was stopped the first time. I thought the £20 charge dealt with the issue for both tickets. I wasn’t told that the return ticket was also invalid or that I needed to buy a new one.

 

[John R]

I had already bought the return ticket before I was stopped the first time. I thought the £20 charge dealt with the issue for both tickets. I wasn’t told that the return ticket was also invalid or that I needed to buy a new one.

Did you buy two separate one way tickets (in which case how would the ticket inspector know that you had another ticket to tell you it still wasn’t valid), or was it a return ticket (in which case there is marginally more justification for a “he didn’t tell me” view.)

 

[Nightfire007]

Did you buy two separate one way tickets (in which case how would the ticket inspector know that you had another ticket to tell you it still wasn’t valid), or was it a return ticket (in which case there is marginally more justification for a “he didn’t tell me” view.)

It was a return ticket that i bought before i boarded the train, but anyways its not an excuse, i am just planning to accept the negligence, apologise and be prepared for any settlement that can be done and avoid prosecution

 

[AlterEgo]

I probably wouldn't go on about negligence, it is impossible to accidentally select that option on Trainpal, or any booking site - SWR will simply be looking for you to take responsibility and apologise and commit to not doing it again.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had already bought the return ticket before I was stopped the first time. I thought the £20 charge dealt with the issue for both tickets. I wasn’t told that the return ticket was also invalid or that I needed to buy a new one.

Thanks for explaining

 

[Nightfire007]

I probably wouldn't go on about negligence, it is impossible to accidentally select that option on Trainpal, or any booking site - SWR will simply be looking for you to take responsibility and apologise and commit to not doing it again.

Sure, definitely would do that.
Thanks for your guidance. Also as far as i could find SWR only sends a letter and not email right? Because the officer didnt ask for my email just the address

 

[WesternLancer]

Sure, definitely would do that.
Thanks for your guidance. Also as far as i could find SWR only sends a letter and not email right? Because the officer didnt ask for my email just the address

They seem to initially send out letters but then invite responses by e mail and continue dialogue by email as required.
But watch for post, e mail and spam over coming weeks and months.

Assume you’ve looked at some other SWR threads on the forum to get the general idea of things.

 

[Nightfire007]

They seem to initially send out letters but then invite responses by e mail and continue dialogue by email as required.
But watch for post, e mail and spam over coming weeks and months.

Assume you’ve looked at some other SWR threads on the forum to get the general idea of things.

I will be changing my address as i will be moving out of my current accommodation. Do I need to make SWR aware of this so that they do not send the letter to my old address?

 

[WesternLancer]

I will be changing my address as i will be moving out of my current accommodation. Do I need to make SWR aware of this so that they do not send the letter to my old address?

Yes. I would recommend doing so. You can e mail them.
I put a template on another recent thread you could use.

You could also set up a Royal Mail redirection see their website.