Tfl fare evasion letter

[nebula]

Hi, I’m looking for some advice regarding a notice I’ve received from Transport for London. I was recently stopped during a journey and it turned out I had been using a Jobcentre Plus discount Railcard that I wasn’t actually eligible for. I had registered and renewed it through the app based on advice from a friend, and I genuinely didn’t realise I wasn’t entitled to use it. I now understand this was a mistake on my part. TfL has sent me a letter asking for a response within 10 days, and I want to handle this properly. I’d really appreciate any guidance on what I should include in my reply and what outcome I might expect.so i got the notice now i dont wanna be prosecuted, because it will give me a criminal conviction. And is there any chance that I can ask the tfl and write them back to ask not to prosecute me and instead get a fine as highbas they want

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Apr 2026 ==

This is the latter i got

 

[AlterEgo]

Where were you stopped and what journey were you making?

Did you have a physical ticket or were you using Oyster?

On what grounds did you think you were entitled to say you had a Jobcentre Plus Discount Card when claiming the discounts?

Did you make any admissions when you were cautioned and interviewed?

 

[SECR 65]

Unfortunately TFL will prosecute in almost all cases. There is the chance that you could be given a warning, although as I understand it these aren’t very common. You do have the option of involving a solicitor if you wanted do, and forum members can provide a list of recommendations. That would come at a cost though. It depends how desperate you are to come away without a criminal record.

 

[nebula]

Where were you stopped and what journey were you making?

Did you have a physical ticket or were you using Oyster?

On what grounds did you think you were entitled to say you had a Jobcentre Plus Discount Card when claiming the discounts?

Did you make any admissions when you were cautioned and interviewed?

I have the south eastern railways card with the discounted ticket

 

[AlterEgo]

I have the south eastern railways card with the discounted ticket

Please answer all the questions asked in that quoted post, it will help give the best advice.

Do you mean you have a smart card from SouthEastern?

 

[nebula]

I have the south eastern railways card with the discounted ticket

I didnt know i was entitled before the tfl people stopped me as my friends have been using it and they told me about too i thought it i was not aware of it

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Apr 2026 ==

Please answer all the questions asked in that quoted post, it will help give the best advice.

Do you mean you have a smart card from SouthEastern?

Yes correct

 

[AlterEgo]

I didnt know i was entitled before the tfl people stopped me as my friends have been using it and they told me about too i thought it i was not aware of it

So your friends basically told you can you buy tickets at half price with this one cool trick, but the cool trick is just lying that you have a railcard you don't have and aren't entitled to.

I strongly advise you don't say you weren't aware of what you were doing when writing to TfL, because that is absolutely classic fare evading and they have seen it all before. No reasonable person would buy tickets claiming a JobCentre Plus Discount Card thinking that's all you need to do, and that you don't in fact need a....JobCentre Plus Discount Card.

TfL may well decide to prosecute you for the offence as though this isn't a given. If you want to avoid prosecution you need to contact a solicitor who can make representations on your behalf.

 

[nebula]

So your friends basically told you can you buy tickets at half price with this one cool trick, but the cool trick is just lying that you have a railcard you don't have and aren't entitled to.

I strongly advise you don't say you weren't aware of what you were doing when writing to TfL, because that is absolutely classic fare evading and they have seen it all before. No reasonable person would buy tickets claiming a JobCentre Plus Discount Card thinking that's all you need to do, and that you don't in fact need a....JobCentre Plus Discount Card.

TfL may well decide to prosecute you for the offence as though this isn't a given. If you want to avoid prosecution you need to contact a solicitor who can make representations on your behalf.

So i shouldn't reply them with a solicitor then?

 

[Haywain]

I have the south eastern railways card with the discounted ticket

How did you get the Job Centre Plus Railcard applied to the Key Card? You have to send an image of the card to get that done.

 

[nebula]

How did you get the Job Centre Plus Railcard applied to the Key Card? You have to send an image of the card to get that done.

No nothing at all you just have to choose which one you wanna buy and thats all you pay for it and it will show up in your account then you load it in the card if it had asked me about something like that i would be aware and wouldn't have done that

 

[AlterEgo]

No nothing at all you just have to choose which one you wanna buy and thats all you pay for it and it will show up in your account then you load it in the card if it had asked me about something like that i would be aware and wouldn't have done that

So what about declaring that you are entitled to the JobCentre Plus Discount Card's discounts would not alert you to the fact you needed to actually be entitled? Like, what did you think that was *for*?

 

[Swedenorer]

You did not hold the card but were simply applying the discount on the advice of a friend. That's going to look good as an explanation but as far as I can see you have no other. Whatever you do in the words of Vivian Ward 'it's gonna cost you'. In reality you have no defence. I suspect though I don't know that this may be seen as fraud rather than simple fare evasion.

Please be aware too that South Eastern may have a case for any journeys undertaken solely on their network too.

 

[Haywain]

No nothing at all you just have to choose which one you wanna buy and thats all you pay for it and it will show up in your account then you load it in the card if it had asked me about something like that i would be aware and wouldn't have done that

So you were buying tickets online and adding them to the smartcard.

 

[Titfield]

Being convicted means you will receive a criminal record. A fine is the punishment you receive for being convicted. In other words you can not just get a fine, you have to be convicted first.

 

[WesternLancer]

Being convicted means you will receive a criminal record. A fine is the punishment you receive for being convicted. In other words you can not just get a fine, you have to be convicted first.

Hopefully this will help the OP appreciate the nature of the process - like many people who come here I suspect it's often thought that the worst case outcome of this sort of thing is the £100 Penalty Fare that you see on posters at stations, which may people see as a 'fine'.

@nebula - you might find this thread of some use in terms of helping to see how cases play out with TfL when they consider deliberate evasion and it ultimately ends up in court as towards the end of the thread the person concerns outlines what happened and posted that info here - even though the sort of evasion they were doing was different. Unlike many of the railway companies (who often settle out of court in exchange for paying them all the fares owed plus costs) TfL usually prosecute evasion in court, and will take a great many cases (thousands I suspect) to court every year.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/freedom-pass-misuse-requisition-to-attend-court.297308/page-2