Thameslink Railway - using altered railcard

[Littlesquirrel]

Hi guys, I have read countless posts here and upon reading them I realise how serious this issue really is. And I didn't realise that it could potentially lead to criminal convictions.

I'm not proud to write this but it's a lesson well learnt, and I really hope to receive some advise on how to prep myself. I already have an autoimmune condition and I don't want to trigger it further.

I used an altered railcard (expiration date) to qualify for a 26-30 railcard. I have used this since last year so history is on my trainline account. I was travelling from London to Bedfordshire taking a train in peak times using the 26-30 discount. At the barriers I showed them the ticket and railcard and for the first time they scanned the railcard. And the inspector took my details down which I gave correctly and gave me a witness statement slip.

I feel super ashamed, and I don't know how I can even tell my family and partner about this, they will be so disappointed in me. As I am with myself too. I have also bought full price tickets too but they won't be on my app, not sure if I will get a chance to email and show that and whether it even helps my case.

Would appreciate any advice. Thank you so much.
Now I'm looking up what this could mean, my anxiety is through the roof, I just thought I can pay the fine, never do it again and move on. As I said my trainline account will show that I have bought tickets 40 times in total since 2025 onwards. How serious can this be? When should I expect the letter in the post? What are the chances that I can just do the settlement, however much it is and move on from this? What is the realistic outcome and do I need to enlist a solicitor?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Aug 2026 ==

I just realised that my railcard had expired in November 2025. So means it's around 20 times in total since 2025 that I didn't have a qualifying railcard. Not that it makes the situation any better... But just wanted to correct the above.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi guys, I have read countless posts here and upon reading them I realise how serious this issue really is. And I didn't realise that it could potentially lead to criminal convictions.

I'm not proud to write this but it's a lesson well learnt, and I really hope to receive some advise on how to prep myself. I already have an autoimmune condition and I don't want to trigger it further.

I used an altered railcard (expiration date) to qualify for a 26-30 railcard. I have used this since last year so history is on my trainline account. I was travelling from London to Bedfordshire taking a train in peak times using the 26-30 discount. At the barriers I showed them the ticket and railcard and for the first time they scanned the railcard. And the inspector took my details down which I gave correctly and gave me a witness statement slip.

I feel super ashamed, and I don't know how I can even tell my family and partner about this, they will be so disappointed in me. As I am with myself too. I have also bought full price tickets too but they won't be on my app, not sure if I will get a chance to email and show that and whether it even helps my case.

Would appreciate any advice. Thank you so much.
Now I'm looking up what this could mean, my anxiety is through the roof, I just thought I can pay the fine, never do it again and move on. As I said my trainline account will show that I have bought tickets 40 times in total since 2025 onwards. How serious can this be? When should I expect the letter in the post? What are the chances that I can just do the settlement, however much it is and move on from this? What is the realistic outcome and do I need to enlist a solicitor?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Aug 2026 ==

I just realised that my railcard had expired in November 2025. So means it's around 20 times in total since 2025 that I didn't have a qualifying railcard. Not that it makes the situation any better... But just wanted to correct the above.

Welcome
I'm afraid that you will have to appreciate that deliberately altering a Railcard is likely to be seen as premeditated evasion and considered more seriously than the sort of thing that people try to explain away as a mistake.
That said it may still be possible to secure an out of court settlement but you may have to work harder to achieve that outcome. This should be your objective

- When were you stopped and questioned?

- As far as you know did they take your correct name and address details?

- Were you given any slip of paper with a ref number on it? If so keep it safe - make a copy of it eg photo on your phone - you may need that ref number

- Have you received any formal letter from Thameslink about this yet? (this can easily take 6 to 8 weeks from the incident when you were stopped before you hear from them. When you do it is vital that you respond

- One practical thing you should do is make a note of all the tickets bought with the discount with this altered railcard and list that out for your own private use so you have it to had should they ask you about that.
- work out what replacement fares will cost at the full Anytime rate, Start saving up that sort of money.
- You should also not deleted your on line ticket account - it puts you at a disadvantage and looks suspicious to boot

do ask any questions you might have - people here will know the answers I'm sure

You have probably seen it on other threads but this general advice often posted on the forum will tell you what to expect and how to prepare for that in terms of what steps you can take


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.

 

[Littlesquirrel]

Thank you for taking the time for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it!!!! It's so silly to say the gravity of what it means didn't hit me until this happened. My friends have done it since forever, and one of them altered mine when it expired last year. It's no excuse as I am an adult and should know the consequences of these actions. I have found screenshots of all my railcards from 2023 - 2025, hoping this shows that I have been a good corporate citizen before this and always purchased my railcard. But just to showcase that I was always using the correct railcard for all purchases before this.

I also looked at my past history after making the post and confirmed that only 11 tickets were purchased via trainline with the wrong railcard... So it's not a long period of time or material amount, again not that it makes it any better, but just to highlight it wasn't extortionate amount. I am usually a user of tfl and don't use thameslink as much as I would have in the past.

I agree with the objective... All I truly want is to pay whatever fine they deem fit along with all administrative costs and send my sincere apologies and highlight that this has been the biggest lesson of my life. I have never had a penalty or had to pay fine or anything like this ever, and certainly not with any trainline ever before this.

To answer your questions:

- This happened during peak travelling hours, recently
- I cooperated very well and gave my full name, date of birth, and my current rental address
- I was given a slip with a reference number on it and it's labelled as a "witness statement" along with my personal details I provided.
- No communication received as of yet as its so recent
- I have taken a screenshot of all my spend for the last year, and confirmed that only 11 tickets have been purchased which would fall under this. I will work out how much the total cost will be, but should be under £300 for full price tickets. Obviously with fines and admin costs I understand this may be higher and I will start saving immediately so I can repay it in full as soon as possible.

The questions I have:
- My partner and I planned to relocate in the next two months and have given the two months notice to the landlord. I read online that it can take up to 2-4 months to receive the letter. What can I do? I read somewhere that you shouldn't reach out to the trainline until they write to you. But if they take longer than two months, I can't rely on the building management or the next tenants to keep my post for me. Would appreciate any thoughts on this.
- Will they give me a chance to apologise and go for settlement? I read in one of the posts that they sent a letter for prosecution to someone without a warning or anything. it's made me so nervous and my anxiety is through the roof. (I won't get a night's sleep until they write to me)
- How likely is it that they would want out of court settlement as it means they recover everything?

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you for taking the time for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it!!!! It's so silly to say the gravity of what it means didn't hit me until this happened. My friends have done it since forever, and one of them altered mine when it expired last year. It's no excuse as I am an adult and should know the consequences of these actions. I have found screenshots of all my railcards from 2023 - 2025, hoping this shows that I have been a good corporate citizen before this and always purchased my railcard. But just to showcase that I was always using the correct railcard for all purchases before this.

I also looked at my past history after making the post and confirmed that only 11 tickets were purchased via trainline with the wrong railcard... So it's not a long period of time or material amount, again not that it makes it any better, but just to highlight it wasn't extortionate amount. I am usually a user of tfl and don't use thameslink as much as I would have in the past.

I agree with the objective... All I truly want is to pay whatever fine they deem fit along with all administrative costs and send my sincere apologies and highlight that this has been the biggest lesson of my life. I have never had a penalty or had to pay fine or anything like this ever, and certainly not with any trainline ever before this.

To answer your questions:

- This happened during peak travelling hours, recently
- I cooperated very well and gave my full name, date of birth, and my current rental address
- I was given a slip with a reference number on it and it's labelled as a "witness statement" along with my personal details I provided.
- No communication received as of yet as its so recent
- I have taken a screenshot of all my spend for the last year, and confirmed that only 11 tickets have been purchased which would fall under this. I will work out how much the total cost will be, but should be under £300 for full price tickets. Obviously with fines and admin costs I understand this may be higher and I will start saving immediately so I can repay it in full as soon as possible.

The questions I have:
- My partner and I planned to relocate in the next two months and have given the two months notice to the landlord. I read online that it can take up to 2-4 months to receive the letter. What can I do? I read somewhere that you shouldn't reach out to the trainline until they write to you. But if they take longer than two months, I can't rely on the building management or the next tenants to keep my post for me. Would appreciate any thoughts on this.
- Will they give me a chance to apologise and go for settlement? I read in one of the posts that they sent a letter for prosecution to someone without a warning or anything. it's made me so nervous and my anxiety is through the roof. (I won't get a night's sleep until they write to me)
- How likely is it that they would want out of court settlement as it means they recover everything?

Thanks for info.

I’ll reply to your very sensible questions later on.

 

[Watershed]

- My partner and I planned to relocate in the next two months and have given the two months notice to the landlord. I read online that it can take up to 2-4 months to receive the letter. What can I do? I read somewhere that you shouldn't reach out to the trainline until they write to you. But if they take longer than two months, I can't rely on the building management or the next tenants to keep my post for me. Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

You should inform GTR once you move, and arrange postal redirection for at least 6 months, just in case they send correspondence to your old (current) address. It's good practice anyway to make sure that you get letters from your old address and can change the address on any accounts you've forgotten about.

 

[Littlesquirrel]

Thanks for info.

I’ll reply to your very sensible questions later on.

Thank you!!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Aug 2026 ==

You should inform GTR once you move, and arrange postal redirection for at least 6 months, just in case they send correspondence to your old (current) address. It's good practice anyway to make sure that you get letters from your old address and can change the address on any accounts you've forgotten about.

Thank you so much! Sorry if this is a silly question but - would I be able to do that now even though I haven't moved yet? We live in a flat where post and parcels may go missing (one of the reasons we are moving), and I don't want to take any chances of the letter from GTR to go missing. I can redirect my post to my parents for atleast 6 months or longer, as I can't confidently say that we won't face a similar issue once we move. My parents have a permanent house and never had any issues with the post so I know I will definitely see the letter whenever it arrives.

I also wanted to say I really appreciate you guys taking the time out to reply, and sharing your knowledge.

 

[WesternLancer]

Thank you!!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Aug 2026 ==


Thank you so much! Sorry if this is a silly question but - would I be able to do that now even though I haven't moved yet? We live in a flat where post and parcels may go missing (one of the reasons we are moving), and I don't want to take any chances of the letter from GTR to go missing. I can redirect my post to my parents for atleast 6 months or longer, as I can't confidently say that we won't face a similar issue once we move. My parents have a permanent house and never had any issues with the post so I know I will definitely see the letter whenever it arrives.

I also wanted to say I really appreciate you guys taking the time out to reply, and sharing your knowledge.

Yes, this is a good idea IMHO - if your parents have a reliable postal address then simply do the redirection to there - see Royal Mail website about how to do a redirection. Make sure your parents know to watch out for all post and alert you ASAP (the envelope may not be marked 'GTR' or anything like that - although lots of the typical letters people receive are uploaded here I don't think I've ever seen the envelope!)

But occasionally redirections like this fail - so you should advise GTR of your new (or preferred ie your parents address) - at this stage just send a simple e-mail to them (they don't accept other stuff by e-mail but they do accept changes of address) about the change - don't get into anything else about what happened in what you say other than the change of address.

Here's a template I have suggested before for that in case it helps



Dear Sir/ Madam

Reference number (insert this from receipt slip you have)

I was stopped on x date at y location and questioned about the validity of my rail ticket.

I will be changing address on xx date

My previous address was (the address given when questioned):

My new address as of x date is:

My e-mail address is:

Please can any letters be sent to my new address so that I can respond to them

Yours faithfully

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Aug 2026 ==

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Turning to your previous message as below - just my thoughts in points in that as below

Thank you for taking the time for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it!!!! It's so silly to say the gravity of what it means didn't hit me until this happened. My friends have done it since forever, and one of them altered mine when it expired last year.

Tell your friends this is a bonkers way to save £35 (cost of a Railcard )

I have found screenshots of all my railcards from 2023 - 2025, hoping this shows that I have been a good corporate citizen before this and always purchased my railcard. But just to showcase that I was always using the correct railcard for all purchases before this.

Good - if they investigate your purchase history they may ask for proof of valid railcards previously owned, so you may need this to show them - keep it safe. Even if they don't ask that now they could use civil courts to reclaim monies they think is owed for up to 6 years, so keep it long term. We have seen some train companies (specifically GWR) do this some years after the incidents they have discovered)

I also looked at my past history after making the post and confirmed that only 11 tickets were purchased via trainline with the wrong railcard... So it's not a long period of time or material amount, again not that it makes it any better, but just to highlight it wasn't extortionate amount. I am usually a user of tfl and don't use thameslink as much as I would have in the past.

Work out the Anytime single fares for each of those trips and save up that money in case they ask for it.

I agree with the objective... All I truly want is to pay whatever fine they deem fit along with all administrative costs

Technically this is not a fine - an out of court settlement for this will be calculated on the basis of the sum they believe you owe them for completely new tickets - plus their admin (only the court gives a fine for punishment of the offence - but you want to avoid court)

and send my sincere apologies and highlight that this has been the biggest lesson of my life. I have never had a penalty or had to pay fine or anything like this ever, and certainly not with any trainline ever before this.

To answer your questions:

- This happened during peak travelling hours, recently
- I cooperated very well and gave my full name, date of birth, and my current rental address
- I was given a slip with a reference number on it and it's labelled as a "witness statement" along with my personal details I provided.
- No communication received as of yet as its so recent

Thanks for clarifying - so you just need to wait to hear from them - this may take at least 6-8 weeks.
If you have not heard in say about 4 months come back here for advice on your options at that point - make a note of when 4 months has elapsed to remind you

- I have taken a screenshot of all my spend for the last year, and confirmed that only 11 tickets have been purchased which would fall under this. I will work out how much the total cost will be, but should be under £300 for full price tickets. Obviously with fines and admin costs I understand this may be higher and I will start saving immediately so I can repay it in full as soon as possible.

Good preparation for what is to come

The questions I have:
- My partner and I planned to relocate in the next two months and have given the two months notice to the landlord. I read online that it can take up to 2-4 months to receive the letter. What can I do? I read somewhere that you shouldn't reach out to the trainline until they write to you. But if they take longer than two months, I can't rely on the building management or the next tenants to keep my post for me. Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Already been answered on this of course

- Will they give me a chance to apologise and go for settlement?

This is there normal procedure so every chance they will

I read in one of the posts that they sent a letter for prosecution to someone without a warning or anything.

This is why I suggest reviewing the situation at 4 months because we do occasionally see this - almost always when it's getting close to the 6 months deadline in which they have to bring criminal court action which they don't want to miss so the instigate court action at the 'last minute' - but if they do (court papers would come from the court not GTR and would come hard copy) - also a good reason to have the Royal Mail redirect for 6 months and to tell GTR of your change of address / parents address - if that did happen it's still possible to tr and get an out of court settlement at the last minute and other cases of that can be seen here - but it's a considerable nuisance because you are up against the clock of a court deadline

here's an example

Travelled without railcard, received GTR SJP a few months later. What do I do?

Good afternoon, I was caught travelling using a discounted ticket without the appropriate railcard. At the time I was stopped I claimed I could not provide my 26-30 railcard due some diffulty on my phone and was issued a witness statement with a request to provide the claimed railcard within...

www.railforums.co.uk

Even if you were taken to court and for some reason did not know about the court action then there is a process for dealing with that - even more of a nuisance, but it resets the clock - again advice from here would help with how to best do that.

But don't overthink these scenarios - they are rare - if it happened come here for advice

it's made me so nervous and my anxiety is through the roof. (I won't get a night's sleep until they write to me)

Try to do your preparation, but put it to the back of your mind until you hear from them. It's a serious matter but the solution to that is to take it seriously - which you seem to be doing. If you feel able to do so, share what's happened with close family - they will probably want to support you.

- How likely is it that they would want out of court settlement as it means they recover everything?

Very likely - it's rare for GTR to take things to court when people have engaged with them.

 

[SECR 65]

I am usually a user of tfl

I just wanted to quickly pick up on this - not to 'scare' you - but TfL treat fare evasion very very seriously, especially missuse of passes etc, so it is very important that you travel with correct tickets on TfL services, as they prosecute thousands of people each year for fare evasion.

Obviously, fare evasion is very serious notwithstanding which Train Operating Company is involved. That said, GTR often are happy to settle out of court. If you cooperate with them, and follow the excellent advice provided above, fingers crossed you will be able to avoid prosecution.