Ticket irregularity - letter received late

[adviceplease]

Hi,

I have today received a letter from Greater Anglia (GA) of their intention to consider my case for legal proceedings. It is stated that to avoid this I must reply within 7 days of the date of the letter (22nd November 2023) however this has since passed as I have only received the letter in the mail today.

Therefore I need to contact them immediately but am unsure how to respond.

I am also seeking legal advice from a solicitor but do not know how long they will take to respond. I am fully willing to cooperate with the investigation in order to avoid a conviction. I will add more details of my case to this thread later but any advice for what I should include in my reply that I am planning to send in this evening would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your replies in advance

 

[AlterEgo]

What are the facts of the case? We need those before providing any advice.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@adviceplease. Welcome to the forum.

When replying, please refer to this post...

Please read before posting in Disputes & Prosecutions

Guidance for those asking for advice: Please bear in mind the following, when asking for advice in this section: We need to know all relevant facts in order to assist you, including, for example: The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey The stations* where you changed...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Mzzzs]

We need context also if you are receiving legal advice you should listen to them not us.

 

[adviceplease]

What are the facts of the case? We need those before providing any advice.

I was travelling from my local station to Stratford and had not purchased a ticket. When I went to tap in to get on the Jubilee line I was stopped by a plain clothed member of staff and asked where I had travelled from and to present my ticket which I did not have. I was then asked if I had done this before to which I admitted I had and was told I would receive a letter in the post and they would investigate further.

This is the first letter I have received but it has taken almost two weeks to arrive so the period respond by has passed. I am keen to reach an OOC and willing to help with and cover the costs of the investigation but I fear that I have missed this opportunity due to the delay in receiving the letter.

 

[island]

I would suggest sending them a holding email today stating that their letter dated 22 November has only reached you today, and that you intend to send a substantive reply by the end of the week.

 

[adviceplease]

We need context also if you are receiving legal advice you should listen to them not us.

I have reached out for legal advice but I imagine it is unlikely I will revive a response this evening. I feel it is in my best interests to respond as soon as possible to inform GA that I am willing to cooperate to avoid any further delay and risk of not being able to settle the matter out of court.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Dec 2023 ==

I would suggest sending them a holding email today stating that their letter dated 22 November has only reached you today, and that you intend to send a substantive reply by the end of the week.

Would you recommend including including anything else within the email? (e.g sincere apology, intention to cooperate, willingness to cover costs, keenness to reach an OOC). Or am I best off waiting until I have received legal advice?

 

[island]

Would you recommend including including anything else within the email? (e.g sincere apology, intention to cooperate, willingness to cover costs, keenness to reach an OOC). Or am I best off waiting until I have received legal advice?

Just that you have received the letter and whilst noting that a response was expected by the 29th, the postal delays mean that is of course not possible.

 

[adviceplease]

Just that you have received the letter and whilst noting that a response was expected by the 29th, the postal delays mean that is of course not possible.

thanks, appreciate the advice

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

I really need to know more information about your case before I can advise but generally speaking I suggest mentioning the following points in yoiur reply:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Dec 2023 ==

Following previous advice in this thread, for now I have responded to GA to inform them that I only received the letter today and that I would greatly appreciate if they take into consideration my full substantive response which I will provide in the coming days.

That's fine. The points I mentioned are what I suggest you put in your substantive reply.

I was caught travelling without a ticket by an undercover officer standing next to the tap-in machine on the Jubilee line at Stratford. I had travelled from my local station to Stratford where the cost of an anytime single is approximately £17. I was then asked a few questions to which I replied honestly and admitted that this is not the first time I had traveled without a ticket. I was unable to provide an exact number of instances that this had occurred as I was unsure at the time so indicated it was around 10 return journeys. Having inspected my ticket purchase history it appears to be closer to 15 over a period of 8 weeks. The letter does not make reference to any of these other journeys but the use of the word “irregularity” would suggest they are investigating more than just the one incident as I informed them that this is the case. I imagine they have requested my ticket purchase history from Trainline so they will be aware of them anyway.

I was also asked for my occupation which I shared and it is a regulated profession so I am very keen to reach an OOC and avoid a conviction. Any advice that would improve my chances of an OOC would be greatly appreciated.

I have reached out to a solicitor that I have seen recommended on this forum and will hopefully receive a response within 24 hours. However I don’t want to delay my case much longer as almost two weeks has passed since the date of the letter, even though it was not possible for me to reply any sooner.

I understand that I will likely have to pay the full cost of an anytime single fare for both ways of each journey plus penalty/admin/investigation costs. I am willing to offer to pay these costs as this is a far better outcome for me than receiving a conviction.

I could be wrong here but the way I have interpreted the letter is an invitation to provide details about the occasions that I travelled without a ticket. I realise that honesty is the best policy in order to achieve an OOC but I have also seen other advice on this forum about not incriminating myself so I am unsure how to approach this.

I have since purchased a valid ticket for all journeys. I know I should have been doing so anyway so this may not help with my case in any way but thought it was worth mentioning to show that I have changed. Obviously I have no intention of travelling without a valid ticket ever again.

If you co-operate then I think there is a very good chance of a favourable outcome for you. Given that you have already admitted to short faring on previous occasions, and Greater Anglia will be able to obtain touch-in details from TfL, there's is little to be gained by not mentioning the previous occasions.

 

[adviceplease]

Welcome to the forum!

I really need to know more information about your case before I can advise but generally speaking I suggest mentioning the following points in yoiur reply:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Following previous advice in this thread, for now I have responded to GA to inform them that I only received the letter today and that I would greatly appreciate if they take into consideration my full substantive response which I will provide in the coming days.

I was caught travelling without a ticket by an undercover officer standing next to the tap-in machine on the Jubilee line at Stratford. I had travelled from my local station to Stratford (no barriers either side) where the cost of an anytime single is approximately £17. I was then asked a few questions to which I replied honestly and admitted that this is not the first time I had traveled without a ticket. I was unable to provide an exact number of instances that this had occurred as I was unsure at the time so indicated it was around 10 return journeys. Having inspected my ticket purchase history it appears to be closer to 15 over a period of 8 weeks. The letter does not make reference to any of these other journeys but the use of the word “irregularity” would suggest they are investigating more than just the one incident as I informed them that this is the case. I imagine they have requested my ticket purchase history from Trainline so they will be aware of them anyway.

I was also asked for my occupation which I shared and it is a regulated profession so I am very keen to reach an OOC and avoid a conviction. Any advice that would improve my chances of an OOC would be greatly appreciated.

I have reached out to a solicitor that I have seen recommended on this forum and will hopefully receive a response within 24 hours. However I don’t want to delay my case much longer as almost two weeks has passed since the date of the letter, even though it was not possible for me to reply any sooner.

I understand that I will likely have to pay the full cost of an anytime single fare for both ways of each journey plus penalty/admin/investigation costs. I am willing to offer to pay these costs as this is a far better outcome for me than receiving a conviction.

I could be wrong here but the way I have interpreted the letter is an invitation to provide details about the occasions that I travelled without a ticket. I realise that honesty is the best policy in order to achieve an OOC but I have also seen other advice on this forum about not incriminating myself so I am unsure how to approach this.

I have since purchased a valid ticket for all journeys. I know I should have been doing so anyway so this may not help with my case in any way but thought it was worth mentioning to show that I have changed. Obviously I have no intention of travelling without a valid ticket ever again.

 

[WesternLancer]

The letter does not make reference to any of these other journeys but the use of the word “irregularity” would suggest they are investigating more than just the one incident as I informed them that this is the case. I imagine they have requested my ticket purchase history from Trainline so they will be aware of them anyway.

I could be wrong here but the way I have interpreted the letter is an invitation to provide details about the occasions that I travelled without a ticket. I realise that honesty is the best policy in order to achieve an OOC but I have also seen other advice on this forum about not incriminating myself so I am unsure how to approach this.

They may well be investigating it and checking your purchase records, but the letter you uploaded does not seem to be specifically asking you about other occasions, so in line with the general advice often given about not incriminating yourself I suspect it may be best not to mention those at this stage in your reply (one way of the other) and confine any initial reply to the incident / date mentioned when you were stopped.

 

[adviceplease]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say thanks again to all those that contributed to this thread. I reached out to a solicitor who was able to speed the process up a bit and I have been offered an OOC.