Travel irregularity notice

[MSNBBC9825]

I am coming from Ireland visiting the UK for a couple of months. I was taking a transpenine express train and I booked a ticket with a railcard (it was genuinely an honest mistake - I don’t know maybe I was looking to apply for a railcard before and didn’t finish so it was selected in my journey.). I explained this to the conductor and she was understanding but said she needs to issue me an irregularity notice and that I will receive a letter most likely asking me to pay a fine. I will make sure to reply as soon as I get the letter but my concern is that this things could escalate more and would it appear on a DBS in the future should I apply to work here or on my record in general. She said in general not to worry as it’s my first time but if it happened again it would be a fairly big problem. I accept that I was careless and should have checked things more carefully before I booked.

 

[tatitiliti]

I am coming from Ireland visiting the UK for a couple of months. I was taking a transpenine express train and I booked a ticket with a railcard (it was genuinely an honest mistake - I don’t know maybe I was looking to apply for a railcard before and didn’t finish so it was selected in my journey.). I explained this to the conductor and she was understanding but said she needs to issue me an irregularity notice and that I will receive a letter most likely asking me to pay a fine. I will make sure to reply as soon as I get the letter but my concern is that this things could escalate more and would it appear on a DBS in the future should I apply to work here or on my record in general. She said in general not to worry as it’s my first time but if it happened again it would be a fairly big problem. I accept that I was careless and should have checked things more carefully before I booked.

You committed a strict liability criminal offence in what you did, even though you stated it was in error. However, they will almost certainly settle out of court. This will either be via:

- A notice of intended prosecution
- Another communication which often does the work for you and asks you to settle out of court to avoid the prosecution - usually £100-200 plus the cost of the undiscounted anytime single fare for your journey.

If you get a notice of intended prosecution, you need to reply with a concise letter apologising for your error and asking politely if they will settle out of court. There are plenty of templates on other threads if you need help writing it.

Post the letter on here with your details redacted when you receive it so we can advise you further. It’s very unlikely to go to court and, even if it did, it wouldn’t show up on a standard DBS check anyway - don’t worry about it and be more careful next time!

 

[AlterEgo]

Which railcard did you select, and would you qualify for it anyway?

 

[Haywain]

would it appear on a DBS in the future should I apply to work here or on my record in general.

A conviction for a railway byelaw offence is a fairly trivial matter and wouldn't appear on a standard DBS check. However, any criminal conviction is a matter of public record.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

A conviction for a railway byelaw offence is a fairly trivial matter and wouldn't appear on a standard DBS check. However, any criminal conviction is a matter of public record.

And in case it isn't clear - 'out of court settlements' don't appear on DBS or form a criminal record. Settling out of court is a private arrangement between you and the railway. It's only if you go to court (even if that's done by post through the 'Single Justice Procedure') that you need to worry about DBS/a criminal record.

 

[WesternLancer]

I am coming from Ireland visiting the UK for a couple of months. I was taking a transpenine express train and I booked a ticket with a railcard (it was genuinely an honest mistake - I don’t know maybe I was looking to apply for a railcard before and didn’t finish so it was selected in my journey.). I explained this to the conductor and she was understanding but said she needs to issue me an irregularity notice and that I will receive a letter most likely asking me to pay a fine. I will make sure to reply as soon as I get the letter but my concern is that this things could escalate more and would it appear on a DBS in the future should I apply to work here or on my record in general. She said in general not to worry as it’s my first time but if it happened again it would be a fairly big problem. I accept that I was careless and should have checked things more carefully before I booked.

Further to the good advice already given, the process is (potentially) the 1st step on the way to court action - BUT this is usually easy to avoid by engaging with them when they write to you - so the vital thing is receiving their letter (does often come in hard copy but e-mail is also possible - also check spam) - so presume you gave them a reliable postal address to contact you on for at least the next 6 months?
It may take some weeks before they contact you (eg 6-8 weeks perhaps)

If you have not heard in say 4 months then head back here for advice on what you might want to consider doing.

Court action is best avoided because even if it does not have long term consequences on DBS checks etc it would cost more in court fine etc than resolving it with TransPennine directly before it got escalated to court.

From what we see it's pretty standard to refer these Railcard issues for back office investigation using one of these reports - this is because staff know that it's often not the first time the discount has been wrongly applied and by investigating it they can check past ticket purchasing on line records for other sums owed and charge passengers for those.