WMR - Potential Prosecution (URGENT) - Option to comment letter

[UnorganisedTra]

Hi all,

I am hoping for some advice - On the 31st May 24 I had traveled from Coseley Station to Birmingham New Street with an expired railcard of approximately 2 months which i had not realized had expired - I had potentially purchased several tickets using this railcard without realizing it had expired and was stopped and questioned by a revenue protection officer who told me I will receive a letter in due course. Today I have received this letter (See Attached) and most of the 14 days to respond have already passed so I am very keen to get this sorted ASAP. I have drafted up an initial response letter (Written Below) - any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter dated 23rd July 24 regarding being questioned by a member of the Revenue Protection Team, I hope that my response finds you well and within the 14 day response period, as I only received this letter on the 2nd August 24 and have actioned it immediately.

I am writing to apologise for the incident on the Friday 31st May 2024 whereby I had purchased a ticket to travel from Coseley to Birmingham New Street with an Expired 26-30 Railcard, which I thought was valid as I had not seen a reminder to renew unlike my previous railcards, resulting in an invalid fare. Although I have had several railcards in the past that I ensured were up to date and valid, my lack of organisation had led to me forgetting to renew my railcard in an appropriate timeframe, resulting in me purchasing tickets that I was not entitled to a discount on leading to an invalid fare.

I am incredibly remorseful for my irresponsible behaviour and have taken significant steps to remedy this going forward through immediately purchasing a new railcard and set calendar reminders of when this expires to ensure this does not happen again. I take full responsibility for my actions and I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or frustration that my actions have caused, fully understanding the severity and impact of my actions on the railways and dealing with fare evasion.

I understand the importance of ensuring the appropriate fare is paid and that actions such as fare evasion should have appropriate consequences which I am committed to accept – ensuring that I will not make this error of judgment again.

I assure you that I have learnt from this experience and I am keen to settle this matter amicably without the need for court action as I am very concerned that a prosecution for this offence might have disproportionate effect on my current employment as it is essential that I maintain a clean DBS record, so I am seeking your consideration and understanding when dealing with this. I am willing to rectify the situation immediately by paying the full amount of unpaid fares and any additional administrative costs in dealing with this matter or whatever sum deemed appropriate to compensate the railways for my actions.

Once again I sincerely apologise for my actions and am willing to fully cooperate in finding a resolution for this. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hopefully reaching a satisfactory conclusion to this matter for both parties.



Many Thanks

xxxxxxxxxx

Many Thanks!

 

[Haywain]

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter dated 23rd July 24 regarding being questioned by a member of the Revenue Protection Team, I hope that my response finds you well and within the 14 day response period, as I only received this letter on the 2nd August 24 and have actioned it immediately.

I am writing to apologise for the incident on the Friday 31st May 2024 whereby I had purchased a ticket to travel from Coseley to Birmingham New Street with an Expired 26-30 Railcard, which I thought was valid as I had not seen a reminder to renew unlike my previous railcards, resulting in an invalid fare. Although I have had several railcards in the past that I ensured were up to date and valid, my lack of organisation had led to me forgetting to renew my railcard in an appropriate timeframe, resulting in me purchasing tickets that I was not entitled to a discount on leading to an invalid fare.

I am incredibly remorseful for my irresponsible behaviour and have taken significant steps to remedy this going forward through immediately purchasing a new railcard and set calendar reminders of when this expires to ensure this does not happen again. I take full responsibility for my actions and I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or frustration that my actions have caused, fully understanding the severity and impact of my actions on the railways and dealing with fare evasion.

I understand the importance of ensuring the appropriate fare is paid and that actions such as fare evasion should have appropriate consequences which I am committed to accept – ensuring that I will not make this error of judgment again.

I assure you that I have learnt from this experience and I am keen to settle this matter amicably without the need for court action as I am very concerned that a prosecution for this offence might have disproportionate effect on my current employment as it is essential that I maintain a clean DBS record, so I am seeking your consideration and understanding when dealing with this. I am willing to rectify the situation immediately by paying the full amount of unpaid fares and any additional administrative costs in dealing with this matter or whatever sum deemed appropriate to compensate the railways for my actions.

Once again I sincerely apologise for my actions and am willing to fully cooperate in finding a resolution for this. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hopefully reaching a satisfactory conclusion to this matter for both parties.

Would you really use the words in bold? I have mt doubts that you would, and if not use language that you would normally use. Also cut out some of the unnecessary stuff in the penultimate paragraph, which goes a very long way around saying "I'm sorry and I'd like you to allow me to pay the fare and your costs". The object of the exercise is to write a letter that says what you want, not to use as many words as possible!

 

[UnorganisedTra]

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== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Aug 2024 ==

Would you really use the words in bold? I have mt doubts that you would, and if not use language that you would normally use. Also cut out some of the unnecessary stuff in the penultimate paragraph, which goes a very long way around saying "I'm sorry and I'd like you to allow me to pay the fare and your costs". The object of the exercise is to write a letter that says what you want, not to use as many words as possible!

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!, Unfortunately I do tend to write and speak like this due to years of report writing and the nature of my work so sometimes I can get a bit wordy with things! - I have made a few changes in light of your response - do you think this sounds any better? -

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter dated 23rd July 24 regarding being questioned by a member of the Revenue Protection Team, I hope that my response finds you well and within the 14 day response period, as I only received this letter on the 2nd August 24 and have actioned it immediately.

I am writing to apologise for the incident on the Friday 31st May 2024 whereby I had purchased a ticket to travel from Coseley to Birmingham New Street with an Expired 26-30 Railcard, which I thought was valid as I had not seen a reminder to renew unlike my previous railcards, resulting in an invalid fare. Although I have had several railcards in the past that I ensured were up to date and valid, my lack of organisation had led to me forgetting to renew my railcard on this occasion, resulting in me unintentionally purchasing discounted tickets that I was not entitled to.

I am remorseful for my irresponsible behaviour and have taken steps to remedy this going forward. I immediately purchased a new railcard and set calendar reminders of when this expires to ensure this does not happen again. I take full responsibility for my actions and I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or frustration that they have caused, fully understanding the severity and impact this has on the railways.

I understand the importance that fares are paid in full and I will ensure that I will not make this error again as I rely on the railway for my work.

I assure you that I have learnt from this experience and I am keen to settle this matter amicably without the need for court action. I am willing to rectify the situation by offering to pay the full amount of unpaid fares and any additional administrative costs in dealing with this matter promptly.

Once again I sincerely apologise for my actions and am willing to fully cooperate in finding a resolution for this. I look forward to hearing from you soon and hopefully reaching a satisfactory conclusion to this matter for all.

Many Thanks

xxxxxxx

Thanks again!

 

[Haywain]

That looks better to me, a little less clunky to read.

 

[30907]

That looks better to me, a little less clunky to read.

I would think the first para, not least because I don't like being found well

This would suffice:
"Thank you for your letter (reference....) of... which I only received on.... and have actioned as soon as I was able"

Remember that the reader is under pressure of time.

 

[UnorganisedTra]

I would think the first para, not least because I don't like being found well

This would suffice:
"Thank you for your letter (reference....) of... which I only received on.... and have actioned as soon as I was able"

Remember that the reader is under pressure of time.

Thanks! I really appreciate your input, I have adjusted it accordingly .
Hopefully the letter will arrive within the deadline! - I will update the post once I have further correspondence - whatever that may be.