Hi

I'll try and keep this brief.

A friend and I got on a train recently where there is no ticket facility and there was no conductor on the train.

When we got to the destination station my mate took off to the ticket office and asked for two tickets from the last stop, not the station we go on at.

At this point I wasn't aware that he was getting my ticket and was fully expecting to get my own.

We'd had a few beers and he thought this was a bit of a high jinks and mischief, it certainly wasn't about the £3 difference in price.

Well, as you can imagine we were questioned, had our details taken and advised that a letter would be on the way.

Are we looking at prosecution or is there any possibility we'll be able to settle out of court?

I can't believe we've been this silly and neither of us have any convictions at all.

The important thing is that when the letter arrives is to tell the truth and be extremely apologetic. The fact that this was a deliberate attempt to defraud rather than an accident is unhelpful. However, if you have nothing on your record for this kind of thing before then the chances are that you will have an invitation to pay a fixed penalty.

Yep you should be ok

Await the letter

Thanks for the reply. I'm really, really worried about this, I have recently got a new mortgage, have a job where my integrity is important and my wife is losing her job in a few months. This is not great and I'm very concerned.

Yep you should be ok

Await the letter

Thanks also, but I'm not going to be able to sleep well until this is all over.

Which train company is it please?

I imagine this letter will either be a penalty notice, although I thought they were issued on the day, or an invitation to tell your side of the story. You're a long way from a conviction at this stage.

HB

I believe it is Network Rail, actually, that may be Great Western.

No they maintain the railway lines and are not a toc

Cant see this harming your job nor mortgage etc

Its not that serious in the scheme of things

Yes, I thought it may be,I think its Great Western.

My concerns about the mortgage and job etc is about getting a new job with a record (should anything happen) and therefore paying the mortgage.

You would be extremely unlucky to get a conviction out of this its a very lowvlevel run of the mill occurrence unless you have history of it..... an out of court settlement is 99% certain if you deal with it properly

Aawait their letter IF you get one..they have 6 mts

You would be extremely unlucky to get a conviction out of this its a very lowvlevel run of the mill occurrence unless you have history of it..... an out of court settlement is 99% certain if you deal with it properly

 

Aawait their letter IF you get one..they have 6 mts

Thanks, this is 100% the first time anything like this has ever happened in my entire life. 6 months is a long time to have this hanging over me, I hope you're right. Thanks

They normally write in six to eight weeks, it depends on the TOC.

HB

hows this going?

Sorry for the delay in updating this.

I had a letter from GWR with a fine of about £80 plus train fare (about £8) and paid it straight away online.

Thankfully no court case!

you mean an out of court settlement?