Rail Fare Evasion

[A5HCULL]

I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on what action i can expect against myself regarding a rail fare evasion, perhaps from their own experience or knowledge within the area.

 

I recently travelled on a single fare trip within the South West of England and misinformed the ticket conductor deliberately that my trip was shorter than the actual trip. Therefore redcuing the fare by £4.70.

 

However, they soon clocked on to what i had done. I admitted everything and was given a caution, advised i had commited fraud, read my rights and interviewed in the station, my details were taken and i was advised i would receive a letter and have a certain time to respond in or it would be taken to court.

 

This is the first time something like this has happened to me and it was a stupid mistake on my part.

 

As mentioned at the start can anyone advise on what penalties/fines/actions i can expect against me.

[honeybee13]

I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on what action i can expect against myself regarding a rail fare evasion, perhaps from their own experience or knowledge within the area.

 

I recently travelled on a single fare trip within the South West of England and misinformed the ticket conductor deliberately that my trip was shorter than the actual trip. Therefore redcuing the fare by £4.70.

 

However, they soon clocked on to what i had done. I admitted everything and was given a caution, advised i had commited fraud, read my rights and interviewed in the station, my details were taken and i was advised i would receive a letter and have a certain time to respond in or it would be taken to court.

 

This is the first time something like this has happened to me and it was a stupid mistake on my part.

 

As mentioned at the start can anyone advise on what penalties/fines/actions i can expect against me.

 

Hello and welcome to CAG. I hope the transport guys will be along later with advice for you.

 

What you did is called offering a short fare, I believe. You will receive said letter in the next few weeks and it will ask for your version of events. Until it arrives, you won't know which offence they think you've committed, but at that time the guys should be able to give you an idea of what to write. It will probably be in your interests to apologise at that time.

 

There are plenty of examples of similar problems if you have a read around this forum.

 

Which train company is involved please?

 

My best, HB

[A5HCULL]

Thanks HB for your quick reply.

 

I believe it is First Great Western.

 

Has concerned me as mentioned court proceedings and criminal record.

 

Do you know of anyone's experience with first great western and this incident?

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

I can't remember offhand, but you could try searching the forum with key words.

 

Court and a criminal record are not out of the question, but I don't know enough to answer that myself, sorry. Why didn't you pay the full fare please?

 

HB

[Old-CodJA]

Hello,

 

Offering a 'short fare' with intent to avoid paying the correct fare due is a breach of Section 5 of The Regulation of Railways Act (1889) and carries a maximum penalty, if convicted, of a fine of up to £1000.

 

It is a criminal matter. For a first offence you can expect the fine to be considerably less than that maximum, it will normally be around £400 if you get a Summons and do not respond, and there will also be other charges including compensation to the rail company, prosecutors costs and a victim surcharge. These charges will be reduced if you accept your guilt at an early stage, plead guilty and apologise to the Court & rail company.

 

Before all of that happens, wait until you get a letter from the rail company and you will then have the relevant case reference allocated to your incident.

 

When you get that letter come back and tell us what it says, then we may be able to help with writing a letter that may help you to avoid Court action altogether.

[A5HCULL]

Thank you for your advise.

 

What i did was foolish and i plan to plead guilty and apologise.

 

As it is a first offence do you know if it would definitely be taken to court?

 

I have read that many have offered an out of court settlement and been successful. However my concern is if they are sure i am guilty they would not want to go down this route?

 

Thanks again all.

 

A

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

To be honest, you're asking us to second guess what the rail company are going to do, which is hard. As for court, I think that's more to do with the fine and sentence than whether it goes to court, but I could be wrong.

 

It's always worth offering to settle out of court, but again we never know if the TOC will accept. If it were me, I would try, and maybe the guys will give you an idea of what to say.

 

As OC said, you haven't had the letter yet, so we don't know what you're up against.

 

HB

[A5HCULL]

HB

 

Thanks again, i agree i need to forget about it now until i receive the letter as it is out of my hands really.

 

A