Chiltern railway prosecution HELP please

[trainuser123_]

So today (06/05/24)

I was stopped by a member of the fraud team of Chiltern railway @ Marylebone. Incident was incorrect ticket short faring, I counted the amount of tickets on my Trainline app and it totaled somewhere between 100-150 times. So its happened a lot. The man was freaking me about flashing his ‘fraud tean’ badge at me and saying stuff like “what you say may be used as evidence” etc. I initially admitted to him that yes I short fared in the hope of he may just let me pay the ticket then he got out a sheet he started filling out, I paranoid and answered no comment to all aside my own details.

I’m now filled with regret, my actions were stupid. Now I’m extremely paranoid, reason being I am going into the healthcare profession and start a uni course in the summer… I cannot afford to have a prosecution go ahead and get criminally convicted due to the implications on my career. What are the odds of this being played into a settlement offer? I’ve seen many people with very similar counts of short faring and incorrect railcards/tickets manage to get a settlement. At this point I’m willing to pay whatever - can anyone please advise on the likelihood on getting a settlement? I’m going to assume they will try and go under the fraud conviction act can settlements still be made out of that initial letter when it arrives?

 

[Brissle Girl]

Chiltern tends to be more difficult to get a settlement offer from, but not impossible if you work hard. Against you is the number of times you have done this, which no doubt they will discover. It could be argued that if industrial scale fare evasion like this does not result in prosecution then when will it be?

You don’t say the journey you were making, but take the Anytime Single face for each single journey taken, multiply it by the number of journeys, and add around £200 as an administrative charge and that is the amount you may have to find very quickly if you are to settle with them.

It will help them if you are more precise in how many times you did this, if you are to be totally cooperative, which along with honesty is likely to be required to persuade Chiltern that you won’t offend again.

 

[AndroidBango]

Now I’m extremely paranoid, reason being I am going into the healthcare profession and start a uni course in the summer… I cannot afford to have a prosecution go ahead and get criminally convicted due to the implications on my career. What are the odds of this being played into a settlement offer?

I don't think Chiltern are going to be moved by this.

 

[trainuser123_]

I don't think Chiltern are going to be moved by this.

I understand. I don’t want to sell them a sob story to be honest, I get it’s my own actions that have led to this and take full responsibility. I have seen however, quite a few scenarios similar to mine where people have wriggled out a settlement. I’m thinking of appointing a solicitor when the letter comes through, just want realistic advice given it’s a first offence and this is a new situation for me

 

[trainuser123_]

Chiltern tends to be more difficult to get a settlement offer from, but not impossible if you work hard. Against you is the number of times you have done this, which no doubt they will discover. It could be argued that if industrial scale fare evasion like this does not result in prosecution then when will it be?

You don’t say the journey you were making, but take the Anytime Single face for each single journey taken, multiply it by the number of journeys, and add around £200 as an administrative charge and that is the amount you may have to find very quickly if you are to settle with them.

It will help them if you are more precise in how many times you did this, if you are to be totally cooperative, which along with honesty is likely to be required to persuade Chiltern that you won’t offend again.

I appreciate this reply. It gives atleast a glimmer of hope..

 

[ikcdab]

My experience is that Chiltern will almost certainly prosecute you but there is a small glimmer of hope that they might go for out of court if you cooperate completely and you are totally honest.
You say you gave him your details which I guess included your correct address? If so they will look at that against where your tickets are from and draw their own conclusions about short fareing.
You haven't said which stations are involved but you can look up the correct anytime single fare, multiply that by the number of times your have done it, add on £150 and that is approx the minimum amount of money you will need to find. If it does go to court then there are additional costs to pay.
If you have any paperwork either given to you today or when you get a letter on the post then upload it here (suitably anonymised) and we can offer more help.
You can help yourself massively now by making sure you buy the correct tickets in future with the correct Railcard if you are eligible for one.