GWR Evasion Notice

[prepareyouself]

Hello all,

I’ve recently received a letter from GWR pertaining to an incident where I attempted to travel to Reading from Earley but had selected the wrong Railcard in doing so.

I’d been told that I was to expect a letter, and I had been doing so, however as time went on I stopped being so concerned until I opened the letter a few days ago. It seems to be a standard ‘one of our revenue protection officers..’ style letter.

The issue is that this incident occurred on the 21st of August, 2024, and it is now February of 2025 - the 21-day period the letter entails to pay the pre-court settlement ends on the 23rd of February 2025. I’ve since been traveling legitimately following being caught.

As this is over six months following the incident, would I then be in the clear? I’m likely to still pay this settlement as it would be in my best interest to avoid GWR investigating my ticket history (I am a student and frequently travel some of my journey on the train, then am driven some of the rest by car to my destination) so my travel behavior may appear irregular but is legitimate. I would still appreciate any advice any of you may have.

If I do not pay this settlement and 6 months has elapsed, is it likely that they will attempt to prosecute still? Is it likely that having issued a pre-court settlement they have already notified the courts within the 6-month period? If I pay this settlement should I expect them to follow up with further potential discrepancies in my ticketing history even if they are authentic?

Thanks for any help.

 

[notmyrealname]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Could you show usthe letter please and any other paperwork you've had? It's best to cover up your name, address and their reference number, to keep this anonymous.

 

[John R]

Do I interpret the penultimate paragraph that your address is some way from Earley, and that you are afraid that they will see that and suspect that you have been short faring?

 

[tonycockram]

It still doesn’t stop them interrogating past journies if the settlement is paid, we have seen recently. Which is very much against the spirit of the agreement.

Officially they can’t chase you for the debt through the criminal courts and there is a feeling the train operating companies are starting to chase through the civil courts.

But as it stands you are in the clear, so should keep your head down. You can probably expect a few more pleading letters from the toc in the meantime but yeah as the 6 month period has completed …

 

[John R]

It still doesn’t stop them interrogating past journies if the settlement is paid, we have seen recently. Which is very much against the spirit of the agreement.

Officially they can’t chase you for the debt through the criminal courts and there is a feeling the train operating companies are starting to chase through the civil courts.

But as it stands you are in the clear, so should keep your head down. You can probably expect a few more pleading letters from the toc in the meantime but yeah as the 6 month period has completed …

It hasn’t though. They could serve papers before the 21st in anticipation of the payment not being made and then withdraw them if it is.

 

[AlterEgo]

It hasn’t though. They could serve papers before the 21st in anticipation of the payment not being made and then withdraw them if it is.

There is that possibility, although I am not sure we have seen GWR do this (Chiltern have done so in the past).

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

While we don't know the full details about the wrong railcard my advice is to pay the settlement to make the matter go away. If you don't then any of the following could happen:

• GWR will send further threatening letters
• As alluded to above, they might already have laid papers before the court before the 6-month deadline as a back-up. Even if they haven't done this, they might still try and prosecute and while it should be thrown out by the court for being out of time we know there were at least 76,000 cases where this didn't happen. These people are in the process of having their convictions overturned but in the meantime they have been convicted and fined, with all the hassle that involves
• They could seek to recover the fare owed via the civil courts. While we don't see much of this I've a hunch that we will start to see train companies become much more active in pursuing cases in this way in the future.
• Realistically, if GWR search your online ticketing account and find further purchases with the 'wrong' railcard they cannot prosecute you in the Magistrates court because they would be out of time. The correct course of action would be for them to research your account and include the cost of historical journeys in the settlement offer for the incident on the day you were caught. This is because if you don't pay the settlement they can always prosecute you for the offence on the day you were caught.

 

[island]

Even if they haven't done this, they might still try and prosecute and while it should be thrown out by the court for being out of time we know there were at least 76,000 cases where this didn't happen.

Those cases weren't due to the time limit, they were ineligible for other reasons.

 

[Hadders]

Those cases weren't due to the time limit, they were ineligible for other reasons.

Some clumsy wording on my part, but whatever the reason the cases should’ve been thrown out and weren’t. I have little confidence that the courts would throw out future invalid prosecutions whatever the reason.

 

[prepareyouself]

Hey all!

Little update:

I reached out to GWR and notified them that I had selected the wrong Railcard that day. I am a 16-25 Railcard holder and sent them evidence of this, and they were willing to grant me a leniency and drop the charges they had held without paying a pre-court settlement.

Excellent result, I’ll be sure not to allow this to happen again.

Do I interpret the penultimate paragraph that your address is some way from Earley, and that you are afraid that they will see that and suspect that you have been short faring?

Yes.

Though I’m less concerned now seeing as that they’ve dropped the investigation now that I have proven evidence of a 16-25 Railcard.

 

[tonycockram]

A great result! Now use the right railcards ! Well
Done.