Challenge after out of court settlement?

Hello,

Just a quick question.

Traveled in first class with a standard class ticket after being told I could sit in First class by a train manager. train manager changes at Taunton, stopped by a RPO at Exeter who reports me for prosection.

Recieve a letter asking me for £350 in an out of court settlement, but I intend to challenge this as I was told I could sit in First Class by a TM. If I pay the out of court settlement, can I still challenge, and after payment, could they then come back and say because I've challenged it, they will just decide to take me to court?

Thoughts are welcome!

Aasimuk said:

Hello,

Just a quick question.

Traveled in first class with a standard class ticket after being told I could sit in First class by a train manager. train manager changes at Taunton, stopped by a RPO at Exeter who reports me for prosection.

Recieve a letter asking me for £350 in an out of court settlement, but I intend to challenge this as I was told I could sit in First Class by a TM. If I pay the out of court settlement, can I still challenge, and after payment, could they then come back and say because I've challenged it, they will just decide to take me to court?

Thoughts are welcome!

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An out of Court settlement is likely to be considered a form of binding contract - so you couldn't challenge it after payment, and equally GWR couldn't prosecute you after payment.

If you were explicitly told by the train manager that you could travel in first class, and you are able to provide sufficient evidence that this is the case (e.g. a description of the train manager and what he said) then you may have a sufficient defence if you are prosecuted. Nevertheless, the risk that you are convicted remains, so I would consider the different outcomes carefully.

I'm going to make an assumption here, and that is that you've misunderstood the correspondence.
An 'Out-of-Court Settlement' (OOC) is a mutual agreement. Two parties to a dispute who with to reach a resolution can carry on negotiating the terms of a settlement for as long as they wish. There is nothing to 'challenge' because there wouldn't be a settlement to challenge unless it was the settlement that you had already agreed to.

Perhaps the Company has made an offer. And perhaps, you wish to decline that offer.

But the important point that anyone negotiating a settlement must bear in mind, is the default position if the other party decides not to make any more concessions. In your specific incident, I guess that the default position is a Criminal Prosecution against you by the Railway Company; and, that you have no other negotiating point to use in supporting your counter argument (I'm guessing that you have absolutely no evidence to show that you were permitted to sit in First Class between Taunton and your destination.)

No, The Company CANNOT Prosecute this Offence if they have entered into a binding agreement not to prosecute that same Offence. (Actually, they CAN, but the evidence of an agreed and accepted OOC settlement will make that Prosecution very hard in the extreme. Unless there was compelling new evidence, no Prosecutor would persue a Conviction after agreeing an OOC settlement.)

A settlement is a settlement. If you pay it, that is the end of the matter for both parties, and I would be very surprised if GWR entered into further correspondence thereafter.

In other words, if you do not want to agree to the settlement today, do not assume it will still be on the table at a future date.