Traveled Without railcard and I've been issued a letter By Northern Train

Reoblamez said:

Urgent help Please

I know I've made a mistake and I'm willing to correct, I've learnt from it too.
Please guys I traveled to York from Leeds without railcard on Northern Train(Friday 30 May 2025)

(I used the Student Railcard option) I'm a student and since after the incident I have gotten my Railcard.
During the stop, I told the officer that I left the railcard at home and he said he was going to issue me a report,that I will get a letter from Northern Train and I need to upload the railcard and if it's true I won't have any issue.
But I honestly didn't have one as of that day. Showed him my student ID card but he said that's not what he wants.

Long story short,I have received the letter from Northern Train and below is the letter, please how do I respond to this letter, I just want to sort out whatever fee they will demand and move on, I already bought the Railcard since 4 June

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Fawkes Cat said:

Welcome to the forum.

You're not the first person to do this, so if you're honest with the railway it won't surprise them.

Essentially, write a letter to them (if you want, we can read it over for you) explaining what you did, and saying you're sorry. There's a good chance that Northern won't take you to court but will let you settle by paying the train fare that you should have paid, plus their admin costs. Maybe a couple of hundred pounds in all, but you won't be taken to court.

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Mcr Warrior said:

@Reoblamez. If the time you got stopped was genuinely a one-off occasion, and inspection of your online ticket purchasing history doesn't indicate that you've previously been buying (and using?) other rail tickets with inappropriately applied railcard discounts, reckon you'll just be asked to pay the York -> Leeds single fare (= £20.40?) plus maybe a three figure admin and investigation fee.

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Hadders said:

Welcome to the forum!

You need to send a short, concise reply stating that on the date you travelled you did not possess a railcard. I would also mention:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

You'll see many replies in other threads in this section of the form which you can use. If you put a draft reply in this thread forum members will proof read it for you.

Northern normally offer an out of court settlement in cases like this, expect to have to pay the cost of the fare for the journey you made at the full Anytime rate, with no credit given for the invalid ticket you did purchase. In addition they will charge an admin fee typically £150. A risk is they will check you ticket purchasing history and if this indicates purchase of other railcard discounted tickets they might want to factor the cost of these journeys into the settlement cost as well.

You can reply to Northern by email or letter as indicated in their letter. If you do go for a hard copy letter rather than send their form back printyour letter out properly on A4 paper but make sure it contains your contact details and the case reference number.

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Reoblamez said:

...am willing to pay the outstanding fare at the full Anytime rate...

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Mcr Warrior said:

Think I'd be inclined to refer to "the appropriate rate", rather than "the full Anytime rate". If you're lucky, this might save you some £.

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