Chiltern Railways - Intended Prosecution Letter

[ak00123]

Hi all,

Apologies for adding another item to the forum, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I have received a letter of intended prosecution from Chiltern Railways in regards to me having an invalid ticket for my trip from London Marylebone to Bicester Village. The railway revenue protection staff stopped me at Bicester Village and took my details resulting in this letter now.

This is the first time I have ever used Chiltern railways, and, have never taken a journey on this route. It is not a regular journey or repeat journey for me. I purchased my ticket from the ticket machine at London Marylebone. I do not have any prior history of "short-faring" on any of my previous train journeys involving any other train companies found via my record on a service such as trainline, and do not intend to do so ever again. This is a first offence and I have no prior records involving anything related to this. On my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone I purchased the valid ticket in full, to rectify my previous mistake. I have proof of purchases for both events.

I intend on settling this outside of court. I have spoken to some solicitors, however, I have researched the topic extensively and from all accounts it seems I can settle this myself if I follow the right steps. I am attaching my letter of intended prosecution to this, and, have written my draft response email below.

Could I please have some guidance on my matter...Can somebody more experienced in this please help amend / check my draft response? Do you think my situation will be solved outside of court? Is there any more information I have missed and would be helped by including? Do you think it would be necessary for me to hire a solicitor for this matter? Any thoughts?

The letter was sent August 2nd, I have 14 days to respond via email. I would be very grateful for any prompt help you could offer me. Thank you kindly.
__________
Dear,

I am writing to you in response to your letter, regarding intended prosecution for the incident involving myself on Saturday 27th July. I take full responsibility for travelling without a valid rail ticket for my journey from London Marylebone to Bicester Village.

I am deeply sorry for my actions, and, apologise for all inconveniences caused to Chiltern Railways involving your time spent, admin, related costs and more. I am embarrassed about this, and how my selfishness has affected your organisation.

This incident involves an irregular form of travel and behaviour for myself. I have never used Chiltern railways before my journey on the 27th, and, this is not a route I would usually take. My actions are irregular, and, are not ones I would ever repeat - as proven by my purchase of a valid ticket at full price on my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone the same day to rectify my mistake. I have attached my bank statements for these purchases in this email as proof. This is a first time offence and a behaviour that is truly out of character for myself. This series of events is something that will never happen again, nor are they actions I will ever repeat.

I would be extremely grateful to be able to settle this matter outside of court, and, I am fully prepared to cover any costs that Chiltern Railways have incurred related to this matter. Please let me know what I can do to rectify this matter with your organisation. Again, I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the issues it has caused you.

Best and kindest regards,

 

[Titfield]

Please can you advise what ticket you were in possession of for the outward journey?

 

[ak00123]

London Marylebone to Denham. £9.60
Bicester Village to London Marylebone was £33.20.

 

[Titfield]

This appears to be a case of short faring. I presume that any online booking account you hold will not show any ticket purchases that may give rise to other instances of short faring or doughnutting.

On that basis it should be possible to convince Chiltern Railways to offer you an out of court settlement of the cost of a single from London Marylebone to Bicester Village (with no credit for the ticket to Denham) plus an administration fee of C£150. You should not require the services of a solicitor for this.

I think your draft letters needs some polishing: I would omit the word "irregular" or "irregular form of travel and behaviour" as it just doesnt sound right.

I would not refer to not having taken that route before as that is irrelevant. Likewise I would not point to having purchased the correct ticket for the return journey as that doesnt cut any ice with Chiltern.

There are some good examples of letters such as this on the forum you could read to give you further pointers to polish yours.

Please then repost on here so that others can view and express their thoughts.

 

[simonw]

Hi all,

Apologies for adding another item to the forum, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

I have received a letter of intended prosecution from Chiltern Railways in regards to me having an invalid ticket for my trip from London Marylebone to Bicester Village. The railway revenue protection staff stopped me at Bicester Village and took my details resulting in this letter now.

This is the first time I have ever used Chiltern railways, and, have never taken a journey on this route. It is not a regular journey or repeat journey for me. I purchased my ticket from the ticket machine at London Marylebone. I do not have any prior history of "short-faring" on any of my previous train journeys involving any other train companies found via my record on a service such as trainline, and do not intend to do so ever again. This is a first offence and I have no prior records involving anything related to this. On my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone I purchased the valid ticket in full, to rectify my previous mistake. I have proof of purchases for both events.

I intend on settling this outside of court. I have spoken to some solicitors, however, I have researched the topic extensively and from all accounts it seems I can settle this myself if I follow the right steps. I am attaching my letter of intended prosecution to this, and, have written my draft response email below.

Could I please have some guidance on my matter...Can somebody more experienced in this please help amend / check my draft response? Do you think my situation will be solved outside of court? Is there any more information I have missed and would be helped by including? Do you think it would be necessary for me to hire a solicitor for this matter? Any thoughts?

The letter was sent August 2nd, I have 14 days to respond via email. I would be very grateful for any prompt help you could offer me. Thank you kindly.
__________
Dear,

I am writing to you in response to your letter, regarding intended prosecution for the incident involving myself on Saturday 27th July. I take full responsibility for travelling without a valid rail ticket for my journey from London Marylebone to Bicester Village.

I am deeply sorry for my actions, and, apologise for all inconveniences caused to Chiltern Railways involving your time spent, admin, related costs and more. I am embarrassed about this, and how my selfishness has affected your organisation.

This incident involves an irregular form of travel and behaviour for myself. I have never used Chiltern railways before my journey on the 27th, and, this is not a route I would usually take. My actions are irregular, and, are not ones I would ever repeat - as proven by my purchase of a valid ticket at full price on my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone the same day to rectify my mistake. I have attached my bank statements for these purchases in this email as proof. This is a first time offence and a behaviour that is truly out of character for myself. This series of events is something that will never happen again, nor are they actions I will ever repeat.

I would be extremely grateful to be able to settle this matter outside of court, and, I am fully prepared to cover any costs that Chiltern Railways have incurred related to this matter. Please let me know what I can do to rectify this matter with your organisation. Again, I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the issues it has caused you.

Best and kindest regards,

I assume August is an error and you mean the letter was sent on 2nd September, else you are well out of time to reply.

I would cut all the part that starts this incident as it adds nothing to your position, or explain why you short fared. Not that Chiltern will care why you did it.

 

[John R]

I intend on settling this outside of court.

Just to be clear - that's outside your control. But a suitably crafted letter will help you achieve that aim.

Best and kindest regards

That's too familiar. You're not writing to someone you remotely know. "Yours sincerely" is appropriate if you know the name of the person you are addressing, "Yours faithfully" if you do not.

 

[12LDA28C]

You refer to buying the correct ticket at Bicester 'to rectify your mistake' - I'm not sure Chiltern would appreciate that language as clearly there was no 'mistake' - you didn't accidentally buy a ticket to Denham when you actually wanted to travel to Bicester Village - you deliberately short fared.

As @Titfield mentioned, claiming this form of travel (by train?) and behaviour (fraud?) is 'irregular' is not particularly contrite and this terminology should also be avoided as it just sounds like you're trying to convince them that this is your first offence and you should be 'let off' as a result.

 

[Hadders]

I agree with others about the third paragraph, it needs re-wording. The final paragraph should start with something like 'I wonder if it would be possible to...'

 

[ak00123]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your comments. Appreciate the help. Below is a revised version.

Dear,

I am writing to you in response to your letter, regarding intended prosecution for the incident involving myself on Saturday 27th July. I take full responsibility for travelling without a valid rail ticket for my journey from London Marylebone to Bicester Village.

I am deeply sorry for my actions, and, apologise for all inconveniences caused to Chiltern Railways involving your time spent, admin, related costs and more. I am embarrassed about this, and how my selfishness has affected your organisation.

My actions are not ones I would repeat - as proven by my purchase of a valid ticket at full price on my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone the same day as I learnt and corrected my dishonesty. I have attached my bank statements for these purchases in this email as proof. This is a behaviour that is truly out of character for myself. This series of events is something that will never happen again.

I sincerely hope it would be possible to settle this matter outside of court, and, I am fully prepared to cover any costs that Chiltern Railways have incurred related to this matter. I would be extremely grateful. Please let me know what I can do to rectify this matter with your organisation. Again, I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the issues it has caused you.

Yours sincerely,

I assume August is an error and you mean the letter was sent on 2nd September, else you are well out of time to reply.

I would cut all the part that starts this incident as it adds nothing to your position, or explain why you short fared. Not that Chiltern will care why you did it.

yes, meant to put September.

With regards to the third paragraph...do you think from this draft I should cut starting "my actions" to "as proof". Or cut the paragraph completely? Or is this better?

 

[30907]

Cut the 3rd para altogether IMO.

 

[John R]

My actions are not ones I would repeat - as proven by my purchase of a valid ticket at full price on my return journey from Bicester Village to London Marylebone the same day as I learnt and corrected my dishonesty.

So having been caught on the outward journey you bought a proper ticket for the return one. If you think about it, that's hardly going to sound like the most convincing argument that you won't ever do it again.

 

[ak00123]

Ok understood, thank you guys. So is this okay?

Dear,

I am writing to you in response to your letter, regarding intended prosecution for the incident involving myself on Saturday 27th July. I take full responsibility for travelling without a valid rail ticket for my journey from London Marylebone to Bicester Village.

I am deeply sorry for my actions, and, apologise for all inconveniences caused to Chiltern Railways involving your time spent, admin, related costs and more. I am embarrassed about this, and how my selfishness has affected your organisation.

I sincerely hope it would be possible to settle this matter outside of court, and, I am fully prepared to cover any costs that Chiltern Railways have incurred related to this matter. I would be extremely grateful. Please let me know what I can do to rectify this matter with your organisation. Again, I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the issues it has caused you.

Yours sincerely,

 

[AlterEgo]

Inconvenience is an uncountable noun and is never pluralised in this context, so remove the S from the end. Also, no need for a comma after your first "and".

 

[ak00123]

Dear,

I am writing to you in response to your letter, regarding intended prosecution for the incident involving myself on Saturday 27th July. I take full responsibility for travelling without a valid rail ticket for my journey from London Marylebone to Bicester Village.

I am deeply sorry for my actions and apologise for all inconvenience caused to Chiltern Railways involving your time spent, admin, related costs and more. I am embarrassed about this, and how my selfishness has affected your organisation. I have learnt a valuable life lesson and this behaviour will never happen again.

I sincerely hope it would be possible to settle this matter outside of court, and, I am fully prepared to cover any costs that Chiltern Railways have incurred related to this matter. I would be extremely grateful. Please let me know what I can do to rectify this matter with your organisation. Again, I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the issues it has caused you.

Yours sincerely,