Fare evasion help

[Unknown245]

Hi, I was reaching out for some help. I was travelling on chiltern railways and I was stopped by a ticket officer and I believe there was some misunderstanding and he took my ID details, however I was actually moving that week and my ID has my previous address and I have not set up a redirection service as I have very little post. How long does it take to receive this letter as I have read about on the

 

[sonic2009]

What journey were you undertaking to be stopped by a Revenue Protection officer with Chiltern Railways?

 

[Unknown245]

high Wycombe to Beaconsfield l. It was someone on the train. In normal chiltern railways uniform and just an iPad

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi, I was reaching out for some help. I was travelling on chiltern railways and I was stopped by a ticket officer and I believe there was some misunderstanding and he took my ID details, however I was actually moving that week and my ID has my previous address and I have not set up a redirection service as I have very little post. How long does it take to receive this letter as I have read about on the forum, is it possible to ring customer service to explain the situation and give them my updated address and provide the proof of change in address.

Although it's expensive, my thought is that setting up mail redirection may be the way to go. Chiltern Railways push a lot of their work like this out to a company called 'Transport Investigations Ltd' ('TIL') so even if you can get Customer Services to take your details they will have to pass them on to TIL - which is another point for things to go wrong.

If you don't manage to keep in touch, there's a good chance that your matter will end up in court, so it's in your interest to do everything you can to make sure that anything from Chiltern or TIL gets to you.

<Edited to add> I now find that there is an email address to write to: on page 7 of https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/timetables/Revenue Enforcement & Prosecutions Policy.pdf Chiltern say

If you are concerned you may have missed some correspondence, for example if you have moved address, you can e-mail the Economic Crime & Fraud Team at [email protected] with the details you gave the inspector at the time and the date you made the journey, and we can look into this further for you.

It is vitally important that you inform us of any address changes, as it is likely we will be sending letters to you via the address provided to the member of staff at the time. If correspondence is not replied to, this may mean that court action to recover any outstanding fare is taken.

PLEASE NOTE – This mailbox is only used to inform us of a new correspondence address or sending through evidence of a valid ticket or railcard at the time the journey was undertaken, this email address cannot be used to make any appeal or mitigation.

 

[Danberto]

Typically a letter will be sent essentially asking for your 'take' on events. This can take up to 6 months but is likely to be a couple of weeks. This of course will depend on what resources are available in the offices of the people sending out the letters.

Chiltern Railways appear to outsource 'fare evasion' matters to a company called 'Transport Investigations Ltd' (TIL) so it could be either of these businesses dealing with this matter.

The e mail address for Chiltern Railways may be found in the document entitled 'Revenue Enforcement & Prosecutions Policy' E mail address in part 8 of policy
The website for TIL containing a contact e mail is Transport Investigations contact page

 

[Unknown245]

Noted, thank you. Please can you advise if someone needs to sign for the letter?

 

[Hadders]

The letter is sent in the normal post, no-one needs to sign for it.

 

[Unknown245]

Hi, I was hoping for some help!

I received a final steps notice on Friday for a fine of £500, I was unsure what this fine was for as it didn’t state on the letter. When the London collection compliance centre reopened yesterday I got clarification that this was for an unpaid fare evasion notice from September, however I had no previous letters so was very confused, however these had been sent to my old address that I know longer lived at (I had been in frequent contact with the new resident and asked multiple times if I had received post to which the answer was no). I was told they managed to get my new address through intel, this is how I received the new letter. I am now very worried as a court date took place at the end of May and I am concerned I have a criminal record as I was I didn’t attend as I was unaware this was happening so couldn’t defend my case. Had I received the letters I would have sent my information and paid either the difference in cost £2.50 or paid the price chiltern railways were asking. I have requested to send a statutory declaration letter to revert this out of court and discuss the matter with chiltern railways with a link the court tribunal sent me but I’m worried about timing and the criminal conviction that was completely unaware of. Should I ring chiltern railways to explain the situation? Should I instruct a solicitor?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi, I was hoping for some help!

I received a final steps notice on Friday for a fine of £500, I was unsure what this fine was for as it didn’t state on the letter. When the London collection compliance centre reopened yesterday I got clarification that this was for an unpaid fare evasion notice from September, however I had no previous letters so was very confused, however these had been sent to my old address that I know longer lived at (I had been in frequent contact with the new resident and asked multiple times if I had received post to which the answer was no). I was told they managed to get my new address through intel, this is how I received the new letter. I am now very worried as a court date took place at the end of May and I am concerned I have a criminal record as I was I didn’t attend as I was unaware this was happening so couldn’t defend my case. Had I received the letters I would have sent my information and paid either the difference in cost £2.50 or paid the price chiltern railways were asking. I have requested to send a statutory declaration letter to revert this out of court and discuss the matter with chiltern railways with a link the court tribunal sent me but I’m worried about timing and the criminal conviction that was completely unaware of. Should I ring chiltern railways to explain the situation? Should I instruct a solicitor?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi - sorry to hear things have not progressed as you would have wanted them

Can I ask - did you use the information that @Fawkes Cat posted in post #4 on sept 2023 to actively advise Chiltern of your changed / correct address? If you did it stands in your favour as you made efforts to ensure they contacted you. If you did not and just relied on the new occupant to pass over post that is not such a strong position to be in

I fear that given what has happened things will not be more complex and time consuming to sort out with inevitable extra cost to that that paying for the Royal Mail re-direction would have been a good idea, but that is with hindsight of course.

Ref The Statutory Declaration (SD) option - hopefully experts on that will eb along to give you soem advice, but it may be that involving a solicitor as part of that is worth considering

Yu have to be aware of a few things:
- There is a time limit on making an SD after you because aware of court case - so the clock is ticking
- You need to use the SD to buy a bit of time with the Railway to ask for a settlement (ie not let the SD result in your case being rescheduled at court immediately as you will be just found guilty again)

Forum experts will probably find it helpful for you to upload copies of any paperwork you now have received (with your personal details and ref numbers removed from all parts of the documents) so that they can see exactly what stage this has got to.

Also - if you have been found guilty even if you were unaware of the case, you will now currently have a criminal record - so it is important you try to get this sorted out now you have become aware of it

 

[CyrusWuff]

Just to add that it would probably be better to make the Statutory Declaration at a Solicitor/Commissioner for Oaths rather than in Court.

There's a nominal fee for doing so, but it avoids the possibility of having to enter a plea for the offence at the same time.

But be quick! You only have 21 days from when you received the Further Steps notice to make the SD (or at least book an appointment if you do so at the Court.)

 

[WesternLancer]

Just to add that it would probably be better to make the Statutory Declaration at a Solicitor/Commissioner for Oaths rather than in Court.

There's a nominal fee for doing so, but it avoids the possibility of having to enter a plea for the offence at the same time.

But be quick! You only have 21 days from when you received the Further Steps notice to make the SD (or at least book an appointment if you do so at the Court.)

Yes, this is the sort of helpful advice I have seen given on here before - as a route to getting to be in a position where an effort can be made again to try to re-negotiate an out of court settlement with the train company and thus remove the criminal record and perhaps pay less than the court will be requiring to be paid in fine and costs etc

 

[island]

I am now very worried as a court date took place at the end of May and I am concerned I have a criminal record

Just to confirm you do now have a criminal conviction.