A couple of months ago my wife was stopped by a Govia officer for a ticket check where he noticed that she was within London Zone 2 (Clapham Junction), but she had a Zone 3 to 6 travelcard. This was correct. She had started a new job recently in Feltham (Zone 6) we live in Earlsfield (Zone 3) and to go to work she has to change trains in Clapham Junction (Zone 2). Being genuinely unaware, we thought that a travel card for zones 3 to 6 is what she needs.
After a brief meeting booked with the officer in an office within the Clapham Junction station, he let her know that she has to pay a penalty of 140 pounds for the time she was unintentionally paying less than she should, together with a daily fare for zone 2 for all the working days in the same period.
There are a few things which make me suspicious in this case:
First of all, she is requested to pay a penalty at the Govia Prosecutions Department, although both of the trains she takes belong to Southwestern Railway which is not under the Govia Thameslink Railway. Why does she have to pay the penalty to Govia?
The two provided payment methods seem suspicious to me: payment with a debit card or credit card over the phone or with Postal Orders. For a legitimate service, I would expect a safer payment method, like a bank transfer or an online payment. As far as I am aware, payments over the phone and with Postal Orders are pretty unsafe, they offer no security to the payor and are widely used in scams.
The fact that the emails and the letters my wife has received look pretty informal. For example, the names of the senders are never written in the emails or letters.
Although it was mentioned in verbal, none of the emails or letters confirm that after paying this penalty she won't have any other obligations to anyone outside Govia.
All the above make the whole case with the Govia Prosecutions Department look suspicious to me. Is there any chance this is a scam or is there anything we should be afraid of?
Thanks.
After a brief meeting booked with the officer in an office within the Clapham Junction station, he let her know that she has to pay a penalty of 140 pounds for the time she was unintentionally paying less than she should, together with a daily fare for zone 2 for all the working days in the same period.
There are a few things which make me suspicious in this case:
First of all, she is requested to pay a penalty at the Govia Prosecutions Department, although both of the trains she takes belong to Southwestern Railway which is not under the Govia Thameslink Railway. Why does she have to pay the penalty to Govia?
The two provided payment methods seem suspicious to me: payment with a debit card or credit card over the phone or with Postal Orders. For a legitimate service, I would expect a safer payment method, like a bank transfer or an online payment. As far as I am aware, payments over the phone and with Postal Orders are pretty unsafe, they offer no security to the payor and are widely used in scams.
The fact that the emails and the letters my wife has received look pretty informal. For example, the names of the senders are never written in the emails or letters.
Although it was mentioned in verbal, none of the emails or letters confirm that after paying this penalty she won't have any other obligations to anyone outside Govia.
All the above make the whole case with the Govia Prosecutions Department look suspicious to me. Is there any chance this is a scam or is there anything we should be afraid of?
Thanks.
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