GWR reported for prosecution, expired railcard

[Oof]

Start & Finish Stations: Travelling from Cheltenham to Paddington, no changes
Presented Ticket: Advanced Single, Standard, Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington, 1 passenger
Paperwork issued: a 'reported for prosecution' little card from GWR

The deets:

Hi all

I was travelling to London recently when a ticket inspector asked to see my ticket and 16-25 railcard. I presented my ticket and railcard without stupidly realising it had expired at which point the ticket inspector sat down and asked for my name address, email address and told me repeatedly that 'the company will write to you.' During the interaction I was both civil and forthcoming in expressing a desire to purchase a ticket at the full price, having not realised my mistake. Nonetheless, I was given a 'GWR: reported for prosecution card'.

It transpires my railcard expired a few months ago. It was one issued by my bank 5 years ago (I think) as a bonus for opening an account with them. As such, I received no notification by email or otherwise that it was up for expiry. Between now and its expiry, I have bought 5 tickets and have definitely shown my railcard at every encounter and it has never been flagged until now, nor has anyone made me aware of its expiration.

I am about to move to London and start a career in consulting/finance. I am concerned that this could be a serious problem and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

What is the likely outcome of a situation like this and what is the best course of action to avoid damaging my career prospects?

Thank you all in advance.

On a side note: during my interaction with the ticket officer, he tried to walk off with my driving licence to talk to another passenger (apparently he had sold a wrong ticket to this other gentleman) and when I asked him for some form of identification after this, he proceeded to give me two different answers when I asked him to clarify it for me. Additionally I note that lots of posters have alluded to being told they were interviewed under caution - I was told nothing of the sort. Does the inspector's conduct give me any sort of additional wiggle room, or is it best to roll over in this particular instance?

 

[Towers]

An out of court settlement is what you'll be wanting, ideally. Wait until they contact you however.

Have you purchased any/many tickets with your invalid Railcard using an app of any sort? Be prepared that they may investigate this, if applicable. The Prosecutions Department will be able to obtain your booking history if they so wish. Not the end of the world, but it would potentially increase the cost of any settlement amount that might be considered.

Best of luck in reaching a timely outcome!

 

[Oof]

An out of court settlement is what you'll be wanting, ideally. Wait until they contact you however.

Have you purchased any/many tickets with your invalid Railcard using an app of any sort? Be prepared that they may investigate this, if applicable. The Prosecutions Department will be able to obtain your booking history if they so wish. Not the end of the world, but it would potentially increase the cost of any settlement amount that might be considered.

Best of luck in reaching a timely outcome!

Are out of court settlements common? I read on their policy that they strive to deal with things outside of court. Yes, I do all my bookings through the trainline app, so all of those tickets would show up. What is the anticipated cost of something like potentially five tickets on an expired railcard?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[gray1404]

Next step is you will receive a letter from GWR. This can take anything from a few days to up to 6 months to arrive so it is really important that you monitor your mail for the next half a year. GWR are one of the easier companies to reach an out-of-court settlement with especially if you have not been on their radar before. It may be that when they write to you they will offer you a settlement straight away or they may ask for your version of events. If they do ask for your version of events you should respond to the letter straight away. I would not incriminate yourself further by admitting to any other occasions unless they specifically bring it up. Just stick to the day you were stopped. In your response to them, which only needs to be brief, you simply need to state that this was a genuine mistake and you are truly sorry, you had not realised your Railcard has expired and you will ensure that the correct fare is paid in future. You should also offer to pay them any fare outstanding for the journey plus their costs involved in dealing with this matter.

From experience of this forum GWR tend to offer settlements of £100 or there abouts plus the fare that should have been paid. As well as responding to the correspondence promptly if they do offer an out of court settlement this also needs to be paid promptly.

Once you hear back from GWR you should know you can post a copy of the letter here if you like with personal details and any reference numbers retracted and we can assist you in drafting a robust reply.

 

[Oof]

Next step is you will receive a letter from GWR. This can take anything from a few days to up to 6 months to arrive so it is really important that you monitor your mail for the next half a year. GWR are one of the easier companies to reach an out-of-court settlement with especially if you have not been on their radar before. It may be that when they write to you they will offer you a settlement straight away or they may ask for your version of events. If they do ask for your version of events you should respond to the letter straight away. I would not incriminate yourself further by admitting to any other occasions unless they specifically bring it up. Just stick to the day you were stopped. In your response to them, which only needs to be brief, you simply need to state that this was a genuine mistake and you are truly sorry, you had not realised your Railcard has expired and you will ensure that the correct fare is paid in future. You should also offer to pay them any fare outstanding for the journey plus their costs involved in dealing with this matter.

From experience of this forum GWR tend to offer settlements of £100 or there abouts plus the fare that should have been paid. As well as responding to the correspondence promptly if they do offer an out of court settlement this also needs to be paid promptly.

Once you hear back from GWR you should know you can post a copy of the letter here if you like with personal details and any reference numbers retracted and we can assist you in drafting a robust reply.

Thank you so, so much, this is really helpful.

 

[furlong]

Indeed, it is GWR's stated policy only to prosecute as a last resort. As long as you co-operate and there are no aggravating circumstances (such as having been caught before, or being abusive or maintaining an obvious untruth) you should anticipate being able to settle it without going to court by paying them the fare they are owed plus some money to cover their costs dealing with you.

See the 'full policy' PDF linked at the bottom here.

 

[Oof]

Indeed, it is GWR's stated policy only to prosecute as a last resort. As long as you co-operate and there are no aggravating circumstances (such as having been caught before, or being abusive or maintaining an obvious untruth) you should anticipate being able to settle it without going to court by paying them the fare they are owed plus some money to cover their costs dealing with you.

See the 'full policy' PDF linked at the bottom here.

No aggravating circumstances! My main concern was potential impacts to my career (I will be potentially heavily involved with defence companies and any sort of court/criminal proceedings could prove highly detrimental to my role). Fingers crossed I can fess up the dumb mistake and move swiftly on.

 

[Towers]

The additional tickets I would think you'll just have to wait and see if they're brought up or not; best not to volunteer anything unless asked. But the extra fares would obviously require to be paid.

 

[gray1404]

Hopefully GWR do not start an in-depth investigation as to any previous travel and they treat this as a one-off customer travelling on railcard discounted ticket when railcard not actually held incident.

If you have renewed your Railcard since though or purchased a new one that is now in date, it would be worth pointing this out to GWR and show them a copy of it in your reply. It shows that once you were made aware that your card had expired you did what you could to put it right and to avoid the situation happening again in the future.

Of course this will depend if you are still eligible for a railcard and if it is in your financial interests to have one. (If you will be making enough train travel to recoup the cost of it in savings on tickets.)

Thank you so, so much, this is really helpful.

You're most welcome. Always happy to help.

 

[30907]

No aggravating circumstances! My main concern was potential impacts to my career (I will be potentially heavily involved with defence companies and any sort of court/criminal proceedings could prove highly detrimental to my role). Fingers crossed I can fess up the dumb mistake and move swiftly on.

If it does come to a prosecution, unless there's something you haven't shared, you would most likely be charged under the Byelaws with not having a valid ticket. This is a non-recordable offence so wouldn't come to anyone's attention - GCHQ excepted, perhaps, noting your journey .

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

We have seen a number of cases recently of passengers getting into trouble for expired railcards. Here's the advice I normally give to other posters who seek our advice in similar circumstances.

You are likely to receive a letter from the train company (or an investigation company acting on their behalf) which will probably take a few weeks to arrive saying that they have received a report, are considering prosecuting you and asking for your version of events. It is important that you engage with and reply to this letter. You might want to include the following in your reply:

- 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

Make sure your reply is short and concise, don't give a sob story - they've heard it all before. Most train companies are usually prepared to offer an administrative settlement (commonly known as an out of court settlement) for people who engage with the process and who haven't come to their attention before. There is no guarantee of this and the train company would be well within their rights to prosecute you in the magistrates court.

If you are offered a settlement the amount varies depending on the train company and circumstances but tend to be a few hundred pounds plus the outstanding fare. An out of court settlement might appear to be a fine, but it isn't and you won't have a criminal record as a result of accepting one.

GWR are normally happy to offer an administrative settlement if it's the first time you have come to their attention and co-operate with them, and hopefully you will be able to secure one in your case.

Feel free to post a copy of the letter when it arrives (with personal details removed) and I'm sure members on here will be happy to assist in proof reading your reply.