Invalid Railcard Fare Evasion Case

[ACW]

My partner accidentally travelled with an expired railcard, when he bought a railcard ticket to go to Gatwick airport in January of this year.
For context, he was travelling to Gatwick on 3rd Jan with a 26-30 railcard ticket. He had just purchased a new phone and had not yet downloaded the railcard app. He had no reception to download the app upon inspection and told the officer that he could upload the evidence. Upon downloading the app later on, he realized that the railcard had expired in November.

We received the letter last month to provide evidence for the case to which he replied promptly stating that he was happy to pay the fine and explained the situation.

We heard nothing else until today. There was a letter in the corridor of our building (sent 7th May but not received until later) with the plea options and MC100 and only giving us one day to send the letter.

We are happy to pay the penalty fine but really really want to avoid a criminal conviction and are worried by the language in the letter and court summons - should we contact a solicitor.

Any advice ASAP would be appreciated!!

 

[John R]

Can you please post copies of what you have received, redacting any personal details, and also what you said in your original letter in response.

 

[ACW]

Thanks John-

Regarding the original letter requesting more information, we gave the same details as above regarding the accidental assumption that the railcard was still active, just not downloaded and indicated intent to pay the penalty fare (+shared contact details) this was sent by letter in response to a letter we received in the post (can share if required but more legible written as above. )

We posted the response to the request for information on April 1st - having received it around March 17th (we were travelling previously). This is also the first time this has ever happened to my partner, he has always previously travelled with a valid ticket.

We received a court pack dated 7th May but only received yesterday upon our return from a short trip abroad. The envelope was trampled with footprints so our best guess was that it was lost in transit for a few days. I have contained some photos of the pack and redacted personal info and cropped out case ID.

The court pack contained...
A procedure notice (attached)
Plea form (page 1 attached)
FAQ
Charge Sheet (attached)
Certificate of Service
Statement of facts with questions and answers from officer
Copy of magistrates court act 1980
MC100 Form

 

[John R]

It’s highly unusual for GTR not to offer a settlement if you have responded. It typically offers settlements even where there has been egregious repeated fare evasion, so why it hasn’t in this case I don’t know. The usual reason would be that it didn’t receive or has overlooked your response.

I would be inclined to urgently send another letter , today, by guaranteed next day delivery, in which you enclose a copy of your previous letter, ask politely whether it was received, and then again explain what happened, promise to be more careful in future, and ask very nicely if they would consider an out of court settlement instead.

I will leave others to comment on how best to respond to the SJPN, but clearly you must get that off today. When you do that I would put a covering note in to say that you only received it on the xth May, hence the slightly late response.

 

[Titfield]

Firstly what do you mean by Penalty Fine? Can you upload this. Do you mean Penalty FARE?

Time is a significant problem here.

If you plead guilty then the administration will happen quickly and there will be no opportunity to undo this.

If you plead not guilty then a court date will be set in the future which will give you time to resolve the issue with the TOC out of court (and then the court case is discontinued).

The only danger I perceive is that if you cant persuade the TOC to offer an out of court settlement then going to court and being found guilty would mean that the discount for an early guilty plea would be lost.

You do not need to contact a solicitor yet to try and resolve this issue.

EDIT

Just realised this is GTR who have "form" (shall we say) for poor administration resulting in responses going astray. When you send them a letter use SIGNED FOR delivery or SPECIAL DELIVERY (the by 1pm version is sufficient). https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/uk-services

 

[30907]

It’s highly unusual for GTR not to offer a settlement if you have responded. It typically offers settlements even where there has been egregious repeated fare evasion, so why it hasn’t in this case I don’t know. The usual reason would be that it didn’t receive or has overlooked your response.

I would be inclined to urgently send another letter , today, by guaranteed next day delivery, in which you enclose a copy of your previous letter, ask politely whether it was received, and then again explain what happened, promise to be more careful in future, and ask very nicely if they would consider an out of court settlement instead.

I agree.

It might first be worth checking posts on this forum by Hadders, who regularly suggests points that need covering in a reply, and making sure that your covering letter and/or the original address them.

 

[Haywain]

Just realised this is GTR who have "form" (shall we say) for poor administration resulting in responses going astray.

There have been a very small number of GTR cases like that, but many more with Southeastern.

 

[Hadders]

I'm reliably informed that GTR has a backlog of cases at present.

 

[ACW]

Thank you everyone for the advice and help! Fortunately this also resulted in an out of court settlement after we emailed the GTR prosecutions email - they fortunately replied within 24 hours of our initial message.

Everything has been resolved! Thank you again!