Hi mate,
Yes, my personal experience with them was that I was just very honest. I actually went to a pub to have a couple of drinks beforehand to ease the nerves as I was incredibly nervous (not recommending you do this at all but it helped me). You will not have to admit anything, they will have an excel-esque sheet with every single journey you've made with your trainline account, so it's basically impossible to be dishonest. They will group journeys together you've made invalidly, and example of what is said "on the 16/02/2022, 17/02/2022, 18/02/2022, you made the journey to x station with a 16/17 age discount code, do you think there are outstanding fees you owe for these journeys?" and you cannot exactly lie as you can see on their spreadsheet that you've made the journey. They were very nice and professional and not like the typical "bullying bailiffs who aggressively want the money" you might have in your mind , even shared a little joke here and there, (not saying this will be your experience, just letting you know my own experience), at the end you have to reiterate you will never do this again, potentially show intention that you will not make this mistake again, say your career will be over if you cannot settle out of court. Honestly mate, I've been in the same shoes you are in at the moment and I was extremely anxious everyday going to work, feeling like a fool buying valid tickets everyday afterwards thinking "why couldn't i have just done this, rather than just try and save a few pounds" but i'm sure you will be able to sort everything out and get an out-of-court settlement. From what i've seen on this thread, SWR are one of the more reasonable train companies regarding this matter.
