NIP Letter - no response from Chiltern

[User4670]

Hi

Long story short, I was stupid and thought I could get away with short faring. Got caught out one day by a Chiltern ticket officer. They looked into it, saw the damning evidence and I got the NIP letter. Followed the advice on here and replied to the NIP letter basically apologising and offering to pay their costs. The letter I received was dated 28th February 2025 for an offence on 12th November 2024. I replied on 5th March 2025 via email and received an automatic reply confirming receipt and saying they will respond within 90 days. I’ve checked my junk mail, monitored emails etc. and I’ve had nothing through from them. Should I start to be concerned? Do you think it’s worth following up?

Thanks

 

[Titfield]

No do not follow up. They are out of time to prosecute you (lay papers before a court within 6 months of the date of the offence).

 

[User4670]

Thanks for the quick reply! I assume if they had of laid papers before a court I would have found out by now, given the 6 months marker passed a few weeks ago? If I do eventually get a response and they want paying (I’ve heard they can go back a few years so may be substantial) is my best option still to pay whatever they ask? Thanks again

 

[Hadders]

Court papers would be sent by physical post, not email. Has Chiltern got your correct postal address?

 

[User4670]

Yes, that’s how I received the original letter they sent.

 

[Titfield]

Thanks for the quick reply! I assume if they had of laid papers before a court I would have found out by now, given the 6 months marker passed a few weeks ago? If I do eventually get a response and they want paying (I’ve heard they can go back a few years so may be substantial) is my best option still to pay whatever they ask? Thanks again

Assuming the papers haven’t gone astray then the timeframe including a couple of weeks for the papers to be processed and sent has elapsed. Well they could ask for a payment but if you decided not to pay their options are limited. They could issue civil proceedings but afaik they haven’t resorted to this type of action before. You could make a payment if requested to clear your conscience but as it stands at the moment you have no legal obligation to do so.

 

[Pushpit]

Chiltern features heavily on this forum, out of proportion to their size as a rail company. And we have seen other Chiltern cases go quite slowly, at one point they were sending out of court settlement offers in the same envelope as the Single Justice paperwork two days before the deadline. So my theory is that they have a lot of capacity to identify fare evaders, but insufficient capacity at the back office to process it all. Occasionally they have a crackdown and somehow clear the backlog, only for it to creep up again a few weeks/months later.

 

[User4670]

Thanks everyone - really appreciate the input. Not nice to have it unresolved but sounds like it’s best for me to sit and wait for now.

 

[sara shah]

Thanks everyone - really appreciate the input. Not nice to have it unresolved but sounds like it’s best for me to sit and wait for now.

Hey, I am in a similar position. Did you recieve a reply at all? Thank you

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jun 2025 ==

Hi

Long story short, I was stupid and thought I could get away with short faring. Got caught out one day by a Chiltern ticket officer. They looked into it, saw the damning evidence and I got the NIP letter. Followed the advice on here and replied to the NIP letter basically apologising and offering to pay their costs. The letter I received was dated 28th February 2025 for an offence on 12th November 2024. I replied on 5th March 2025 via email and received an automatic reply confirming receipt and saying they will respond within 90 days. I’ve checked my junk mail, monitored emails etc. and I’ve had nothing through from them. Should I start to be concerned? Do you think it’s worth following up?

Thanks

Hey did you receive a reply at all?