No response from Chiltern?

[timothy456]

Hello,

I received a Notice of Intended Prosecution from Chiltern in February 2025 (letter dated 7th February) from an incident last September 2024 (travelling without having renewed my railcard).

I responded via email as the letter instructed on the 12th of February 2025. To this day, I haven’t heard anything back at all. I’m constantly checking my junk emails everyday in case I’ve missed anything, but I have definitely not had anything.

Has this happened to anybody else? It seems like a really long time to not hear anything, particularly when their auto response email said I’d hear within 60 days.

 

[Titfield]

Chiltern appear to have a very significant backlog of cases and we have seen letters from them literally days within the 6 month deadline for issuing court proceedings.

Some letters have been accompanied by a SJPN and an Out of Court Settlement offer so if the offer is not taken up then the SJPN procedure is within the deadline. Whilst this may appear to be alarming, nevertheless the OOC offer does stand and can be taken up. The proceedings are then discontinued.

 

[timothy456]

Chiltern appear to have a very significant backlog of cases and we have seen letters from them literally days within the 6 month deadline for issuing court proceedings.

Some letters have been accompanied by a SJPN and an Out of Court Settlement offer so if the offer is not taken up then the SJPN procedure is within the deadline. Whilst this may appear to be alarming, nevertheless the OOC offer does stand and can be taken up. The proceedings are then discontinued.

In my case, the incident occurred last September, so the 6 month deadline has already passed. I was more so wondering if they can still issue me with a fine when it has been this long, particularly as I did respond to their letter in February apologising and asking to do so, but it has now been well over the 60 days they said it would take for somebody to get back to me.

If they don’t get back to me within their own set time frame, can they exceed that?

The situation has dragged on for so long and I suppose I just want to know whether I can forget about it or not or if I’ll hear back eventually. I’m potentially moving house soon too which will be a pain if they send any further info in letter form and not email.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hello,

I received a Notice of Intended Prosecution from Chiltern in February 2025 (letter dated 7th February) from an incident last September 2024 (travelling without having renewed my railcard).

I responded via email as the letter instructed on the 12th of February 2025. To this day, I haven’t heard anything back at all. I’m constantly checking my junk emails everyday in case I’ve missed anything, but I have definitely not had anything.

Has this happened to anybody else? It seems like a really long time to not hear anything, particularly when their auto response email said I’d hear within 60 days.

As you know from the auto response that your reply reached Chiltern, it looks as if they are out of time to prosecute - for cases at the magistrates court, the prosecutor (Chiltern) have six months from the incident to inform the court. So you can probably relax, but please let us know if you do hear from them: Chiltern been known to try it on.

I’m potentially moving house soon too which will be a pain if they send any further info in letter form and not email.

While much less stuff goes by post than used to, it may be worth paying for the Royal Mail 5o redirect your post anyhow: https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

 

[WesternLancer]

As you know from the auto response that your reply reached Chiltern, it looks as if they are out of time to prosecute - for cases at the magistrates court, the prosecutor (Chiltern) have six months from the incident to inform the court. So you can probably relax, but please let us know if you do hear from them: Chiltern been known to try it on.



While much less stuff goes by post than used to, it may be worth paying for the Royal Mail 5o redirect your post anyhow: https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

I would think anything that includes court related paperwork will come in hard copy post.

I’d certainly consider a Royal Mail redirection if moving house.

They may still try to progress court action even if out of time to do so. I doubt you can rely on the court to notice that.

 

[timothy456]

As you know from the auto response that your reply reached Chiltern, it looks as if they are out of time to prosecute - for cases at the magistrates court, the prosecutor (Chiltern) have six months from the incident to inform the court. So you can probably relax, but please let us know if you do hear from them: Chiltern been known to try it on.



While much less stuff goes by post than used to, it may be worth paying for the Royal Mail 5o redirect your post anyhow: https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection

Thank you, I’m relieved if this is the case. Is it also too late for them to offer a settlement fee too in that case, or are they still within their rights to do so?

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you, I’m relieved if this is the case. Is it also too late for them to offer a settlement fee too in that case, or are they still within their rights to do so?

In that case there is no settlement offer unless they wanted to take the matter of their losses down a civil route, which has a much longer time limit.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

In that case there is no settlement offer unless they wanted to take the matter of their losses down a civil route, which has a much longer time limit.

The point of an out of court settlement is that in exchange for you giving them money, they agree not to pursue you in court. My understanding is that there's now no risk of Chiltern prosecuting you in the criminal court, so from that point of view you don't need to agree to an out of court settlement. Until recently we would have said that was the end of the matter. But as @AlterEgo says, it is open to the railway to pursue you for the money you owe through the civil court. In the past, they didn't take that route but we are (I think) beginning to see this used in a few cases.

The railway has (I think) six years to try to recover their money - and the civil court isn't used every time. Realistically, you can't stay on edge for all that time, so my advice remains the same: stop worrying but please come back for more advice if the railway do contact you about this.

 

[sweetbabyray]

Hi there, I am in a similar boat to you, where I didn't realise my railcard had expired.

The event happened in November and the NIP came through in February stating they had found I had previously used the railcard for other journeys as well as the one where they stopped me.

I replied with an apology as this forum suggested and also listed out the occasions where I think i had used the train with the expired railcard (I think it was 5 with the max fare being around £10), saying I was more than happy to settle and pay these fares/any fines.

I have now heard nothing back since the letter in February.

My question is it seems like the prosecution deadline has passed, but as there were previous offences - is this still the case? Or could they still prosecute me?

 

[Haywain]

Hi there, I am in a similar boat to you, where I didn't realise my railcard had expired.

Please start your own thread so that you can be given appropriate advice.