NT - duplicate Delay Repay Claims with another passenger enquiry

[HerBo]

Hi all, recently I received the following email on 'both' of my delay repay account

Northern Trains Ltd (NTL) has found that you have submitted duplicate Delay Repay Claims
with another passenger on our services which is against the terms and conditions of the
Delay Repay Scheme.
Request for Evidence
If you wish to give an explanation or provide evidence about this, then please write to
[email protected]. If you are unable to send an email, please call the
Customer Experience Centre on 08002006060. Your email should include your full details,
the notice number (at the top of this letter) and any evidence.
Where we are not satisfied with any explanation you provide, we may take legal action
against you.
The conduct we are investigating may amount to an offence under the Fraud Act 2006. If
found guilty of such an offence in a court of law then, upon summary conviction, the
maximum penalty is a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months and/or
to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum. Upon conviction in the Crown Court, the
maximum penalty for an offence under the Fraud Act 2006 is a sentence of imprisonment for
a term not exceeding 10 years and/or to a fine.
Ways to Settle
You can settle the matter straight away by paying the amount of £xx.xx along with a
contribution to costs of £50.00.
I had a monthly rail pass and occationally I'd claim delay on different services with different accounts. The delay account which linked with the email when I purchase the rail pass didn't receive such email but another 2 accounts did. I believe it''s because I didn't realize and I've been claiming several services on both accounts(not the account that linked to email with rail pass) so the system found that (yes they did and automatically reject my claim). Being honest - some services I claimed for delay are the one I'd travel on and some didn't.
So now in total I was asked to pay for £100+ all money that I successfully claimed before. I was wondering
1. They asked me to return all money 'since' I open the account in 2023 - which is not quite fair to me as those money aren't came from refund of that rail pass
2. Is there any possibility to let NT combine 2 cases into 1 so I only need to pay for £50.00 as an additional charge instead of £100?
3. Or should I not send them any explaination and pay it right away as they said 'Where we are not satisfied with any explanation you provide, we may take legal action
against you.' (Which is a bit scary although I know thats how they threat people)

p.s. anyway if I do need to return all money since I opened the account that's fine as I didn't claim much from them and that amount is even less than £50......
Appreciate for your help

 

[Titfield]

You are asking for advice on a matter where you have only given some of the facts.

My view would be to pay the sums requested and the admin fees charged.

If you decided to claim that two sets of admin fees were "unfair" and that some of the claims were "legitimate" (though how you could prove this unless there was tap in tap out or scan data) then you would run the risk of them simply taking you to court where on the basis of what you have said you would be found guilty. The fine then imposed would probably be higher than what you claim are unfair / incorrect costs and you would have a conviction to boot.

This may seem harsh but when you are in the wrong your negotiating position is weak to non existent.

 

[SuspectUsual]

@HerBo why did you open more than one delay repay account? Sorry if I'm being naive or stupid and missing something obvious, it doesn't make sense to me

 

[ainsworth74]

@HerBo why did you open more than one delay repay account? Sorry if I'm being naive or stupid and missing something obvious, it doesn't make sense to me

They're making fraudulent claims for Delay Repay and were trying to not get caught by making it less obvious that it was all the same person.

 

[SuspectUsual]

They're making fraudulent claims for Delay Repay and were trying to not get caught by making it less obvious that it was all the same person.

That's what I was wondering without being quite so direct

 

[AlterEgo]

To cut a long story short you committed an entry-level and unsophisticated fraud and were easily caught. And you’ve admitted to more than what they allege too. This is an open and shut, clear case of fraud, done by someone who hasn’t a clue as well.

Pay the money and stop doing fraud.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Being honest - some services I claimed for delay are the one I'd travel on and some didn't.
So now in total I was asked to pay for £100+ all money that I successfully claimed before.

Welcome to the forum. Pay up. Move on. You've been rumbled.

 

[Southern Beau]

So they’ve been claiming Delay Repay using the same ticket and for the same journey multiple times by using different DR profiles?

And then admitting that they didn’t actually travel on the services which they claimed for!

 

[ainsworth74]

To cut a long story short you committed an entry-level and unsophisticated fraud and were easily caught. And you’ve admitted to more than what they allege too. This is an open and shut, clear case of fraud, done by someone who hasn’t a clue as well.

Pay the money and stop doing fraud.

I think the above is probably all the advice that's warranted on this particular case to be honest. @HerBo if you do require further advice please report this post with what your question is and we can consider re-opening the thread but otherwise @AlterEgo has given you all you really need to know, the only thing I'd add is if you try and get cute with Northern by asking them to combine cases to reduce the admin charge don't be surprised if they opt to prosecute instead.