I marked a carnet ticket for use on 5 December, but didn't end up using it. Without realising this would be a problem, I overwrote it for use on 12 December and was stopped at the station as this was spotted by the inspector, and my details were taken in a witness statement. The ticket hadn't been used other than on this journey.
I did this innocently, and without realisation of the consequences, but now am concerned I may be about to be subject to a fine and potentially even a court summons / criminal record / etc.
On the witness statement form there was a section asking if there was any further information I wanted to state, which I left blank.
Does anyone have any advice? Should I reach out to give more details to the claims company? Am I likely to be prosecuted or just subject to some fine?
Start station: Cambridge
End station: Hitchin
(Both have active barriers)
Unfortunately for you, this is not a great position to be in.
You are liable for prosecution under Byelaw 18 of the
Railway Byelaws 2005. This makes it a strict liability (i.e. intention doesn't matter - similarly to speeding) offence to board a train without a valid ticket on you. Since you didn't have a valid ticket on you when you boarded, I don't think we can conclude anything other than that you were in breach of that. The only defence is if there were no ticketing facilities available at your starting station, or if you had permission to board without a valid ticket - and it would be pretty unusual for either of those to apply in respect of boarding at a major station such as Cambridge.
The alternative law under which you might be prosecuted is
Section 5(3)(a) of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 (RoRA). This makes it an offence to travel, or attempt to travel, by rail without previously having paid the fare, if you intend to avoid payment of the fare. You'll note that intent to avoid payment must be proven here, unlike Byelaw 18. The evidential burden for this, plus the fact that it's a little murky whether you are deemed to have paid the fare for travel if you have already paid for your ticket, but it needs to be validated in some way, means that I would have thought it might be less likely that you would be prosecuted under this. It's simply easier to go for a Byelaw 18 prosecution. That's not to say you won't be prosecuted under RoRA, but in the circumstances, and in general, it's less likely. The one thing that would weigh more
towards RoRA prosecution would be the fact that you overwrote the date - whilst you have given a reasonable explanation for this, if it cannot be shown that you didn't actually use the ticket on the originally entered date (something that may be difficult to prove), this may be taken as an indication of dishonesty and intent, even if you tell the Court it was just a mistake.
The penalty upon conviction for either offence is a fine of approximately 75-150% your weekly income - this is adjusted up or down depending on the specifics of a particular offence (see the
Sentencing Guidelines here). [There is a cap of £1000 for the fine, but it is unlikely that this would be reached for most people.] It would also be normal to have to pay any fare outstanding, plus the costs of the investigation (usually in the region of £80-150), as well as the victim surcharge.
In addition, a conviction under Byelaw 18 should not result in a record being generated on the Police National Computer (PNC), and it would be considered 'spent' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 immediately, whilst a conviction under Section 5(3)(a) of RoRA would normally result in a PNC record being generated, and it would only be considered 'spent' one year after conviction. This reflects the fact that RoRA is seen as a more serious offence - and a conviction under it may be seen as an offence of dishonesty.
As for advice for your situation, there's not a great deal you can do at the moment. Perhaps write down an account of what you remember happened (both on the 5th, and today). But you will have to wait until you hear further about the matter. The usual procedure with these kinds of investigations is that you'd receive a letter from the train company that took your details within somewhere between a few weeks and a few months of the original incident. This would normally ask you for your version of events - hence the writing down of the account now, so you can be sure you don't forget anything. You don't have to reply, but it's generally best to, so that everyone is aware of all the circumstances. In this letter it's also worth considering whether you might want to make an offer of out of Court settlement to the train company. Some are more amenable to this than others, and it is often reported that such offers are initially rejected, or simply ignored (even if they are later accepted in a number of cases).
After this first letter you may receive a second letter where they state what they propose to do (drop the matter, offer you a settlement, prosecute for a particular offence). At this point, if you want to settle and haven't yet offered it yourself or been offered it, this would be a good point to offer it. Note that there is no obligation for the train company to engage in any of this correspondence - strictly speaking, they can go straight to laying the information before the Magistrates' Court (and they have 6 months from the date of the incident to do this).
In any case, what's done is done - now it's a waiting game. (Oh, and in case you were wondering whether you might be issued with a Penalty Fare - if you were not issued with one at the time, it is not possible for you to be issued with a Penalty Fare now. Penalty Fares have to be issued when and as irregular travel is detected; they can't be issued "after the fact". It's of course
possible you might be offered a settlement somewhat akin to a Penalty Fare in terms of the amount you have to pay, but there are certainly no guarantees, and it would be a totally different kettle of fish legally speaking to an actual Penalty Fare).
