Rail Fare Prosecution Letter

[ImessedUpIKnow]

Hi all,

I received a letter from SouthEastern in respect of a journey I made with no valid ticket. I was questioned at the station in London by a SouthEastern employee. I written back to them in respect of this given the letter is a 'provisional autharistaion for prosecution'. I know this was a really stupid mistake never going to do it again and the lesson has been learnt but of course understand why SouthEastern take a harsh stand on this. My question is just why is the letter from SouthEastern as the train I was on was a Thameslink Train? I did not use a SouthEastern train that day nor have I all year. Are they owned by the same company or are they able to levy a penalty /prosecute on behalf of other train operators i.e Thameslink?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Welcome to the forum!

Someone will probably be along shortly with a fully detailed answer, but the quick answer is that any railway company can enforce the rules for any railway journey. So having travelled with one company but being pursued by another company doesn't stop it happening.

 

[Babybirdrobin]

Hi all,

I received a letter from SouthEastern in respect of a journey I made with no valid ticket. I was questioned at the station in London by a SouthEastern employee. I written back to them in respect of this given the letter is a 'provisional autharistaion for prosecution'. I know this was a really stupid mistake never going to do it again and the lesson has been learnt but of course understand why SouthEastern take a harsh stand on this. My question is just why is the letter from SouthEastern as the train I was on was a Thameslink Train? I did not use a SouthEastern train that day nor have I all year. Are they owned by the same company or are they able to levy a penalty /prosecute on behalf of other train operators i.e Thameslink?

To answer your questions:

1. They take a ‘harsh’ view on this because any fare evading poses a major issue for them because of revenue and wanting to teach a lesson. They don’t know if you’ve learned your lesson and even if you say you have, they want to make sure of it so charge the penalty.

2. With fare evasion, the letter comes from whoever you get caught by and Southeastern and Thameslink do share a lot with ownership stock etc.

 

[island]

Southeastern are the main operator at London Bridge station and are responsible for the gatelines and revenue protection. Whilst they do not in fact share any ownership with Thameslink, they are authorised and able to deal with violators on Thameslink trains, and can prosecute you if you do not engage with them.

The good news is they are usually amenable to offering a settlement arrangement where you pay the fare evaded and a contribution to their costs in dealing with violators such as yourself, and this will close the matter without a criminal record.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

Thanks all for the above this is helpful, interesting about London Bridge that wasn't actually the station I got off at but a couple after on that line. We'll see what happens, of course hoping for an out of court settlement as fairly sure I would lose my job in Accountancy if I get a criminal record but of course they have every right to prosecute, can only blame myself and should have realised the seriousness of this offence, stupid from me. Will keep you posted on the progression if I get a criminal record will have to think of my next steps in life. All the best.

 

[MikeWh]

Southeastern also run some peak services into Blackfriars, so may have been manning a block there. If it was further on from there then it's a mystery. Alternatively, if you changed at London Bridge for any of Waterloo East, Charing Cross or Cannon Street then they are all completely manned by Southeastern.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

You know your stuff MikeWh, out of curiosity does anyone know after sending in an initial response how long it takes to get one back from Southeastern, this is inevitably a stressful situation for myself and would be good to know what is an expected rough timeline.

 

[Hadders]

We have had reports of Southeastern staff 'helping out' their Thameslink counterparts at City Thameslink, this station being a couple of stops on from London Bridge.

It normally takes a few weeks for them to reply to the initial response. Southeastern are generally one of the more pragmatic train companies to deal with in this sort of situation. One thing to be aware of is if you have done this before Southeastern will be able to research your online ticket purchasing history and this could make an out of court settlement more difficult (and expensive) but not necessarily impossible to obtain.

Feel free to post a copy of your draft reply in this thread and forum members will be happy to proof read it for you.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

Thanks Hadders for your response. To confirm on the point of if this was done before... hypothetically if I had done this a couple times before is this something I should mention in my letter to SouthEastern? The letter I have sent does not mention this nor have I denied it. What are your thoughts is it worth sending a follow up on this?

 

[Hadders]

Thanks Hadders for your response. To confirm on the point of if this was done before... hypothetically if I had done this a couple times before is this something I should mention in my letter to SouthEastern? The letter I have sent does not mention this nor have I denied it. What are your thoughts is it worth sending a follow up on this?

You must be truthful in your reply. Answer the questions they have asked but do not volunteer any additional information. You are not required to incriminate yourself.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

You must be truthful in your reply. Answer the questions they have asked but do not volunteer any additional information. You are not required to incriminate yourself.

Thanks Hadders appreciate the guidance - enjoy your evening

 

[penalty fares]

Hi , I Messedup.
Have you contacted them and explained the situation they may not prosecute you if you appear to have learnt your lesson?
[email protected].

Worth a try.

 

[Hadders]

Hi , I Messedup.
Have you contacted them and explained the situation they may not prosecute you if you appear to have learnt your lesson?
[email protected].

Worth a try.

@ImessedUpIKnow has been sent a letter by Southeastern. They need to reply to this letter.

I do not recommend contacting them separately as this could just confuse things.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

Hi all, to give an update got a letter back today from SouthEastern having sent my response to them last Wednesday so they came back in 3 working days which is pretty brilliant I can’t lie. The settlement was £170 (£20 for the ticket and £150 for the admin fees on their end). Thanks for all the help really appreciate this, it’s brilliant news and best to say lesson learnt.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hi all, to give an update got a letter back today from SouthEastern having sent my response to them last Wednesday so they came back in 3 working days which is pretty brilliant I can’t lie. The settlement was £170 (£20 for the ticket and £150 for the admin fees on their end). Thanks for all the help really appreciate this, it’s brilliant news and best to say lesson learnt.

Thanks for letting us know: it's helpful to us for when other people want our help.

Please bear in mind that - as you may have seen from other threads - the railway seems to have got very keen on looking for patterns of people having the wrong ticket. So it's really important that you now make sure you always have the right ticket which will mean there's no reason for the railway to pursue you over any future issues.

 

[ImessedUpIKnow]

Thanks for letting us know: it's helpful to us for when other people want our help.

Please bear in mind that - as you may have seen from other threads - the railway seems to have got very keen on looking for patterns of people having the wrong ticket. So it's really important that you now make sure you always have the right ticket which will mean there's no reason for the railway to pursue you over any future issues.

Agreed 100%

 

[Hadders]

Thanks for letting us know. This is a decent outcome and in line with what I expected.