South Western Railway fine

[roentgen]

Hi. I would need some feedback who has the same experience with me. Last August 30, 2024 me and my partner travelled to Durdledoor from wallington station and our tickets was checked in Waterloo. I purchased a ticket using two together rail card which as cliche as it sounds but I am not really aware that you have to purchase the two together rail card also before you can avail the discount because upon check out it was not requiring to enter any card number or reference number of the card to check the eligibility. It was a dumb thing on my part, but it was an honest mistake. We were given prosecution tickets and have been informed to wait for the letter from the south western railway but didn’t receive anything not until today, but it was not a letter but instead an email from certain person from southern railway, informing me about my offense but didn’t give any settlement amount, instead asking for out two together rail card which I immediately purchased as soon as we reached wool after knowing how the railcard discount works. Is this their way now to inform the customers? I was expecting a letter like how it was explained to me by the officer that day we were checked inside the train. Does anyone have the same experience? Can anyone please guide or advised me what’s the best approach to them? Also, can I put my partner on cc to the email as she also received a prosecution ticket because of my stupid action, but she didn’t receive anything letter or email yet. Thank you

 

[Gloster]

N.b. The reference in the eight line in #1 should be to South Western Railway, should it not. Southern is a different company.

 

[MotCO]

For many (all?) railcards, the Train Operating Companies allow you to forget to have your railcard with you on one occasion each year. Maybe you said something to the inspector along the lines that you had left your card at home, and this is the TOC allowing you to provide evidence of your card.

Purchasing a card after the event does not count.

You should respond to the email saying that you did not have a Two Together railcard when you made that journey, and apologise for your oversight. Usually we see TOCs asking for you sde of the story, but at this stage they are only asking you to prove you had a railcard, which you did not.

I am not sure if they will write again, or whether this is the only time - other forum members will be able to advise. If they do write again, we often advise posters to explain that you did not understand the rules relating to the railcard, but now realise that what you did was wrong, and will not repeat it - indeed you can point to the fact that you have now purchased the correct railcard as evidence of this.

However, this is probably for the future, not now. For now, you need to respond by next Monday. If you draft your response and post on here, members will make suggestions for any improvements. Don't send it off yet - you will get good advice on this forum to help get an acceptable outcome.

Edit: In your response, you should point out that the journey you undertook was from Wallington to Waterloo, not Wool to Waterloo. You will probably be asked to pay for your mistake, and that will be based on your journey. The ticket from Wool is much more expensive than the ticket from Wallington, so you should advise them of this.

 

[AlterEgo]

You should be honest with SWR and explain the situation first of all. It's likely they will settle out of court for the fare due plus £100 or so in administration costs. As @MotCO says purchasing a railcard only when caught doesn't count.

 

[roentgen]

I am actually going to

For many (all?) railcards, the Train Operating Companies allow you to forget to have your railcard with you on one occasion each year. Maybe you said something to the inspector along the lines that you had left your card at home, and this is the TOC allowing you to provide evidence of your card.

Purchasing a card after the event does not count.

You should respond to the email saying that you did not have a Two Together railcard when you made that journey, and apologise for your oversight. Usually we see TOCs asking for you sde of the story, but at this stage they are only asking you to prove you had a railcard, which you did not.

I am not sure if they will write again, or whether this is the only time - other forum members will be able to advise. If they do write again, we often advise posters to explain that you did not understand the rules relating to the railcard, but now realise that what you did was wrong, and will not repeat it - indeed you can point to the fact that you have now purchased the correct railcard as evidence of this.

However, this is probably for the future, not now. For now, you need to respond by next Monday. If you draft your response and post on here, members will make suggestions for any improvements. Don't send it off yet - you will get good advice on this forum to help get an acceptable outcome.

thank you so much, I had written my explanation to them since August and it was really long. I would appreciate if you can edit it for me, as I feel like I am over explaining myself again. Also I wanted to mention that I had used two together railcard discount last February this year, for the same reasons that I was not really aware of it but I am actually thankful that I was checked the last time as I will keep using the discount because of my ignorance. Should I just mention it or just let them check for their selves?

 

[MotCO]

I am actually going to

thank you so much, I had written my explanation to them since August and it was really long. I would appreciate if you can edit it for me, as I feel like I am over explaining myself again. Also I wanted to mention that I had used two together railcard discount last February this year, for the same reasons that I was not really aware of it but I am actually thankful that I was checked the last time as I will keep using the discount because of my ignorance. Should I just mention it or just let them check for their selves?

By all means post your draft on here (blanking out your name and reference). 'Really long' is probably not a good idea - try to keep it succinct and to the point. Whoever reads your response will have hundreds to read each day, and they have heard all the excuses under the sun!

Not sure about owning up to other ocassions. I think the first thing is to own up that you do not have a railcard. I think that they may write to you again (they do say that they will 'proceed accordingly') , and this time it will say something along the lines that you did not have a valid ticket and they are considering you for proscecution. Providing you engage positively with them (which you seem to be doing) , then an out of Court settlement should be possible. The second response may ask if you have bought tickets before without a railcard, and that is probably the time to 'confess' the other ocassion.

Other members may take the view that you should confess all now. Don't submit your response until other members have offered their advice.

 

[30907]

I would suggest you respond by referencing only this journey (and your outward one, obviously). However, be careful not to say this is the only occasion.

SWR will no doubt have checked your travel history already and may include the previous trip in a settlement offer.

If you look at posts on here by @Hadders, they will give you some pointers to compare with your draft reply.

 

[WesternLancer]

By all means post your draft on here (blanking out your name and reference). 'Really long' is probably not a good idea - try to keep it succinct and to the point. Whoever reads your response will have hundreds to read each day, and they have heard all the excuses under the sun!

Not sure about owning up to other ocassions. I think the first thing is to own up that you do not have a railcard. I think that they may write to you again (they do say that they will 'proceed accordingly') , and this time it will say something along the lines that you did not have a valid ticket and they are considering you for proscecution. Providing you engage positively with them (which you seem to be doing) , then an out of Court settlement should be possible. The second response may ask if you have bought tickets before without a railcard, and that is probably the time to 'confess' the other ocassion.

Other members may take the view that you should confess all now. Don't submit your response until other members have offered their advice.

My view is perhaps it's worth the OP weighing up what is at stake for them in terms of how they address this issue.

If a case went to court and you got prosecuted and found guilty - and the consequences of that were severe problems eg at work / loss of job / visa problems etc - then it's clearly better and cheaper to avoid that by being fully honest, compared with losing your job and the income that comes with that (obviously I am talking about a worst case scenario) - ie in your apology say 'I may have made this mistake on other occasions and would like to correct my mistake, please check your records and let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.'

However, if the consequences are more balanced then you can just answer what they have asked about, and just be prepared they may check their records (including any place you buy tickets from) and come back to you and ask about other travel anyway, but wait until they do.

As you went on to Buy a Railcard that will be valid for future travel, you can mention that as step you took to make sure the error you made will not happen again, and that you have taken action to ensure this buy buying a railcard.

 

[roentgen]

By all means post your draft on here (blanking out your name and reference). 'Really long' is probably not a good idea - try to keep it succinct and to the point. Whoever reads your response will have hundreds to read each day, and they have heard all the excuses under the sun!

Not sure about owning up to other ocassions. I think the first thing is to own up that you do not have a railcard. I think that they may write to you again (they do say that they will 'proceed accordingly') , and this time it will say something along the lines that you did not have a valid ticket and they are considering you for proscecution. Providing you engage positively with them (which you seem to be doing) , then an out of Court settlement should be possible. The second response may ask if you have bought tickets before without a railcard, and that is probably the time to 'confess' the other ocassion.

Other members may take the view that you should confess all now. Don't submit your response until other members have offered their advice.

Hi Please read what I had to write for my reply. TIA

Good morning. Thank you for the email, me and my partner had both received the prosecution ticket and have been actually waiting for a mail by post from South Western Railway, according to the inspector that issued us the prosecution tickets, prior to that incident on the 31st of August 2024. Me and my partner made the journey together to Wool. I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets without a valid two together rail card discount card on the 30th August, a night before our journey from Wallington Station to Wool Station through the Trainline app. I didn’t know that the railcard for discount was being purchased separately. We don’t use the train frequently, I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really don’t know the rules how to use the card, i didn’t read before booking our tickets, my ignorance brought me and my partner in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. Kindly note that I had only purchased the two together railcard as soon as we reached our destination as per the inspector’s advice that day. I promise that this mistake will never happen again.



We are humbly asking for your kind understanding and consideration to this incident. We are willing to pay the full price of our ticket for the resolution of this matter as we can guarantee you that we have no intention to commit any fraud just to evade any payments. I would also like to ask if you can give consideration for my partner as she has no knowledge about that journey, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th anniversary last August.



Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner on this email to sort this out for both of us, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.



Thank you.

I would suggest you respond by referencing only this journey (and your outward one, obviously). However, be careful not to say this is the only occasion.

SWR will no doubt have checked your travel history already and may include the previous trip in a settlement offer.

If you look at posts on here by @Hadders, they will give you some pointers to compare with your draft reply.

Thank you sir

 

[MotCO]

Can you clarify the timeline?
1. Was your journey from Wallington to Clapham Junction, change trains to Waterloo, change trains to Wool?
2. Where were you stopped? At Waterloo having arrived from Wallington, or after arriving from Wool?
3. Did you buy a Railcard at Waterloo at that time, thereby meaning any journeys after you were stopped became valid. (although this is a moot point: can you buy a railcard to validate a ticket midway through a 'journey'?)

 

[roentgen]

My view is perhaps it's worth the OP weighing up what is at stake for them in terms of how they address this issue.

If a case went to court and you got prosecuted and found guilty - and the consequences of that were severe problems eg at work / loss of job / visa problems etc - then it's clearly better and cheaper to avoid that by being fully honest, compared with losing your job and the income that comes with that (obviously I am talking about a worst case scenario) - ie in your apology say 'I may have made this mistake on other occasions and would like to correct my mistake, please check your records and let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.'

However, if the consequences are more balanced then you can just answer what they have asked about, and just be prepared they may check their records (including any place you buy tickets from) and come back to you and ask about other travel anyway, but wait until they do.

As you went on to Buy a Railcard that will be valid for future travel, you can mention that as step you took to make sure the error you made will not happen again, and that you have taken action to ensure this buy buying a railcard.

Thank you for the advise sir, I am going to take note of what you said in here. Sir we actually travelled from Wallington to Wool station, and got checked in the middle of our journey.

Can you clarify the timeline?
1. Was your journey from Wallington to Clapham Junction, change trains to Waterloo, change trains to Wool?
2. Where were you stopped? At Waterloo having arrived from Wallington, or after arriving from Wool?
3. Did you buy a Railcard at Waterloo at that time, thereby meaning any journeys after you were stopped became valid. (although this is a moot point: can you buy a railcard to validate a ticket midway through a 'journey'?)

We started our journey from Wallington, then change train I think in Waterloo and both got checked in Clapham junction inside the train but the other inspector put Woking on my prosecution ticket while my partner was in Clapham junction. We were advised to buy the railcard once we reached Wool, so we approached the lady in the ticket office and we were advised to just buy the railcard through the app, she was not helpful at all and she said to just use the ticket return ticket that I bought before.

 

[MotCO]

Hi Please read what I had to write for my reply. TIA

Good morning. Thank you for the email, me and my partner had both received the prosecution ticket and have been actually waiting for a mail by post from South Western Railway, according to the inspector that issued us the prosecution tickets, prior to that incident on the 31st of August 2024. Me and my partner made the journey together to Wool. I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets without a valid two together rail card discount card on the 30th August, a night before our journey from Wallington Station to Wool Station through the Trainline app. I didn’t know that the railcard for discount was being purchased separately. We don’t use the train frequently, I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really don’t know the rules how to use the card, i didn’t read before booking our tickets, my ignorance brought me and my partner in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. Kindly note that I had only purchased the two together railcard as soon as we reached our destination as per the inspector’s advice that day. I promise that this mistake will never happen again.



We are humbly asking for your kind understanding and consideration to this incident. We are willing to pay the full price of our ticket for the resolution of this matter as we can guarantee you that we have no intention to commit any fraud just to evade any payments. I would also like to ask if you can give consideration for my partner as she has no knowledge about that journey, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th anniversary last August.



Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner on this email to sort this out for both of us, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.



Thank you.

Responses tend to be written a bit more formally. This is not a casual issue, and writing more formally helps persuade the TOC that you are taking this seriously.

I would start, "Dear Mr Morphew", then quote the reference number you have been given on the next line as a heading. . e.g. RE Case Reference xxxxxxxx

It is more correct to say "My partner and I" rather than "Me and my partner" when it is the subject in a sentence, usually at the start of the sentence. (The exception in your letter is "my ignorance brought me and my partner in this situation" which should be "my ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation" English is a strange language ). Also, some of the sentences are a bit long; break them up into separate sentences. Any sentence over 25 - 30 words is probably too long.

"We are humbly asking" sounds a bit strange - maybe "We would ask" may sound better. I would also avoid the use of the word "fraud" - that has a specific legal meaning which you do not want to get into.

Did your partner have to give their details as well? If so, they will have their own reference number which you should quote Or it may be that, because it is a "Two Together" railcard, they may pursuing you for both fares. I've not come across this before - maybe others have.

 

[roentgen]

Responses tend to be written a bit more formally. This is not a casual issue, and writing more formally helps persuade the TOC that you are taking this seriously.

I would start, "Dear Mr Morphew", then quote the reference number you have been given on the next line as a heading. . e.g. RE Case Reference xxxxxxxx

It is more correct to say "My partner and I" rather than "Me and my partner" when it is the subject in a sentence, usually at the start of the sentence. (The exception in your letter is "my ignorance brought me and my partner in this situation" which should be "my ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation" English is a strange language ). Also, some of the sentences are a bit long; break them up into separate sentences. Any sentence over 25 - 30 words is probably too long.

"We are humbly asking" sounds a bit strange - maybe "We would ask" may sound better. I would also avoid the use of the word "fraud" - that has a specific legal meaning which you do not want to get into.

Did your partner have to give their details as well? If so, they will have their own reference number which you should quote Or it may be that, because it is a "Two Together" railcard, they may pursuing you for both fares. I've not come across this before - maybe others have.

Thank you for this. Could you please check if this is okay now? Thanks again.


Dear Mr. Morphew,


RE Case Reference:

Good morning. Thank you for the email, my partner and I had both received the prosecution tickets from the inspectors on the 31st of August and have been actually expecting a mail by post from South Western Railway since then. Me and my partner started our journey from Wallington, and got our prosecution tickets at the same time on our way to Wool, but on our prosecution tickets it was showing that we were stopped in two different train stations (Clapham Junction and Woking, please refer to the attached issued prosecution tickets).

I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets. We don’t always travel far away from London. I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really did not understand the rules relating to the railcards, but now I realised that what I did was wrong, and will not repeat the same mistake again, that is why I did purchased the Two Together railcard as per the inspector’s instruction on the same day. Please let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.


My ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. We would like to ask your kind understanding and consideration to this incident, especially for my partner as she has no knowledge when I purchased the train tickets, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th year anniversary last August. We are willing to pay the full price of our tickets to guarantee that we have no intention to evade our obligations as passengers.

Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner in this email to sort out this issue together, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.

Please refer to her reference number XXXXX



Thank you.

 

[MotCO]

I have taken the liberty to make some adjustments to your draft

Dear Mr. Morphew,


RE Case Reference:

Thank you for the email. My partner and I had both received the prosecution tickets from the inspectors on the 31st August and have been actually expecting a mail by post from South Western Railway since then. My partner and I started our journey from Wallington, and got our prosecution tickets at the same time on our way to Wool, but on our prosecution tickets it was showing that we were stopped in two different train stations (Clapham Junction and Woking, please refer to the attached issued prosecution tickets).

I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets. We don’t always travel far away from London. I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really did not understand the rules relating to the railcards, but now I realised that what I did was wrong, and will not repeat the same mistake. That is why I did purchased the Two Together railcard as per the inspector’s instruction on the same day. Please let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.


My ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation, and we have leant the lesson the hard way. We would like to ask for your kind understanding and consideration to this incident, especially for my partner as she has no knowledge when I purchased the train tickets it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th year anniversary last August. We are willing to pay the full price of our tickets to guarantee that we have no intention to evade our obligations as passengers.

Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner in this email to sort out this issue together, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.

Please refer to her reference number XXXXX



Thank you.

 

[30907]

Thank you for this. Could you please check if this is okay now? Thanks again.


Dear Mr. Morphew,


RE Case Reference:

Good morning. Thank you for the email, my partner and I had both received the prosecution tickets from the inspectors on the 31st of August and have been actually expecting a mail by post from South Western Railway since then. Me and my partner started our journey from Wallington, and got our prosecution tickets at the same time on our way to Wool, but on our prosecution tickets it was showing that we were stopped in two different train stations (Clapham Junction and Woking, please refer to the attached issued prosecution tickets).

I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets. We don’t always travel far away from London. I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really did not understand the rules relating to the railcards, but now I realised that what I did was wrong, and will not repeat the same mistake again, that is why I did purchased the Two Together railcard as per the inspector’s instruction on the same day. Please let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.


My ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. We would like to ask your kind understanding and consideration to this incident, especially for my partner as she has no knowledge when I purchased the train tickets, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th year anniversary last August. We are willing to pay the full price of our tickets to guarantee that we have no intention to evade our obligations as passengers.

Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner in this email to sort out this issue together, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.

Please refer to her reference number XXXXX



Thank you.

It may be that SWR have noticed that you paid for both tickets.

Your reply is still over long and I have bolded above sentences that could be cut.

Most importantly, though, you will need to pay SWR's admin costs as well as the full fare. (If you bought Advance tickets each way, then only for the outward trip.)


.

 

[roentgen]

I have taken the liberty to make some adjustments to your draft

I would really appreciate whatever changes you would want to do with my draft letter. Please let me know if this is a okay now.

It may be that SWR have noticed that you paid for both tickets.

Your reply is still over long and I have bolded above sentences that could be cut.

Most importantly, though, you will need to pay SWR's admin costs as well as the full fare. (If you bought Advance tickets each way, then only for the outward trip.)


.

Thank you sir

 

[WesternLancer]

Anything sent needs to end with a very clear ask. It must end with a request to settle the matter out of court rather than via a court prosecution.

If your job is to read many of these letters a day all you want to read is the first couple of sentences and the last couple of sentences. You must make them count.

When you read this stuff for a job you just want to know: what is this about? (first sentences) and what does this person want? (last sentences). All the rest just gets skimmed over.

So I have added a sentence at the end to the helpful suggestions by @MotCO and @30907 in case this is of help - see below
I would include both your and your partner's case references at the top as you are seeking to resolve both with the one letter and this will help make that as clear as possible
---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Morphew,


RE Case Reference:
and Case Reference:

Good morning. Thank you for the email, my partner and I had both received the prosecution tickets from the inspectors on the 31st of August and have been actually expecting a mail by post from South Western Railway since then. Me and my partner started our journey from Wallington, and got our prosecution tickets at the same time on our way to Wool, but on our prosecution tickets it was showing that we were stopped in two different train stations (Clapham Junction and Woking, please refer to the attached issued prosecution tickets).

I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets. We don’t always travel far away from London. I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really did not understand the rules relating to the railcards, but now I realised that what I did was wrong, and will not repeat the same mistake again, that is why I did purchased the Two Together railcard as per the inspector’s instruction on the same day. Please let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.


My ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. We would like to ask your kind understanding and consideration to this incident, especially for my partner as she has no knowledge when I purchased the train tickets, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th year anniversary last August. We are willing to pay the full price of our tickets to guarantee that we have no intention to evade our obligations as passengers.

Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner in this email to sort out this issue together, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.

Please refer to her reference number XXXXX

We would be grateful if you could allow us to settle this matter with you without the need for court action by paying for the fares owed and any administrative costs you have incurred investigating this.

Thank you.

 

[roentgen]

Anything sent needs to end with a very clear ask. It must end with a request to settle the matter out of court rather than via a court prosecution.

If your job is to read many of these letters a day all you want to read is the first couple of sentences and the last couple of sentences. You must make them count.

When you read this stuff for a job you just want to know: what is this about? (first sentences) and what does this person want? (last sentences). All the rest just gets skimmed over.

So I have added a sentence at the end to the helpful suggestions by @MotCO and @30907 in case this is of help - see below
I would include both your and your partner's case references at the top as you are seeking to resolve both with the one letter and this will help make that as clear as possible
---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Morphew,


RE Case Reference:
and Case Reference:

Good morning. Thank you for the email, my partner and I had both received the prosecution tickets from the inspectors on the 31st of August and have been actually expecting a mail by post from South Western Railway since then. Me and my partner started our journey from Wallington, and got our prosecution tickets at the same time on our way to Wool, but on our prosecution tickets it was showing that we were stopped in two different train stations (Clapham Junction and Woking, please refer to the attached issued prosecution tickets).

I would like to apologise and own up to the mistake as I was the one who purchased our train tickets. We don’t always travel far away from London. I have only been in the UK for two years and my partner was just here for one year. As cliche as it sounds but I really did not understand the rules relating to the railcards, but now I realised that what I did was wrong, and will not repeat the same mistake again, that is why I did purchased the Two Together railcard as per the inspector’s instruction on the same day. Please let me know if there is any other travel you think I need to correct my payment for.


My ignorance brought my partner and me in this situation. And this was the lesson that I had to learn the hard way. We would like to ask your kind understanding and consideration to this incident, especially for my partner as she has no knowledge when I purchased the train tickets, it was a supposedly surprise date to celebrate our 7th year anniversary last August. We are willing to pay the full price of our tickets to guarantee that we have no intention to evade our obligations as passengers.

Please see attached screenshot of our Two together rail card purchased on the 31st August 2024. Please note that I included my partner in this email to sort out this issue together, as she has not yet received any letter or email from South Western Railways.

Please refer to her reference number XXXXX

We would be grateful if you could allow us to settle this matter with you without the need for court action by paying for the fares owed and any administrative costs you have incurred investigating this.

Thank you.

Waiting for what’s next again.

 

[WesternLancer]

Waiting for what’s next again.

That's good - at least you know they have got your reply. I suspect they will now be checking your purchase records for other things they think may be suspicious, and they may ask you about them. Essentially looking for any other tickets you might have bought with a Railcard discount applied when you did not have a Railcard.

I take it you didn't have other railcards either previously - eg a Network Railcard for example?

You can of course check your own records of tickets bought on line to see if any of them had railcard discounts applied when you did not own the railcard that was associated with the ticket you bought. That way you will have an idea of what they might ask you about.

 

[roentgen]

That's good - at least you know they have got your reply. I suspect they will now be checking your purchase records for other things they think may be suspicious, and they may ask you about them. Essentially looking for any other tickets you might have bought with a Railcard discount applied when you did not have a Railcard.

I take it you didn't have other railcards either previously - eg a Network Railcard for example?

You can of course check your own records of tickets bought on line to see if any of them had railcard discounts applied when you did not own the railcard that was associated with the ticket you bought. That way you will have an idea of what they might ask you about.

No, I didn’t had any railcards discount before, I had only used two together railcards discount twice since my partner arrived last year. It was just really an honest mistake because of ignorance. We don’t normally use train line app we always buy tickets in the booth platform.

 

[WesternLancer]

No, I didn’t had any railcards discount before, I had only used two together railcards discount twice since my partner arrived last year. It was just really an honest mistake because of ignorance. We don’t normally use train line app we always buy tickets in the booth platform.

Understood - it will presumably not be a massive cost to you if you have to pay for correct tickets for the 2 occasions you mention if they ask for that. But you should have the money available in order to pay it promptly as they will request prompt payment in full if they offer an out of court settlement

People here can check the fares they may ask for from you if that would help - or you could try looking up the fare here - you would need to look up the Standard Class Anytime Single for each one way journey per person - this is the sum they may ask for

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

 

[roentgen]

Good evening again. Today we received a letter from SWR for my partner. I was expecting the same for me. It’s not too much. Thank god. Do I have to inform Mr. Morphew about my partner’s letter? I already paid it just now. Should I send him my partners letter and payment receipt? I didn’t hear from him after his email yesterday. I am worried as to why mine was through email and not by post.

 

[MotCO]

Good evening again. Today we received a letter from SWR for my partner. I was expecting the same for me. It’s not too much. Thank god. Do I have to inform Mr. Morphew about my partner’s letter? I already paid it just now. Should I send him my partners letter and payment receipt? I didn’t hear from him after his email yesterday. I am worried as to why mine was through email and not by post.

When you were stopped by the inspector, were you spoken to by a different inspector than your partner? Maybe your partner did not give an email address, or the address was mis-written by the inspector and when they tried to send your partner an email, it 'bounced', so they had ti send by post.

Did your partner receive any previous correspondence, or maybe from the conversation with the inspector, your partner gave sufficient information for a settlement request to be sent out.

You have sent a response about your case by email. They should have received it, but it may take a few days before they read it. You have done what was asked of you. All you can do is wait.

 

[roentgen]

Understood - it will presumably not be a massive cost to you if you have to pay for correct tickets for the 2 occasions you mention if they ask for that. But you should have the money available in order to pay it promptly as they will request prompt payment in full if they offer an out of court settlement

People here can check the fares they may ask for from you if that would help - or you could try looking up the fare here - you would need to look up the Standard Class Anytime Single for each one way journey per person - this is the sum they may ask for

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

When you were stopped by the inspector, were you spoken to by a different inspector than your partner? Maybe your partner did not give an email address, or the address was mis-written by the inspector and when they tried to send your partner an email, it 'bounced', so they had ti send by post.

Did your partner receive any previous correspondence, or maybe from the conversation with the inspector, your partner gave sufficient information for a settlement request to be sent out.

You have sent a response about your case by email. They should have received it, but it may take a few days before they read it. You have done what was asked of you. All you can do is wait.

There were 2 officers who interviewed us, and the other one was the one who took my partner details and the other officer took my details. We both gave the same address, that’s why I’m a bit worried right now, is there any chance that SWR will inform GWR about our travel last February where I first made the mistake of using the discount without the valid two together railcards?

 

[MotCO]

There were 2 officers who interviewed us, and the other one was the one who took my partner details and the other officer took my details. We both gave the same address, that’s why I’m a bit worried right now, is there any chance that SWR will inform GWR about our travel last February where I first made the mistake of using the discount without the valid two together railcards?

If you provided all the correct details, there should be nothing to worry about. Maybe, as the Railcard holder, they are looking at your purchasing history to see if there were any other instances of invalid travel. This will obviously take longer to look into, rather than your partner who just had an invalid ticket. But if this is your first time, you have nothing to worry about, and you just have to wait for them to send you an email or letter.

 

[roentgen]

If you provided all the correct details, there should be nothing to worry about. Maybe, as the Railcard holder, they are looking at your purchasing history to see if there were any other instances of invalid travel. This will obviously take longer to look into, rather than your partner who just had an invalid ticket. But if this is your first time, you have nothing to worry about, and you just have to wait for them to send you an email or letter.

So far we only travelled twice with invalid railcard discount, the first one was with GWR which’sn February which we didn’t had any problem that is why I thought its okay to use it again on our second travel where we got caught by SWR.

 

[MotCO]

So far we only travelled twice with invalid railcard discount, the first one was with GWR which’sn February which we didn’t had any problem that is why I thought its okay to use it again on our second travel where we got caught by SWR.

So maybe the delay in getting back to you is because they are still researching your travel history.