South Western Railway invited me to an interview as part of their investigation

[Pioneer78]

Back in december of last year I was caught travelling with a child ticket at waterloo station. They ended up looking through my trainline history in which I have around 10 journeys with a child ticket and another 10-15 or so with an expired railcard.

They emailed me last week asking for my complete rail card history.

They have now invited me to an in person interview which if I dont attend they say could go to court.

I really really dont want to go to court and just want to pay the differnce in train fares.

What should I do here? Attend the interview? Don't attend the interview? Get a solicitor? Send them an email basically agreeing to settle this and pay what is owed?

Any advice would be much appreicated.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Back in december of last year I was caught travelling with a child ticket at waterloo station. They ended up looking through my trainline history in which I have around 10 journeys with a child ticket and another 10-15 or so with an expired railcard.

They emailed me last week asking for my complete rail card history.

They have now invited me to an in person interview which if I dont attend they say could go to court.

I really really dont want to go to court and just want to pay the differnce in train fares.

What should I do here? Attend the interview? Don't attend the interview? Get a solicitor? Send them an email basically agreeing to settle this and pay what is owed?

Any advice would be much appreicated.

As you should be aware from your previous experience (https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...-pay-by-date-for-pre-court-settlement.237871/) the railway is unlikely to settle for just the difference in fares: at the very least they will want to be compensated for the resources they have spent investigating this matter, and the usual position from most rail companies is to seek the full fare for each journey made, without taking any account of what you paid for a ticket you weren't entitled to use.

But the good news is that most train companies will be happy to settle out of court as long as they're reasonably certain that you will not fare dodge again. It seems to me that as you have previously come to the railway's attention (GWR rather than SWR, but they're both (I think) associated with First Group so may share information) this will be an uphill struggle. That being the case, my advice would be that your best bet is to be ostentatiously open and honest. That means responding to the railway with details of all the previous journeys where you didn't pay the proper fare. If your history is the same as (or at least very close to) what SWR know about, they may be prepared to let you settle this for the fares dodged plus their costs.

I should add that others may be along with a different strategy to get the best possible result. It will be your choice as to what (if any) of the different advice to follow.

 

[AlterEgo]

As you should be aware from your previous experience (https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...-pay-by-date-for-pre-court-settlement.237871/) the railway is unlikely to settle for just the difference in fares: at the very least they will want to be compensated for the resources they have spent investigating this matter, and the usual position from most rail companies is to seek the full fare for each journey made, without taking any account of what you paid for a ticket you weren't entitled to use.

But the good news is that most train companies will be happy to settle out of court as long as they're reasonably certain that you will not fare dodge again. It seems to me that as you have previously come to the railway's attention (GWR rather than SWR, but they're both (I think) associated with First Group so may share information) this will be an uphill struggle. That being the case, my advice would be that your best bet is to be ostentatiously open and honest. That means responding to the railway with details of all the previous journeys where you didn't pay the proper fare. If your history is the same as (or at least very close to) what SWR know about, they may be prepared to let you settle this for the fares dodged plus their costs.

I should add that others may be along with a different strategy to get the best possible result. It will be your choice as to what (if any) of the different advice to follow.

First question for the OP, apart from the obvious: have any of the fares/journeys in question by SWR already been dealt with by GWR during their previous case?

OP: It's unlikely you'll be able to pay just the difference in fares, but rather will be on the hook for the full Anytime fare for each time you failed to pay the correct fare. You will also need to pay SWR's costs.

 

[Pioneer78]

First question for the OP, apart from the obvious: have any of the fares/journeys in question by SWR already been dealt with by GWR during their previous case?

OP: It's unlikely you'll be able to pay just the difference in fares, but rather will be on the hook for the full Anytime fare for each time you failed to pay the correct fare. You will also need to pay SWR's costs.

"have any of the fares/journeys in question by SWR already been dealt with by GWR during their previous case?" - The other case was I simply didn't have a ticket years ago, the case was dealt and settled with GWR

 

[John R]

I'd agree with @Fawkes Cat that it is going to be an uphill struggle to persuade them that you have learnt your lesson and will not do it again. After all, you were caught before, and here you are again...

But all you can do is be as open and honest with them as to what you have done, admit your wrongdoing, and ask very very nicely (but in your own words, not cringy AI that uses language that nobody would use in normal use) for a settlement. If you're lucky they will agree, but if not then I'm afraid your only option would be to engage the services of a solicitor (which will cost several hundred pounds) in a last ditch attempt to get them to change their minds.

 

[Hadders]

In June you were caught short faring and settled this out of court with GWR

In December you were caught using a child ticket and your ticket purchase history suggests you have made 10 journeys usiung child tickets and another 10-15 with an expired railcard.

To be frank, if a case like this doesn't end up in court then you have to wonder just how serious the level of offending has to be to end up being prosecuted. I think you're going to struggle to keep this out of court, and if you are able to do so you won't be able to pay the difference in fares, SWR will charge you the full Anytime fare for all of the journeys you've made with no credit given for the invalid tickets you did purchase. In addition tthey will charge an admin fee. Depending on the journeys you've made this is likely to be very expensive.

A solicitor specialising in rail fare evasion might be your best bet here but expect to pay them around £1,000 to engage with SWR on your behalf which you'll have to pay in addition to the settlement.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

In June you were caught short faring and settled this out of court with GWR

In December you were caught using a child ticket and your ticket purchase history suggests you have made 10 journeys usiung child tickets and another 10-15 with an expired railcard.

To be frank, if a case like this doesn't end up in court then you have to wonder just how serious the level of offending has to be to end up being prosecuted. I think you're going to struggle to keep this out of court, and if you are able to do so you won't be able to pay the difference in fares, SWR will charge you the full Anytime fare for all of the journeys you've made with no credit given for the invalid tickets you did purchase. In addition tthey will charge an admin fee. Depending on the journeys you've made this is likely to be very expensive.

A solicitor specialising in rail fare evasion might be your best bet here but expect to pay them around £1,000 to engage with SWR on your behalf which you'll have to pay in addition to the settlement.

While I wouldn't disagree with the conclusion, OP's previous visit to us here was in 2022