Southeastern prosecution letter

[omron122]

Hello,

I just read through a post of something similar to my situation but would appreciate any advice. 3 weeks ago I was caught using an incorrect ticket to get from Hither Green to London bridge, mine was Waterloo East to London Bridge. I was using a weekly pass and was caught at the barrier as it had not scanned at Waterloo east.

I have now written a letter apologising and asking to settle this out of court. Can anyone give any other advice, or is this good to send?

Dear Prosecutions Officer at Southeastern

I would like to express my deepest apologies to Southeastern for the financial losses I have caused the company.

I admit that I had a significant error of judgement in not purchasing tickets in full for my journeys between Hither Green to London Bridge. This was a terrible mistake and I am truly sorry for this.

I am prepared to pay any outstanding fare and your administration costs in dealing with this matter, I hope my desire to settle will be sincerely considered.

This truly was a terrible decision and a lesson learnt, this is something I will never consider again. I am deeply apologetic for any inconvenience I have caused Southeastern.

Yours sincerely,

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello,

I just read through a post of something similar to my situation but would appreciate any advice. 3 weeks ago I was caught using an incorrect ticket to get from Hither Green to London bridge, mine was Waterloo East to London Bridge. I was using a weekly pass and was caught at the barrier as it had not scanned at Waterloo east. I was questioned, and when asked if I had done this before I did say no in a serious lapse of judgement and panic, but had done this with day passes potentially 15 times before ( just one ticket in the morning over roughly 15 days).

I have now written a letter apologising and asking to settle this out of court. Can anyone give any other advice, or is this good to send?

Dear Prosecutions Officer at Southeastern

I would like to express my deepest apologies to Southeastern for the financial losses I have caused the company.

I admit that I had a significant error of judgement in not purchasing tickets in full for my journeys between Hither Green to London Bridge. This was a terrible mistake and I am truly sorry for this.

I am prepared to pay any outstanding fare and your administration costs in dealing with this matter, I hope my desire to settle will be sincerely considered.

This truly was a terrible decision and a lesson learnt, this is something I will never consider again. I am deeply apologetic for any inconvenience I have caused Southeastern.

Yours sincerely,

Make the penultimate paragraph your last paragraph ie swap the two last paragraphs round. Leave the reader with the request as the final thing they read. Ie the request to settle out of court.

Also you need to be consistent on your plurals. Your letter indicates you have done this more than once. But your offer to settle refers to a fare singular. If you are offering to pay all the fares evaded make this plural. If they detect multiple instances they will want those fares all paying anyway.

Welcome and good luck by the way.

 

[omron122]

Make the penultimate paragraph your last paragraph ie swap the two last paragraphs round. Leave the reader with the request as the final thing they read. Ie the request to settle out of court.

Also you need to be consistent on your plurals. Your letter indicates you have done this more than once. But your offer to settle refers to a fare singular. If you are offering to pay all the fares evaded make this plural. If they detect multiple instances they will want those fares all paying anyway.

Welcome and good luck by the way.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Makes sense, I have updated below. I assume they will see that I have done this before, so better to express that I will pay for multiple fares? Also it was a weekly pass I was using, so it included multiple days already used.

Dear Prosecutions Officer,

I am writing to offer my sincere apologies to Southeastern for the financial loss and inconvenience caused by my actions.

I fully acknowledge that I made a serious error in judgment by not purchasing valid tickets for my journeys between Hither Green and London Bridge. This was a clear breach of the rules, and I deeply regret my decision. I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the impact they may have had on the company.

This experience has been an important and sobering lesson for me. I assure you that I have reflected deeply on the consequences of my choices, and I will never repeat this mistake.

I am fully prepared to pay any outstanding fares and to cover any administrative costs incurred as a result of this matter. I hope my willingness to take responsibility and make amends will be taken into account.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my letter.

Yours sincerely,

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jun 2025 ==

If anyone has any more input that would be great, I plan to send this off soon. Is it likely I could be taken to court for a first offence?

 

[30907]

In answer to your last question: SE will almost certainly agree to a settlement.

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Makes sense, I have updated below. I assume they will see that I have done this before, so better to express that I will pay for multiple fares? Also it was a weekly pass I was using, so it included multiple days already used.

Dear Prosecutions Officer,

I am writing to offer my sincere apologies to Southeastern for the financial loss and inconvenience caused by my actions.

I fully acknowledge that I made a serious error in judgment by not purchasing valid tickets for my journeys between Hither Green and London Bridge. This was a clear breach of the rules, and I deeply regret my decision. I take full responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for the impact they may have had on the company.

This experience has been an important and sobering lesson for me. I assure you that I have reflected deeply on the consequences of my choices, and I will never repeat this mistake.

I am fully prepared to pay any outstanding fares and to cover any administrative costs incurred as a result of this matter. I hope my willingness to take responsibility and make amends will be taken into account.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my letter.

Yours sincerely,

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jun 2025 ==

If anyone has any more input that would be great, I plan to send this off soon. Is it likely I could be taken to court for a first offence?

Looks ok now. You could send it Monday as they won’t Be reading it at the weekend. Unless your deadline is sooner.

Bigger risk of prosecution is if they loose your reply than it being first time caught.

 

[omron122]

In answer to your last question: SE will almost certainly agree to a settlement.

Thank you for the reply.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2025 ==

Looks ok now. You could send it Monday as they won’t Be reading it at the weekend. Unless your deadline is sooner.

Bigger risk of prosecution is if they loose your reply than it being first time caught.

Okay good idea, I will send it Monday. Thanks for the help.

 

[MotCO]

Have you actually received a letter yet? The usual advice is to wait until you get a letter since
1. You can quote their reference so your response can be tied up with your case notes
2. You address the 'charge' they put to you and you do not incriminate yourself over things they have not asked you about.

 

[jfollows]

Have you actually received a letter yet? The usual advice is to wait until you get a letter since
1. You can quote their reference so your response can be tied up with your case notes
2. You address the 'charge' they put to you and you do not incriminate yourself over things they have not asked you about.

Yes, the letter is attached to the first post above. But I agree with your point.

 

[omron122]

Have you actually received a letter yet? The usual advice is to wait until you get a letter since
1. You can quote their reference so your response can be tied up with your case notes
2. You address the 'charge' they put to you and you do not incriminate yourself over things they have not asked you about.

Thanks, do you feel I am incriminating myself by saying "tickets" and "journeys" implying multiple? I was caught using a weekly pass, towards the end of the week period. Do you think this could imply I am referring to the multiple days used on my weekly pass? I feel it covers the basis of the weekly pass, and if they were going to come back about the other occasions then I have covered this too.

If I say "ticket" and "journey" but they have gone through Trainline and seen the multiple occasions, could they then take me to court or would they send another letter accusing me of the extra journeys first?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2025 ==

Yes, the letter is attached to the first post above. But I agree with your point.

Thanks for the reply, let me know how you feel about my reply above if you can please.

 

[Pushpit]

If I say "ticket" and "journey" but they have gone through Trainline and seen the multiple occasions, could they then take me to court or would they send another letter accusing me of the extra journeys first?

At this stage SET are only asking you about 1 incident, so you should reply on that basis. I suspect it won't make a difference to use ticket versus tickets, since if SET are going to search your travel history they will do so regardless. But in any event there is no requirement to incriminate yourself, other than in respect of this specific event where SET has the evidence to prosecute you. Here, therefore, it makes sense to admit the offence, to facilitate a settlement. Otherwise I wouldn't help SET in any fishing trips.

The one exception is if in fact the number of trips (15?) and the amount of money relatively small, that it is better just to volunteer the information in order to wipe the slate clean. If it was 2 or 3 short fares in other words. If you think it was 15, then experience here tends to show that people tend to understate the extent of their previous fare evasions. So answer the question as posed, not the question they may or may not pose in the future.

 

[omron122]

At this stage SET are only asking you about 1 incident, so you should reply on that basis. I suspect it won't make a difference to use ticket versus tickets, since if SET are going to search your travel history they will do so regardless. But in any event there is no requirement to incriminate yourself, other than in respect of this specific event where SET has the evidence to prosecute you. Here, therefore, it makes sense to admit the offence, to facilitate a settlement. Otherwise I wouldn't help SET in any fishing trips.

The one exception is if in fact the number of trips (15?) and the amount of money relatively small, that it is better just to volunteer the information in order to wipe the slate clean. If it was 2 or 3 short fares in other words. If you think it was 15, then experience here tends to show that people tend to understate the extent of their previous fare evasions. So answer the question as posed, not the question they may or may not pose in the future.

Thank you for the reply. Do you , or anyone else viewing this, know whether the next step would be them accusing me of the other fare evasions by letter, or would they take me to court to accuse me?

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you for the reply. Do you , or anyone else viewing this, know whether the next step would be them accusing me of the other fare evasions by letter, or would they take me to court to accuse me?

They would set it out in a letter.

 

[jfollows]

Thank you for the reply. Do you , or anyone else viewing this, know whether the next step would be them accusing me of the other fare evasions by letter, or would they take me to court to accuse me?

They can’t take you to court for the others, buying a ticket is not an offence, being stopped without a valid ticket is.
They may well make these other trips as a basis for an out-of-court settlement, which you either accept or go to court for the one offence when they stopped you. The vast majority of people in similar circumstances choose to settle.

 

[AlterEgo]

They can’t take you to court for the others, buying a ticket is not an offence, being stopped without a valid ticket is.
They may well make these other trips as a basis for an out-of-court settlement, which you either accept or go to court for the one offence when they stopped you. The vast majority of people in similar circumstances choose to settle.

They can, in theory, add the offences to be taken into consideration in the same way TfL do. I don’t think we’ve seen them do this though.

 

[omron122]

They can’t take you to court for the others, buying a ticket is not an offence, being stopped without a valid ticket is.
They may well make these other trips as a basis for an out-of-court settlement, which you either accept or go to court for the one offence when they stopped you. The vast majority of people in similar circumstances choose to settle.

Thanks for the help!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Jun 2025 ==

They would set it out in a letter.

Thanks for the replies!