Stressing about possibly getting a criminal record

[Newton]

I used a child ticket earlier while being 17 and the inspector caught me and took my information down. He didn't give me a fine on the spot and instead submitted it to the prosecution team to deal with. About a year ago I was also caught with a child ticket and was only given a fine and I'll therefore be a repeat offender. so now I'm stressing about potentially getting a criminal record for this. The ticket was only one stop and cost £5

 

[transportphoto]

The chances of a train company bringing a protection against a seventeen year old, whilst not impossible, is not likely.

I’d take a breather and await any potential correspondence to arrive.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Newton. Welcome to the forum. If you're still 17, you do realise that you're still eligible to get a 16-17 Saver railcard, which would enable you to legitimately purchase adult tickets at 50% discount until you turn 18?

 

[Newton]

The chances of a train company bringing a protection against a seventeen year old, whilst not impossible, is not likely.

I’d take a breather and await any potential correspondence to arrive.

I'm just extremely concerned because it's the second time and I wasn't fined on the spot so I assume it may be worse

@Newton. Welcome to the forum. If you're still 17, you do realise that you're still eligible to get a 16-17 Saver railcard, which would enable you to legitimately purchase adult tickets at 50% discount until you turn 18?

I was recently made aware of this and will definitely be using this in future

 

[30907]

I'm just extremely concerned because it's the second time and I wasn't fined on the spot so I assume it may be worse.

I presume that the first time you received a Penalty Fare which you paid on the spot? There are different possible explanations:
1. the second person wasn't authorised to issue PFs.
2. you were spotted as a repeat offender.
3. train companies are generally tightening up on invalid tickets and taking the opportunity to check people's online purchase history. This is very likely.

It will depend a little on which train company caught you, but as you are under 18 you are less likely to be prosecuted this time. TfL have a strict policy with adults, GWR are more likely to settle out of court. (I am assuming you have given your actual postcode as your location - if so I'd advise you to change that as it makes it too easy to identify you.)

Either way, they will check your history, on the basis that people who cheat are rarely caught the first time. You (or more likely a parent) must expect a letter, which may be some time coming - when it does, do please ask for more advice. However, if you have done this more than once, it will prove expensive as they will be asking you to pay in full for any journey you didn't have the correct ticket for

 

[Newton]

I presume that the first time you received a Penalty Fare which you paid on the spot? There are different possible explanations:
1. the second person wasn't authorised to issue PFs.
2. you were spotted as a repeat offender.
3. train companies are generally tightening up on invalid tickets and taking the opportunity to check people's online purchase history. This is very likely.

It will depend a little on which train company caught you, but as you are under 18 you are less likely to be prosecuted this time. TfL have a strict policy with adults, GWR are more likely to settle out of court. (I am assuming you have given your actual postcode as your location - if so I'd advise you to change that as it makes it too easy to identify you.)

Either way, they will check your history, on the basis that people who cheat are rarely caught the first time. You (or more likely a parent) must expect a letter, which may be some time coming - when it does, do please ask for more advice. However, if you have done this more than once, it will prove expensive as they will be asking you to pay in full for any journey you didn't have the correct ticket for

I'm not too fussed about the money as I'm happy to pay that but I'm very worried about the possibility of a criminal record. I also only ever use the machines to purchase tickets and never online so can they still track the purchase history

I presume that the first time you received a Penalty Fare which you paid on the spot? There are different possible explanations:
1. the second person wasn't authorised to issue PFs.
2. you were spotted as a repeat offender.
3. train companies are generally tightening up on invalid tickets and taking the opportunity to check people's online purchase history. This is very likely.

It will depend a little on which train company caught you, but as you are under 18 you are less likely to be prosecuted this time. TfL have a strict policy with adults, GWR are more likely to settle out of court. (I am assuming you have given your actual postcode as your location - if so I'd advise you to change that as it makes it too easy to identify you.)

Either way, they will check your history, on the basis that people who cheat are rarely caught the first time. You (or more likely a parent) must expect a letter, which may be some time coming - when it does, do please ask for more advice. However, if you have done this more than once, it will prove expensive as they will be asking you to pay in full for any journey you didn't have the correct ticket for

it was also a GWR employee who caught me

 

[Fermiboson]

@Newton It would certainly be helpful to your future financial and career prospects to learn the lesson this time round, and decidedly stop fare evading especially as you turn 18.

Regardless it is important for you to figure out honestly to yourself how many journeys you have evaded. What is the total amount of fares you have evaded over the past 1+ years? Include all journeys you have made as GWR will be able to communicate with other retailers and TOCs to figure out your full journey history over a surprisingly long time period. Don’t assume you will be able to hide anything from them.

It is highly unlikely for minors to be prosecuted, but by no means impossible. A recent FOI revealed that Northern prosecuted single digit numbers of minors every year and it would be reasonable to assume the figures are similar elsewhere. If you’ve evaded large amounts of fares extremely regularly and frequently both before and after you were caught the first time round then the TOC may very well see fit to take more severe action. You need to be prepared for that and not rely on the shield of age.

 

[Newton]

It would certainly be helpful to your future financial and career prospects to learn the lesson this time round, and decidedly stop fare evading especially as you turn 18.

Regardless it is important for you to figure out honestly to yourself how many journeys you have evaded. What is the total amount of fares you have evaded over the past 1+ years? Include all journeys you have made as GWR will be able to communicate with other retailers and TOCs to figure out your full journey history over a surprisingly long time period. Don’t assume you will be able to hide anything from them.

It is highly unlikely for minors to be prosecuted, but by no means impossible. A recent FOI revealed that Northern prosecuted single digit numbers of minors every year and it would be reasonable to assume the figures are similar elsewhere. If you’ve evaded large amounts of fares extremely regularly and frequently both before and after you were caught the first time round then the TOC may very well see fit to take more severe action. You need to be prepared for that and not rely on the shield of ai

I agree with you and I understand how serious it actually is now that a criminal record is a possibility. I've certainly learned my lesson I'm just incredibly stressed about what this could affect in the future for my life.

 

[Fermiboson]

I agree with you and I understand how serious it actually is now that a criminal record is a possibility. I've certainly learned my lesson I'm just incredibly stressed about what this could affect in the future for my life.

What’s done is done, so there is little point in further worrying over things outside your control. When/if the TOC sends you a letter, be frank, apologetic and most importantly honest. If you have not already done so, inform your parents/guardians; you will likely need to gather a great sum of money very quickly if a settlement is offered and morality aside it’s very difficult to do that without familial support. I appreciate that can be a difficult thing to do but it is better to have difficult conversations while the situation remains salvageable.

A conviction is unlikely to ruin your life (and you definitely won’t go to prison). Most rail ticketing offences are immediately spent, which means they won’t show on DBS checks and you’re not obligated under most circumstances to disclose them, although this forum has differing opinions on whether or not you should do so anyways in the interest of honesty, and most employers are unlikely to care that much unless you work in careers like banking or law. Unlock is a charity for rehabilitation whose guides will contain more information on what sort of impacts byelaw conviction may have.

If you are prosecuted for fraud - highly unlikely unless you’ve been up to things like forging ID cards and railcards - then the consequences are much more serious. But we’ve seen TOCs settle with adults for several thousands of pounds of evaded fares so this shouldn’t be something you spend too much time worrying about.