SWR Prosecution advice

[HelpSWRprosec]

Dear all

I was hoping to receive some advice on a prosecution case.

Details of the event (as factual as possible):
On 9 December 2021, I paid for a ticket through the Trainline app at 15:24 for £11.25 (travelling from Wanborough to London Waterloo via Guildford).

The train journey I selected was at 17:20 from Wanborough (no barriers), which I made without any issues (other than the train arriving a few mins late). At Guildford, I changed to the London Waterloo train. Throughout my journey I wasn't asked for a ticket.

*On arrival at London Waterloo, when I got to the barriers I showed the ticket officer my purchase on the app after realising I didn't have a barcode to scan me through. I was informed that proof of purchase does not represent a valid ticket, even though on my app the journey that I had paid for came up under the 'My Tickets' section and still does when looking back at the time of writing this.*

The ticket officer refused to let me through, despite me showing him email verification and purchase verification on app, both which were received before undertaking the journey. The reason being that just because I purchased the ticket doesn't mean it's valid - I needed to have printed it off at Wanborough.

Today I have received a strongly worded letter from SWR with two options:
1) Settle for £117
2) Request a court hearing

My thoughts:
I paid for the train journey that I took and had proof of this (also agrees to my credit card statement). The fact that the officer at the barrier didn't let me through was frustrating enough as it is. Before then, I undertook 3 journeys in December which were all paid for on the app and for each one I received a barcode as a form of ticket, hence not realising that this journey was different. The fine of £117 is completely disproportionate to the severity of my actions. If I had knowingly not paid for a ticket, travelled from Wanborough to Waterloo and tried to blag a free journey then I would understand.

On the flip side, I stupidly didn't read the detail after purchasing the ticket and assumed I had received a barcode. Looking at my email confirmation it states, 'This is not your ticket, you will need to collect your tickets to travel'. So if I requested a court hearing, (I think) the bottom line is that I travelled without a valid ticket.

The letter is written very strongly and states if I do take it to court I may have SWR's legal fees and court costs to pay for too. Do I concede and pay £117? Or do I stand against?

It would be hugely helpful to receive some advice.

Thank you in advanced.

 

[Grvrdvicdr]

No expert here but to put it bluntly no Matter what you think, proof of purchase and a collection code is not a ticket. People are known to leave without printing their tickets and just refund it. Hence the actions by SWR. But as you said if you go to court you don’t have a leg to stand on, as in the terms and conditions you agreed to when buying the ticket you must print it BEFORE boarding. It’s your responsibility to know what ticket you’re purchasing.
Anyway I’m sure others on here will advise what you can do in terms of what to say to SWR

 

[Tomp94]

If it were me I would pay the £117 and be done with it.
You won't win a costly court case
It is your responsibility to make sure you have the correct ticket/ticket type before you travel.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum.

This is an unfortunate incident but I would pay the £117 to stop the matter escalating. The lastthing you want is the matter ending up in the magistrates court where you would be found guilty. It is a strict liability offence which basically means if you didn't have a ticket you're guilty. Mitigation could play a part in the sentence imposed but not in determining whether or not you are guilty.

If you do decide to pay the £117 I would then raise the issue with customer services, you might just get lucky with them agreeing to send you a one off gesture of goodwill.

 

[furlong]

As long as you have no record of ever refunding tickets in the app or other evidence that might suggest deliberate wrong-doing, you should write back to SWR (or phone) explaining what you've said here and stressing that you believe the journey was already paid for in full, but if need be you'll settle rather than going to court. Realise that the people sending those letters only have a brief note from the person who you spoke to and that often doesn't give them the full picture which is one reason they write to you before taking the matter further. There are no guarantees, but previous threads on this forum suggest that SWR seems to be one of the more reasonable companies so you might have a chance to sort this out.

 

[30907]

If the information supplied by the retailer was inadequate in some way you could also take it up with their customer services - they might offer a goodwill gesture, as they might value your custom.

 

[AlterEgo]

£117 is ridiculous really for a passenger who simply failed to print the ticket which was of so low a price that it held almost no refund value. It can be easily verified that the ticket was unprinted.

Pay the £117, then contact customer services, and if that is not forthcoming go to a consumer journalist and try that avenue.

 

[island]

Unfortunately, you haven't a leg to stand on in legal terms. The purchase confirmation clearly stated that it is not a ticket, and as you didn't have a ticket to travel, you're guilty of the offence of travelling without a ticket. This is a strict liability offence – meaning you don't need to have intentionally avoided paying. If you go to court you will be convicted and will almost certainly end up paying several multiples of the offer currently on the table.

As others mention, to stop the matter progressing you now need to pay the £117. You may then decide whether it is worth your while seeking to have some or all of the sum repaid by customer service.

 

[MotCO]

Does the £117 include the cost of the ticket (e.g. £100 penalty + £17.00 fare at full rate)? If so, can the OP reclaim the cost of the ticket purchased on line as unused?

 

[island]

Does the £117 include the cost of the ticket (e.g. £100 penalty + £17.00 fare at full rate)? If so, can the OP reclaim the cost of the ticket purchased on line as unused?

That would be possible but may incur a £10 admin fee.

 

[RPI]

With it being trainline, had the tickets not been collected then you would receive an automatic refund, hence why a reference will not be accepted as a valid ticket. Unfortunately as you said yourself, the trainline clearly stated that the confirmation was not a ticket, any complaint regarding the clarity of that should be taken up with the trainline,

There's certainly no harm in attempting to engage with SWR and seeing if they may sympathise.

 

[RY3365]

There's certainly no harm in attempting to engage with SWR and seeing if they may sympathise.

Based on my recent experience with SWR prosecutions department it’s worth engaging with them (send an email and follow up with phone call to confirm safe receipt) - they’ll put your case on hold in the meantime. Good luck.

 

[utkarsh1@live.]

hi, any updates on this?

 

[30907]

hi, any updates on this?

Welcome to the forum. Unless you are asking out of pure curiosity, please start your own thread - even if your case is identical.

 

[FuzzyDuck]

The OP hasn't been back since they posted around 3 weeks ago.