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Waiting for letter

optimuspr1me

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2023
Messages
16
Location
Reading
Hi all,

Am waiting for a letter from GWR following being stopped by a ROI late December, but still haven’t received anything.

Concerned that it’s gone to the wrong place. Is this a normal amount of time to wait for a letter? Would anyone advise trying to contact the company directly to double check if there’s any update / progress or engaging with a lawyer to do so?

Don’t want to catalyse any sort of investigation.

Best
 
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30907

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Sep 2012
Messages
18,068
Location
Airedale
Hi all,

Am waiting for a letter from GWR following being stopped by a ROI late December, but still haven’t received anything.

Concerned that it’s gone to the wrong place. Is this a normal amount of time to wait for a letter? Would anyone advise trying to contact the company directly to double check if there’s any update / progress or engaging with a lawyer to do so?
Generally speaking, the advice is to keep schtumm :)

1. GW have up to 6 months to decide to prosecute. They will use that time to check your purchase history - you will know if that is going to throw up something, but even then, GW prefer to settle out of court.

2. Unless you have a case reference number or similar, contacting them is unlikely to be helpful. (What paperwork were you given at the time, and what information did the RPI get from you?)

3. Have you changed address, or are you likely to before 6 months is up? In any case, it is very important to be able to access your snail-mail.

I would certainly not contact a lawyer at this stage, unless there are a lot of worms in your proverbial can :)
 

ikcdab

Member
Joined
3 Feb 2012
Messages
199
Location
Cogload Junction
unless you have a reason to think that a letter has gone to the wrong address, such as you have since moved house or you gave them an incomplete or false address, then you just need to wait. If you have moved house, then it might be possible to contact the new occupants. If you gave them a false address then it will be worth trying tio contact them to correct this.
 

optimuspr1me

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2023
Messages
16
Location
Reading
Thank you!

So not worth contacting to check on case? I have no reference number etc, and no reason to believe the letter has gone to the wrong place but am aware the fastest route to an unfavourable outcome is to miss letters. They have my details incl email address and postal address.

In theory, it may be taking the TOC some time to look into this case re purchase history etc but this seems an abnormal amount of time.

Given other threads I have read, they would probably look to prosecute and wouldn’t sweep this under the rug & (hopefully) settle out of court so I would expect a letter.
 
Last edited:

WesternLancer

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2019
Messages
7,191
Thank you!

So not worth contacting to check on case? I have no reference number etc, and no reason to believe the letter has gone to the wrong place but am aware the fastest route to an unfavourable outcome is to miss letters. They have my details incl email address and postal address.

In theory, it may be taking the TOC some time to look into this case re purchase history etc but this seems an abnormal amount of time.

Given other threads I have read, they would probably look to prosecute and wouldn’t sweep this under the rug & (hopefully) settle out of court so I would expect a letter.
You may find it helpful to read the GWR pdf document on their Revenue Protection Policy which you can download from GWR website.
 

ChewChewTrain

Member
Joined
27 Jun 2019
Messages
350
Remember that if a court case somehow goes ahead without your knowledge, then (as long as you were genuinely unaware) you can get a conviction “unwound” by making a statutory declaration.

So I agree with others that it’s best to just sit tight and not worry about the matter for now.
 

Hadders

Veteran Member
Associate Staff
Senior Fares Advisor
Joined
27 Apr 2011
Messages
13,208
Welcome to the forum!

I don’t advise contacting GWR at this stage. Prosecutions Departments deal with thousands of cases at a time, yours is just one of them and you will have to wait your turn.

It sounds as though your case is complex, if so this will take longer especially if they are contacting Trainline for details of your ticket purchasing history.

We have recently seen cases with Chiltern take five months for an initial letter to be sent. Different train company but it gives an idea.
 

optimuspr1me

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2023
Messages
16
Location
Reading
Hello,

Checking in here as still no letter received. There’s just over 3 weeks until the 6 month period is up. Do I still just sit tight?

Again, definitely gave the correct details.

Have we seen this happen in any other circumstance? I knew it would take a little longer than normal given a probable review of purchase history but ..
 

Brissle Girl

Established Member
Joined
17 Jul 2018
Messages
2,665
If you were stopped “late December” (first post) then they still have another two months to start proceedings, not three weeks.
 

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