Waiting for response - Expired railcard

[railtxnr]

Hi,

Hoping for some advice. In mid Feb i mistakenly travelled on a Northern service with an expired railcard (first time since railcard expired), and was sent a letter a few days to respond with an explanation. I followed the advice commonly given by @Hadders and responded to the letter via Email, offering my apologies and expressing a wish to settle without the need for legal action - completely understand it's my responsibility to purchase the correct ticket so am very willing cover the necessary costs. I then received a an email response saying 'this matter is being assessed and you will receive a letter in the post'

I'm very much hoping that letter will contain an offer for an out-of-court settlement, but i have two main questions:
- Is that the most likely outcome? Northern state on their website that they consider court proceedings a last resort, so am hoping it doesn't need to come to that
- It's been a few weeks since the latest emails, and i'm checking the post anxiously most days. Is there any insight on when to expect the follow up letter? Really don't want to miss any correspondence.

Thank you

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Northern are generally one of the more pragmatic train compamies when it comes to out of court settlements. As long as you haven't come to their attention before and engage with the process then it is highlyu likely that you will be offered a settlement.

The wheels of the process do turn quite slowly, your case will e one of thousands they deal with at any one time so unfortunately letters can take several weeks to arrive. As long as they have your correct address then there shouldn't be a problem. If you are planning on moving any time soon then I'd recommend arranging to have your post redirected until the matter is resolved.

I know it's easier said than done but do try to put the matter to the back of your mind and get on with your life.

 

[railtxnr]

Thank you @Hadders! I will try to not think about it as best i can - i guess because the initial letter came through quickly, it's made me assume that the follow up would too. Do you think it's worth me contacting them after X weeks with a status update? Secondly, on the point around coming to their attention, do you just mean if there has been a previous incident submitted (which there hasn't)? Dont think there's a reason why i would have come to their attention before

 

[spag23]

certainly can't remember the detail of every ticket i've purchased down the years...

But presumably any contemporary Railcard had never expired in previous years.
By the way, you did promptly renew your recent one, set a robust expiry alert, and told them this? All good brownie points for any settlement bid!

 

[railtxnr]

That's right, renewed railcard immediately after and informed them of this. Such a silly mistake to make. As i said, am hoping for a settlement of some kind but think it's easy for the mind the wonder to other eventualities

out of interest, would phoning the TOC be recommended? Could they update on the status? Appreciate it's not been several weeks but am finding this all very stressful