Crosscountry - mitigation letter

[Victorian64]

Hi all, I have been reading a number of post over the last 48hours regarding prosecution under the Railway Regulations and would like your thoughts on my case.

A couple of weeks ago I travelled between two station on board a XC train - the fair cost £8.40. I failed to purchase a ticket at the ticket machine and could not purchase a ticket on the train due to no mobile signal. I then left the train and purchased a ticket for the a later time train at the station destination. My ticket was scanned and I was stopped at the ticket barriers and accused of boarding a train without a ticket and purchasing it at the station, they took my details and subsequently received the below letter;

ITAL, Regus, Portsmouth - “On XX date at XXX station a person giving the above name and address question by a member of the Revenue Protection Team, employed by XC trains, in relation to a contravention of the Railway Regulations… All the availability evidence is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate….”

It appear like at the destination station it was a planned stop and a operation to catch people out like myself.

I am extremely worried about a court summons and my main aim is to avoid a criminal record which would affect my job. I am happy to accept a fine as I now understand what I did in the letter of the law was wrong. I gather my best bet is getting a out of court settlement, is my best bet to plead sorry and request a fine? Should I get a solicitor involved?

 

[gray1404]

Which station did you start your journey at and why were you unable to purchase a ticket using the facilities at the station before boarding the train?

 

[Victorian64]

The station had ticket facilities - I was running late.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

To help us fully understand the situation, please could you give as many details as possible of the ticket that you did buy. The really important bit is what type of ticket it said it was (this is things like 'Anytime', 'Off peak' and 'Advance') but it would also be useful to know what time your journey was, and whether you claimed any sort of discount on the ticket that you weren't entitled to (examples of this are using a 'child' ticket if you're over 16, or using a ticket with a railcard discount when you don't have a valid railcard of the right sort).

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi all, I have been reading a number of post over the last 48hours regarding prosecution under the Railway Regulations and would like your thoughts on my case.

A couple of weeks ago I travelled between two station on board a XC train - the fair cost £8.40. I failed to purchase a ticket at the ticket machine and could not purchase a ticket on the train due to no mobile signal. I then left the train and purchased a ticket for the a later time train at the station destination. My ticket was scanned and I was stopped at the ticket barriers and accused of boarding a train without a ticket and purchasing it at the station, they took my details and subsequently received the below letter;

ITAL, Regus, Portsmouth - “On XX date at XXX station a person giving the above name and address question by a member of the Revenue Protection Team, employed by XC trains, in relation to a contravention of the Railway Regulations… All the availability evidence is being considered as to whether legal proceedings are appropriate….”

It appear like at the destination station it was a planned stop and a operation to catch people out like myself.

I am extremely worried about a court summons and my main aim is to avoid a criminal record which would affect my job. I am happy to accept a fine as I now understand what I did in the letter of the law was wrong. I gather my best bet is getting a out of court settlement, is my best bet to plead sorry and request a fine? Should I get a solicitor involved?

I think we need to know more about the ticket - some tickets (in fact most tickets)are actually valid on lots of different trains - which if this applies in this case means that you had a valid ticket - if you can say which journey you travelled on from where to where, if you have a railcard, time of train etc people here can check this out - if you no longer have the details of the exact ticket itself - or feel unable to post a copy of it for reasons of anonymity.

It may also help to post an anonymised coy of the letter you have been sent as presumably what you have quoted is just an extract.

But by buying a ticket on board you have technically committed an offence as you are supposed to have paid for your ticket before boarding the train, but if you can show you paid what was owed there is an increased chance of you being able to settle the matter with them without being taken to court and prosecuted.

 

[swt_passenger]

I think we need to know more about the ticket - some tickets (in fact most tickets)are actually valid on lots of different trains - which if this applies in this case means that you had a valid ticket - if you can say which journey you travelled on from where to where, if you have a railcard, time of train etc people here can check this out - if you no longer have the details of the exact ticket itself - or feel unable to post a copy of it for reasons of anonymity.

It may also help to post an anonymised coy of the letter you have been sent as presumably what you have quoted is just an extract.

But by buying a ticket on board you have technically committed an offence as you are supposed to have paid for your ticket before boarding the train, but if you can show you paid what was owed there is an increased chance of you being able to settle the matter with them without being taken to court and prosecuted.

He didn’t buy onboard. In the first post he wrote that he left the train at the destination and only then bought a ticket.

 

[WesternLancer]

He didn’t buy onboard. In the first post he wrote that he left the train at the destination and only then bought a ticket.

Thanks - my apols - even worse then sadly - XC will probably ask / think 'would this person have done that had they been able to exit the barriers without a gateline check?' and probably default to assuming no.

Still a good chance of the OP being able to negotiate out of court settlement however, with advice from this forum IMHO.

 

[ChewChewTrain]

It was unlucky that there was no mobile signal for the whole journey until arrival at the destination station and (presumably) the revenue block coming into view. If a ticket (covering the whole journey made, of course) had been bought only 2 minutes before that then, although the offence of boarding without a valid ticket would still have been committed, discretion would quite possibly have been shown.

It was also unlucky that you were running late on the same day that there was a revenue block.

You can see why those investigating your case might wonder if this was indeed the first time. They are likely to look into previous transactions on your account, so I hope there are no examples of short-faring, Railcard/child discounts wrongly applied, or similar.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

Forgive me for being a little bit sceptical here but this case has all the hallmarks of what is known as 'pay when challenged'. You couldn't purchase a ticket before boarding the train as you were running late, there was no mobile phone signal while you were on board. Upon arrival there was a revenue block so you hastily purchased a ticket but the problem with this is you didn't have a valid ticket when you boarded the train. You must be in possession of a valid ticket when you board the train, ubnless there are no ticket issuing facilitoes at that station.

In terms of what happens next I expect you will receive a letter from the train company or an investigation company acting on their behalf. The letter will typically take a couple of months to arrive but can be sooner although it shouldn't take longer than six months. The letter will say that they have received a report, are considering prosecuting you and aski for your version of events before deciding how to proceed. It is important that you engage with and reply to this letter. You might want to include the following in your reply:

- That you are sorry for what has happened
- What you have learned from the incident
- That you are keen to settle the matter without the need for court action
- Offer to pay the outstanding fare and the train company's administrative costs in dealing with the matter

Make sure your reply is short and concise, don't give a sob story - they've heard it all before. Most train companies are usually prepared to offer an administrative settlement (commonly known as an out of court settlement) for people who engage with the process and who haven't come to their attention before. There is no guarantee of this and the train company would be well within their rights to prosecute you in the magistrates court.

If you are offered a settlement the amount varies depending on the train company and circumstances but tend to be a few hundred pounds plus the outstanding fare. An out of court settlement might appear to be a fine, but it isn't and you won't have a criminal record as a result of accepting one.

Feel free to post a copy of the letter once it arrives (with personal details redacted) along with your draft reply in this thread and forum members will be happy to proof read it. for you.

 

[Jimini]

It was unlucky that there was no mobile signal for the whole journey until arrival at the destination station

Probably not relevant to this one, but Banbury <> Oxford on XC is a 4/5G black hole for pretty much the entire journey.

 

[chesterred16]

Not really adding to the discussion, but I regularly travel Chester > Euson on Voyagers and there's next to no 4g coverage. I've always assumed it's something to do with the construction of the train. I'd certainly never rely on being able to buy a ticket on board a Voyager.

 

[Skiddaw]

Probably not relevant to this one, but Banbury <> Oxford on XC is a 4/5G black hole for pretty much the entire journey.

Yes indeed it is. It's flaky from Lemington onwards.