Thank you so much for explaining things to me.
After the incident, the first letters we got a few days later was the ones offering us a chance to pay a settlement fee to avoid prosecution.
The letter contained a contact number and email. We then emailed to ask if we can have a plan to pay in three instalments. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. They however agreed to extend the deadline by a few weeks till 21st Feb.
But somehow, i missed the deadkije date. And forgot about it.
Only for me to wake up to court papers last week.
Thanks for uploading those copies - they look like the court papers. They do at least clarify that you travelled on a train that your ticket was not valid for
It would also be extremely helpful to see copies of the letters or e-mails you had from TIL before it got to this stage - the ones you mention here:
The first letters we got a few days later was the ones offering us a chance to pay a settlement fee to avoid prosecution.
The letter contained a contact number and email. We then emailed to ask if we can have a plan to pay in three instalments. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. They however agreed to extend the deadline by a few weeks till 21st Feb.
If you can upload copies of those please do so
However, you have got yourself in a mess really.
a) you bought a ticket and then did not understand when you could use it, so you used it on the wrong train where it had no validity (perhaps not fully your fault, trains tickets in the UK are more complex than they should be - advice for the future would be to use the ticket office at the station where a member of staff would ensure you had the right ticket)
b) they actually offered you a chance to resolve this by paying a sum of money rather than taking you to court (which is essentially an out of court settlement), you replied and asked if you could pay it in instalments. They don't do instalments because it is more hassle and work for them as people forget to pay their instalments regularly
c) although they did not offer you installments, they
did give you some more time to pay the sum
d) You still did not pay them the sum or any of the sum
e) you forgot about it (presumably hoping the problem would go away)
If you look at it form their point of view you should be ale to understand why they believe that only taking you to court is going to get you to pay them what they believe you owe.
You probably have one last chance to sort this out before it proceeds to court prosecution. I suggest the following is what you can do and I hope this helps you sort things out
These are the tasks I think you should do
1) write to TIL (not the court) to ask if they will drop the court prosecution and re-instate their offer to let you pay the money along the lines they originally offered
2) make sure you have the money ready to pay in full and promptly if they say yes. You may need at least £200 for each person. You should find a legitimate legal way to have this money ready. Perhaps you can borrow it from a family member or trusted friend, or take on a small overdraft from your bank, or if you are involved in a church or similar see if they can help you with a loan
3) be aware of the court deadline for sending back the court paperwork. As it gets close to that deadline (later next day) check back here for advice on what to do if TIL have not replied to your request
as per task (1) above
Regarding task 1 -
So long as this is all true then I would suggest sending something along these lines to TIL. It sounds like you have their e-mail address to use, but I would also print it off and send it by tracked first class post from a local post office. If you get to a post office before about 10.30am on Saturday morning you can get this sent that way too. Tracked post is much cheaper than what they offer as 'Guaranteed Next Day Delivery'
If you and your wife both have received the same thing from TIL and the court then you will both presumably need to write separately with your own different reference numbers. Use two different envelopes for the printed copies
---------------------------------------------------------
To: TIL address (e-mail and postal)
From:
Insert your name and postal address, e-mail address and phone number & Date of Birth (as given on the paperwork you have received)
Dear Sir / Madam
Ref Number [
Insert your reference number from previous letters from TIL]
Court Reference Number: [
Insert any reference number from the court papers if this is different]
I am writing to you as I have recently received court papers regarding the occasion when I travelled with an Advance ticket but used this by mistake on the wrongly timed train. I am sincerely sorry for this mistake. I did not understand the rules associated with the ticket, which I bought just before my journey.
Please be assured that at no time did I have any intention to travel without paying a train fare, and I had no intention to deliberately evade paying for my train travel.
When I replied to your earlier correspondence I asked if I could pay the sum you requested in installments. This was because of financial hardship. I am sorry that I was unable to make a payment in the timescale you offered.
I apologise for having not been able to make this payment, and I am sorry for the additional efforts that this will have meant for you.
I am now writing to ask if you would kindly consider offering me another chance to settle this matter without court action against me, by once again letting me make a payment for the sum you consider appropriate. If this proceeds to court it will create greater financial difficulties and hardship for me and my family and I very much want to avoid this.
In future I will take great care to make sure my ticket is valid for my train travel so as to avoid making this mistake again.
I would be extremely grateful if you could consider allowing me to settle the matter without court action and withdraw the court proceedings. I would make prompt payment if you are kind enough to offer me this chance.
Yours sincerely
[Insert name, sign and print name on the posted copy] 
