Inspector didn’t ask for address, but email address

[Hadders]

banks are paperless, tax letters and whatnot are too! and as a student i really don’t have important commitments that’ll be posted to me currently.
unfortunately i don’t have an address to redirect the post to :/

Not always. For example, how is a bank going to send a replacement debit or credit card to you without sending it to you in the post?

 

[WesternLancer]

Not always. For example, how is a bank going to send a replacement debit or credit card to you without sending it to you in the post?

Collect from a branch of the bank?

 

[AlbertBeale]

Collect from a branch of the bank?

Banks with branches? Now there's an idea....

 

[jumble]

He can’t.

May I suggest that while it is true that a name and address cannot be readily traced from a driving license number I would not discount that fact that if the inspector has a body cam recording they may very well have captured the details

 

[anon10675]

May I suggest that while it is true that a name and address cannot be readily traced from a driving license number I would not discount that fact that if the inspector has a body cam recording they may very well have captured the details

he didn’t have any body cam on him, i don’t think

Not always. For example, how is a bank going to send a replacement debit or credit card to you without sending it to you in the post?

true! i’m hoping i don’t run into this issue yet, and hopefully i should be in student accommodation in the autumn time so by then i’ll have an address. in the meantime, nothing :/

Since you bought your ticket online (irrespective of whether from Trainine or anywhere else), and it was scanned, they can presumably use that to trace you, and then perhaps will have written to whatever address that linked to.

If you have a friend you sometimes stay with, and they would reliably tell you if any post came for you, can't you e-mail the railway company and explain that they have probably got an out-of-date address and give them your friend's address to use; then you can be sure of receiving whatever you get sent. Of course there's a chance that you'll hear nothing. But assuming they have tried or are trying to contact you, it's far better to get that communication - so that you can (quite probably) arrange an out-of-court settlement - than not get it, and find that this all goes to court without you ever knowing ... which would mean a criminal record and, very likely, a rather more expensive outcome than if you settled with them directly first.

i just went onto the “personal details” section of the trainline. there’s no record of address on there. i’m actually getting very scared now - i have no idea whether to contact them, incriminate myself as then i might risk prosecution :/

Assuming your friend also to be a student (and further assuming them to be of typical student age rather than a mature student), would they be prepared to have your post redirected to their parents' address?

I appreciate that's an awful lot to ask of your friend and their parents but sometimes the only available solution isn't one that you would want to go for.

i’ve asked. but it’s very risky. their parents know my parents. their parents would not be understanding of the situation due to a few factors and they will most definitely get in contact with mine. it’s not an option unfortunately.

i’ll have to call royal mail tomorrow , and see what is said.

Since you bought your ticket online (irrespective of whether from Trainine or anywhere else), and it was scanned, they can presumably use that to trace you, and then perhaps will have written to whatever address that linked to.

If you have a friend you sometimes stay with, and they would reliably tell you if any post came for you, can't you e-mail the railway company and explain that they have probably got an out-of-date address and give them your friend's address to use; then you can be sure of receiving whatever you get sent. Of course there's a chance that you'll hear nothing. But assuming they have tried or are trying to contact you, it's far better to get that communication - so that you can (quite probably) arrange an out-of-court settlement - than not get it, and find that this all goes to court without you ever knowing ... which would mean a criminal record and, very likely, a rather more expensive outcome than if you settled with them directly first.

also if i email the railway company informing them of an address change, wouldn’t that perhaps incriminate me? or wouldn’t they just be confused as to why i’m telling them this

 

[AlbertBeale]

he didn’t have any body cam on him, i don’t think


true! i’m hoping i don’t run into this issue yet, and hopefully i should be in student accommodation in the autumn time so by then i’ll have an address. in the meantime, nothing :/


i just went onto the “personal details” section of the trainline. there’s no record of address on there. i’m actually getting very scared now - i have no idea whether to contact them, incriminate myself as then i might risk prosecution :/


i’ve asked. but it’s very risky. their parents know my parents. their parents would not be understanding of the situation due to a few factors and they will most definitely get in contact with mine. it’s not an option unfortunately.

i’ll have to call royal mail tomorrow , and see what is said.


also if i email the railway company informing them of an address change, wouldn’t that perhaps incriminate me? or wouldn’t they just be confused as to why i’m telling them this

Surely the key point is whether you'd rather deal with the non-payment of your ticket in a way that probably avoids a court hearing (if you contact them they'll probably allow an out-of-court settlement); or whether you want to sit tight and gamble on them not tracking you down ... but if they do eventually, then a court case and a criminal conviction seems more likely than if you pro-actively co-operate with them.

So one route gives a likely bearable option, the other gives you either nothing or something probably worse. It's your call at this point.

 

[jumble]

Hi,

I would like some help on this situation. I was travelling on GWR to London Paddington to see a friend - I am homeless and so she let me stay with her for a bit. This journey was back in mid April (2024).

I didn’t have a ticket, but the gates were open in the city I was travelling from, so, I just walked through.

In Paddington, an inspector saw I couldn’t get through the gates so he asked for my details. I didn’t have a ticket so I just bought the cheapest one I could find, a child ticket from Reading to London. He asked me for my drivers license - I looked at his book and he jotted down my drivers license number. He also asked for my full name, and my email address. He stressed that he wanted my email address as he said that would he where the train company would send correspondence to. So I gave the email. He then scanned the ticket and obviously I told him my DOB so he said that it was a child ticket I had so he wanted to take me in for questioning but said it wasn’t essential, and pretty much just let me go. His words “we MIGHT send you something through email which will detail prosecution. You can appeal this and ask for an out of court settlement. But you might not hear anything back at all. Just keep an eye out on your emails as that’s where we will send you things (if we send it)” That’s what he told me. So I walked away.

I tried searching what to do when I got home but it just panicked me. I checked this forum and also noticed that they only really send letters through the post - I am 19, an estranged university student, and my drivers license still has my parents address on it. So I physically won’t be able to know if they’ve sent any mail. My friend told me it would be fine because he stressed that he needed my email address. But seeing all these forum posts are beginning to worry me because none of them mention email. What do I do? What are my next steps? I really don’t want to be prosecuted either - I really want to be a scientist and when I apply for my masters in the next few years, I am scared that a criminal record will hinder my chances. And again, I am also homeless and can’t afford a place to live this summer, I don’t even know how I would cough up £2000 odd pounds if I was prosecuted at court.

I have done this maybe 3 times before, I’ve bought a child ticket to a nearest station and then went somewhere else but there were no inspectors. They will probably have a look at my Trainline account and see this pattern which doesn’t help my case.

But it’s been two months and I’ve still not heard anything…so does that mean nothing will come out of it, like the inspector said?

Any advice on my next steps is welcomed

If I were in your situation I would do nothing.
I think for friend is correct that it would be reasonable to assume that if a GWR RPI has asked for an email address and not a bricks and mortar address then I would assume that GWR would communicate via email.
They would end up looking pretty stupid if they did not do so.
I seem to recall that there was a case here recently where someone was found guilty in their absence and then filed a SD and then GWR settled out of court
( just to be clear if this were Northern then I would not be suggesting anything of the sort)

 

[anon10675]

If I were in your situation I would do nothing.
I think for friend is correct that it would be reasonable to assume that if a GWR RPI has asked for an email address and not a bricks and mortar address then I would assume that GWR would communicate via email.
They would end up looking pretty stupid if they did not do so.
I seem to recall that there was a case here recently where someone was found guilty in their absence and then filed a SD and then GWR settled out of court
( just to be clear if this were Northern then I would not be suggesting anything of the sort)

yes i thought about this as well - i actually read a few threads like this last night (the ones i read were horror stories with northern railway, they did let an out of court settlement but they took their time lol) i was thinking, just getting a DBS check every year to see if i have been found guilty or not and then getting an SD and filing an out of court settlement since i hear that GWR are gracious when it comes to fare settlements. i do have to know - is it riskier to do this? as in, if it got to the point where i’d have to file for an SD and then an out of court settlement, would GWR be less inclined to do this? or would they want to bounce it straight back to court.

i just think that being in correspondance with them now might cause more of an issue in a way ???

Surely the key point is whether you'd rather deal with the non-payment of your ticket in a way that probably avoids a court hearing (if you contact them they'll probably allow an out-of-court settlement); or whether you want to sit tight and gamble on them not tracking you down ... but if they do eventually, then a court case and a criminal conviction seems more likely than if you pro-actively co-operate with them.

So one route gives a likely bearable option, the other gives you either nothing or something probably worse. It's your call at this point.

that is very true. i am just extremely tight on money currently so i just don’t know what the best option is. i’ll have a think this week and update the thread. thank you so much everyone

 

[Fawkes Cat]

i was thinking, just getting a DBS check every year to see if i have been found guilty or not and then getting an SD and filing an out of court settlement since i hear that GWR are gracious when it comes to fare settlements. i do have to know - is it riskier to do this?

If you haven't already picked up on this, you might want to factor in that the statutory declaration procedure is only available for 21 days* after you find out about having been convicted. It seems to me that this wouldn't fit well with using a DBS to uncover if a conviction had been reported - and it further seems to me (warning - I am not a lawyer) that a court might see this as playing the system rather too much and could be reluctant to co-operate.

*from memory: it may be shorter or it may be (slightly) more - but we're talking a number of days after you find out rather than months or years