Penalty fare or prosecution?

[pfffttt]

Hello,
I was recently given a fine for incorrect ticket. This was paid within an hour of getting this. I have previously been fined once for the same reason and was not fully honest initiallywith the ticket officer.
She stated she would pass/ escalate this to prosecution and i was unsure of what this means.
As i have paid off the fine is there still a chnace i will get a prosecution letter?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Hello,
I was recently given a fine for incorrect ticket. This was paid within an hour of getting this. I have previously been fined once for the same reason and was not fully honest initiallywith the ticket officer.
She stated she would pass/ escalate this to prosecution and i was unsure of what this means.
As i have paid off the fine is there still a chnace i will get a prosecution letter?

Welcome to the forum!

In theory, I understand that penalty fares can be withdrawn and prosecution put in their place.

In practice, this never happens. So you've got nothing to worry about. But you do need to note that the railway will now be well aware of you: not only do they have records against your name, but railway enforcement officers are human and have decent memories, and tend to work broadly the same area. So if you do the same thing again (whatever it is) there's a good chance that you will be caught by the same officer, who will remember you and will report you for prosecution. And even if you are caught by someone else, a third occasion could well lead to the railways reconsidering whether withdrawing a penalty fare really never happens - you might turn out to be the test case for whether withdrawing and prosecuting works.

So it's important to make sure that you always pay the right fare at the right time in future!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Hello,
I was recently given a fine for incorrect ticket. This was paid within an hour of getting this.

@pfffttt. Welcome to the forum. For the avoidance of doubt, what exactly was paid an hour or so afterwards, and who to? Just the correct train fare for your journey? A penalty fare of £100 (or £50 if paid promptly)? A combination of the foregoing? Something else? Also, how exactly was the original ticket you held 'incorrect'?

 

[pfffttt]

@pfffttt. Welcome to the forum. For the avoidance of doubt, what exactly was paid an hour or so afterwards, and who to? Just the correct train fare for your journey? A penalty fare of £100 (or £50 if paid promptly)? A combination of the foregoing? Something else? Also, how exactly was the original ticket you held 'incorrect'?

I paid the correct train fare plus £50 for the fine. The orginal ticket was shorter journey.
Since this happened im absolutely terrified this will ruin my life if convicted i have not purchased an incorrect ticket since but i didnt know if they could prosecute from previous tickets bought on train line or the fine is the end of this encounter.

 

[John R]

It sounds as though you have been “short faring”, and using Trainline to do so.

If you’ve been doing this a lot, it’s not impossible that, having been brought to their attention a second time, they may choose to investigate your previous purchases in more detail. It’s fairly easy for them to do that.

If that happens, you could be written to and asked to explain the series of short fares. It’s likely that you could still then negotiate an out of court settlement, but only by retrospectively paying the correct fare for all the journeys they identify as suspicious, along with an admin fee by of around £150. That could be expensive, depending on how many times you have offended and the length of the journey in question.

There’s not a lot you can do now but wait, hope, and make sure you absolutely pay the correct fare every time you travel, so they can see you learnt your lesson after the second penalty fare.

 

[pfffttt]

Hello I was caught with the wrong ticket in Jan and read rights but still given a fine which I paid immediately.
If I am convicted of intent to avoid fare will I have any chance of keeping my job as an allied health professional?
I have paid the correct ticket since but havnt spent a single second not thinking about this. Does anyone know if I will loose my job due to this?
Thanks

 

[AlterEgo]

Hello I was caught with the wrong ticket in Jan and read rights but still given a fine which I paid immediately.
If I am convicted of intent to avoid fare will I have any chance of keeping my job as an allied health professional?
I have paid the correct ticket since but havnt spent a single second not thinking about this. Does anyone know if I will loose my job due to this?
Thanks

If you have paid a penalty fare or other out of court disposal like a settlement that is the end of the matter.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum!

I've merged this with the thread you started back in January as it sounds as though it's about the same incident.

I'm a bit confused because you originally said you'd paid a 'fine' within an hour of being given it but you also say your details were taken so you could be reported. Normally if you've been given and paid a Panalty Fare that is the end of the matter. You do need to be very careful to make sure you always travel with valid tickets in the future.

To give appropriate advice an you tell us:

- Which stations you were travelling between
- Which train company you're dealing with
- What tickets (if any you held) and why they were considered invalid
- How much you paid

Ideally we need to see the paperwork you were given on the day. Can you upload a copy of it in this thread, but do cover up any personal details and case reference numbers before doing so.

 

[Pushpit]

I can confirm 101% that AHPs will not lose their jobs over this (your work is incredibly valuable, thank you for the service you give us). It would be helpful to have some more specifics to be sure, see above, but depending on those details it may mean you won't even need to mention it. Obviously be extra sure that you have a properly valid ticket going forward. But the overall message is that while the checks on AHPs are thorough and necessary, please don't worry too much about this, by all means give us more information and we can give more helpful advice.

 

[island]

Hello I was caught with the wrong ticket in Jan and read rights but still given a fine which I paid immediately.

If you have immediately paid your Penalty Fare that is the end of the matter.

If I am convicted of intent to avoid fare will I have any chance of keeping my job as an allied health professional?

Why do you think you are going to be convicted of anything?

 

[pfffttt]

If you have immediately paid your Penalty Fare that is the end of the matter.

Why do you think you are going to be convicted of anything?

I am just concerned as the person I was talking to who issued the fine stated they would send it to prosecution and recommended conviction or something along those lines.
So due to this I have no idea if I'm being prosecuted so would like to know as much as possible to prepare for this.

I can confirm 101% that AHPs will not lose their jobs over this (your work is incredibly valuable, thank you for the service you give us). It would be helpful to have some more specifics to be sure, see above, but depending on those details it may mean you won't even need to mention it. Obviously be extra sure that you have a properly valid ticket going forward. But the overall message is that while the checks on AHPs are thorough and necessary, please don't worry too much about this, by all means give us more information and we can give more helpful advice.

Thanks for your reply.
I travelled with a short fare ticket which was believed to be not my journey with WMR. I was issued a penalty fare but also given a warning of recommendation of prosecution there were previous tickets believed as incorrect journey on Trainline.
Honestly I don't know what will happen but as I've said I want to be prepared for the worst.
If I were to get prosecuted to whatever extent possible would this stand the same as I've seen conflicting information.

 

[John R]

If you know you’ve short-fared before and the inspector spotted that on your account then I’d refer you to my comments in post 5.

Unfortunately it’s just a waiting game now. If you are contacted it is likely that you will be able to negotiate a settlement, and we can advise on the best way to do that at the time. But ultimately there is no guarantee that you can avoid prosecution, especially if you have been doing it for a long time.