Query on “Report for Prosecution” received

[the1341]

Good evening,

I have a few questions and points of advice about an incident that occurred on Thursday as I was going away for the Easter weekend. The advice provided on this forum looks very detailed and specific so I thought this would be a great place to start!

I was travelling from Wimbledon to Datchet on Thursday. This is a journey I do semi-regularly as my partner lives there. On this occasion, there was a Revenue Protection ‘training drill’ (quote from the RPO) on the bridge between the requisite platforms at Clapham Junction.

I was requested to show my ticket, which I got out, and then my railcard. To my horror, I noted that my railcard had expired on 11-Apr, 6 days prior.

I immediately apologised, realising my error (note, I realise I am in the wrong here for not having a valid railcard!), and straightaway offered to pay the difference (would have been about £3 between railcard and non-railcard as it was a single peak fare) or for a new fare. The RPO then clearly stated that he was “not going to issue a penalty fare here” and took me aside.

I was under the presumption I would be getting a warning and nothing more, but then he started taking my details and I started to panic a bit, especially when he was asking about my eye colours (which I misheard as “fave colour” first)! When I asked why he was taking my details since he had said he wasn’t giving me a penalty fare, he sort of shrugged and said that the “train operator may or may not write to you” and when I pressed what the letter might contain, he again sort of shrugged and said “it will say the facts of your train journey today” - which did not ease my feelings at all! Then he printed a slip on his machine which said, to my shock “Report for Prosecution” on the top and made me sign.

My first view was that this felt very draconian and heavy-handed, but they are probably within my rights to do this? I understand from this forum that the most likely outcome is me being required to settle out of court here, and pay a fee of c.£150, and it will not be a criminal matter.

I was pretty non-plussed with the attitude of the RPO. Ironically, it felt like he was being pretty evasive about what he was doing, especially as he was implying that no action would be taken. Additionally, he was wearing a body cam, but never mentioned that he was recording (I know this is a requirement for police…) and it wasn’t particularly visible on his body, as he was standing at an angle with it away from me, when he was taking my details.

So I am seeking advice for what to do!

- Do I write to the prosecutions team with my side of events already - I have ‘generalised anxiety disorder’ so this might help me!

- What does “may or may not write to me” mean in practice?! Is it because it was a bit of a ‘training drill’? Or was it because I was such a small amount off the correct fare (c.£3)

- Should I contact the customer service line and mention about the experience with the RPO, which I honestly thought was really really poor and I am tempted to raise a complaint, but I don’t want to get myself into an even worse/more anxiety inducing position!

- Or should I just wait for the letter from SW Rail to come (or not!)?

I obviously realise I was silly to not check about the expiry date of my railcard. A slight mitigation is that I did not get an email reminder that it was due for renewal but I still accept full responsibility. For the avoidance of doubt, I have now bought a railcard!

I would also like to clarify that, should I settle straight away, this won’t appear on an Enhanced DBS?

Thoughts and advice welcomed! Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Easter!

 

[ikcdab]

Welcome to the forum.
The usual advice is to wait for them to write to you. When they do, come back here for further advice. You can't write to them in advance as you do not have any reference numbers.
It is unlikely that your anxiety disorder will carry any weight.

 

[the1341]

Welcome to the forum.
The usual advice is to wait for them to write to you. When they do, come back here for further advice. You can't write to them in advance as you do not have any reference numbers.
It is unlikely that your anxiety disorder will carry any weight.

Thank you! I wasn’t anticipating it would carry any weight - more so that actually doing something in the interim might help how I deal with the issue! But if best practice is to wait, then I will

 

[enyoueffsea]

Answering your questions in order.

1. Wait for them to write to you.
2. They’ll write to you. Unless it goes missing or is forgotten, which is fairly unlikely. They were probably non-committal about it to avoid any potential confrontation.
3. You could complain. But it’s unlikely to improve any outcome of your case and equally unlikely to result in any changes to practice.
4. Yes, wait for their letter and then as above, return here for advice.
5. Not receiving a reminder to renew is not mitigation. There is unlikely to be any successful mitigation for such a case. It’s entirely your responsibility to ensure your railcard is valid.
6. No, it wouldn’t appear on a DBS if you settled out of court as you would not have received a prosecution.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

On a he matter of the difference in fares being small, it makes no difference.
As far as the railway are concerned, you travelled with an invalid ticket, effectively no ticket.

 

[phoenix743]

The

Good evening,

I have a few questions and points of advice about an incident that occurred on Thursday as I was going away for the Easter weekend. The advice provided on this forum looks very detailed and specific so I thought this would be a great place to start!

I was travelling from Wimbledon to Datchet on Thursday. This is a journey I do semi-regularly as my partner lives there. On this occasion, there was a Revenue Protection ‘training drill’ (quote from the RPO) on the bridge between the requisite platforms at Clapham Junction.

I was requested to show my ticket, which I got out, and then my railcard. To my horror, I noted that my railcard had expired on 11-Apr, 6 days prior.

I immediately apologised, realising my error (note, I realise I am in the wrong here for not having a valid railcard!), and straightaway offered to pay the difference (would have been about £3 between railcard and non-railcard as it was a single peak fare) or for a new fare. The RPO then clearly stated that he was “not going to issue a penalty fare here” and took me aside.

I was under the presumption I would be getting a warning and nothing more, but then he started taking my details and I started to panic a bit, especially when he was asking about my eye colours (which I misheard as “fave colour” first)! When I asked why he was taking my details since he had said he wasn’t giving me a penalty fare, he sort of shrugged and said that the “train operator may or may not write to you” and when I pressed what the letter might contain, he again sort of shrugged and said “it will say the facts of your train journey today” - which did not ease my feelings at all! Then he printed a slip on his machine which said, to my shock “Report for Prosecution” on the top and made me sign.

My first view was that this felt very draconian and heavy-handed, but they are probably within my rights to do this? I understand from this forum that the most likely outcome is me being required to settle out of court here, and pay a fee of c.£150, and it will not be a criminal matter.

I was pretty non-plussed with the attitude of the RPO. Ironically, it felt like he was being pretty evasive about what he was doing, especially as he was implying that no action would be taken. Additionally, he was wearing a body cam, but never mentioned that he was recording (I know this is a requirement for police…) and it wasn’t particularly visible on his body, as he was standing at an angle with it away from me, when he was taking my details.

So I am seeking advice for what to do!

- Do I write to the prosecutions team with my side of events already - I have ‘generalised anxiety disorder’ so this might help me!

- What does “may or may not write to me” mean in practice?! Is it because it was a bit of a ‘training drill’? Or was it because I was such a small amount off the correct fare (c.£3)

- Should I contact the customer service line and mention about the experience with the RPO, which I honestly thought was really really poor and I am tempted to raise a complaint, but I don’t want to get myself into an even worse/more anxiety inducing position!

- Or should I just wait for the letter from SW Rail to come (or not!)?

I obviously realise I was silly to not check about the expiry date of my railcard. A slight mitigation is that I did not get an email reminder that it was due for renewal but I still accept full responsibility. For the avoidance of doubt, I have now bought a railcard!

I would also like to clarify that, should I settle straight away, this won’t appear on an Enhanced DBS?

Thoughts and advice welcomed! Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Easter!

Just to put you at ease the body warm cameras are not constantly recording, they are activated by the staff member, normally if they are dealing with aggressive passengers.