Seeking Advice on Fare Evasion Fine – Feeling Stuck Financially

[abzi Malone]

Fine, but it can be helpful to try and think of things as the investigator handling your case will. And any mention that you will be away for 6 weeks might make them wonder how you can have such a long trip planned and yet be so short of money.

I just bought the ticket and it is non refundable

Can you not cancel the holiday to use the money to pay the penalty? Better than eventually getting a criminal record if you don't?

I have just bought the ticket and its non-refundable apart from that I haven't done any other expenses for the trip

 

[AlterEgo]

I just bought the ticket and it is non refundable

If the only thing you have bought is a plane ticket, the taxes and fees will be refundable even if the fare element is not.

I have just bought the ticket and its non-refundable apart from that I haven't done any other expenses for the holiday

If this is actually a holiday then I think you should reconsider if on £500 a month and with a very heavy priority debt to pay you really ought to be going.

 

[abzi Malone]

Have you actually applied for a credit card in the UK? You may wish to look at 'credit builder' or 'starter' credit cards, which are designed for people with a limited credit history. See, for example, https://www.vanquis.co.uk/products/credit-cards/credit-builder-credit-card.

Once you are certain that you are unable to raise the funds from any other source then you might wish to write to GTR along these lines:

Prosecutions Department
Govia Thameslink Railway
Eastside Offices
Kings Cross Railway Station
London
N1C 4AX

DATE
Your ref: REFERENCE NUMBER

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write in response to your letter dated 14 April 2025, which related to several alleged incidents of fare evasion by myself between 14 December 2024 and 24 March 2025.

I am grateful for your offer of a financial settlement to resolve these matters out of court, and am willing to pay the proposed sum of £510.80.

It is, however, beyond my present means to make the proposed settlement in a single payment. My monthly income is £XXX.XX, and I have no capital on which to draw. [ONLY INCLUDE THIS IF TRUE]. I have enclosed recent payslips and bank statements as evidence of the above. No informal financial support from family or friends is available to me. In addition, I have made enquiries as to financing the settlement by credit, but understand that this avenue is unavailable to me because of my short period of residence in the UK.

Might you be amenable to payment of the £510.80 settlement by instalment? By way of indicative terms, I can make an immediate payment of £XXX.XX, and will be able to make a further payment of £XXX.XX in full and final settlement of this matter on DATE.

Your continued cooperation in this matter is much appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
XXX

-

Edit - I note from your attachment above that you are accused on short-faring on 24 March 2025 - that is, after you were stopped on 21 March 2025. Have you continued to avoid fares after 24 March 2025?

Thank you for this draft and yes I have tried the link for the credit card unfortunately I didn't qualify for it

If the only thing you have bought is a plane ticket, the taxes and fees will be refundable even if the fare element is not.


If this is actually a holiday then I think you should reconsider if on £500 a month and with a very heavy priority debt to pay you really ought to be going.

Trust me with this I don't want to leave but there is an urgent emergency for which I need to be there

If the only thing you have bought is a plane ticket, the taxes and fees will be refundable even if the fare element is not.


If this is actually a holiday then I think you should reconsider if on £500 a month and with a very heavy priority debt to pay you really ought to be going.

And how is that going to help I paid at least more than £500 and going to be returned with £100 or less

 

[NSEWonderer]

If the only thing you have bought is a plane ticket, the taxes and fees will be refundable even if the fare element is not.


If this is actually a holiday then I think you should reconsider if on £500 a month and with a very heavy priority debt to pay you really ought to be going.

I disagree on the last bit. If they've planned this holiday for ages and it's the only other bit of luxury they've got to look forward to then it could be a bad idea mentally to just postpone it.

Granted they've accumulated an debt with the penalty fare but that as others have said could be alleviated by either a credit card or if GTR are feeling particularly generous then a payment plan.

 

[AlterEgo]

Trust me with this I don't want to leave but there is an urgent emergency for which I need to be there

So it is *not a holiday* then? You may wish to tell the train company that and state the nature of your absence as mitigation?

And how is that going to help I paid at least more than £500 and going to be returned with £100 or less

Well, you should try to negotiate a payment plan with the company, as it’s in your interests, but it might be worth examining how this looks. You spent £500 on a plane ticket funded by evading hundreds of pounds on train fares. Why should the train company - or anyone else - care? The more you treat this as an inconvenience upon yourself that others have to be flexible around, the less sympathy anyone reading your correspondence is likely to have.

Train companies don’t behave that nicely but one thing on your side is if you do this sort of fiddling and dishonesty in any other walk of life they just call the police. Train companies are generally happy for you to just pay them the money.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Trust me with this I don't want to leave but there is an urgent emergency for which I need to be there

If you have been planning it for months then it isn't an urgent emergency. From your initial post you seemed to be basically honest but made some bad decisions due to financial constraints but your following posts suggest you have trouble with the truth. That isn't going to help you when trying to persuade the company to show you some compassion.

 

[John R]

Thank you for this draft and yes I have tried the link for the credit card unfortunately I didn't qualify for it


Trust me with this I don't want to leave but there is an urgent emergency for which I need to be there


And how is that going to help I paid at least more than £500 and going to be returned with £100 or less

Well you said you could pick up your zero hours contract at any time. So maybe a couple of weeks here working would bring you closer to paying the settlement amount.

 

[skyhigh]

Looking at the spreadsheet you attached you were silly enough to buy yet another short-fare ticket with a Railcard discount you weren't entitled to after you'd been stopped.

The spreadsheet suggests that they have taken into consideration the amount you'd actually paid with the incorrect fares.

The train company is not going to care in the slightest about emergency trips planned months in advance or anything else. All they want is the money you should have paid but didn't through your own dishonesty.

It is very unlikely they will agree to reduce their settlement at all. You have been caught red handed and continued to evade your fare after you'd been caught. You may, possibly, be given the opportunity to pay in a couple of installments but this is relatively rare to be agreed so you should do everything you can to try and find the money.

 

[abzi Malone]

Its a zero hr contract but it would change how much I made monthly

If you have been planning it for months then it isn't an urgent emergency. From your initial post you seemed to be basically honest but made some bad decisions due to financial constraints but your following posts suggest you have trouble with the truth. That isn't going to help you when trying to persuade the company to show you some compassion.

Yes I was planning for long time but it wasn't certain when after a receiving a davasted call from my parents back home I had to but this was before the fine or the incident

Looking at the spreadsheet you attached you were silly enough to buy yet another short-fare ticket with a Railcard discount you weren't entitled to after you'd been stopped.

The spreadsheet suggests that they have taken into consideration the amount you'd actually paid with the incorrect fares.

The train company is not going to care in the slightest about emergency trips planned months in advance or anything else. All they want is the money you should have paid but didn't through your own dishonesty.

It is very unlikely they will agree to reduce their settlement at all. You have been caught red handed and continued to evade your fare after you'd been caught. You may, possibly, be given the opportunity to pay in a couple of installments but this is relatively rare to be agreed so you should do everything you can to try and find the money.

Yes I am trying to hopefully something will come up

Well you said you could pick up your zero hours contract at any time. So maybe a couple of weeks here working would bring you closer to paying the settlement amount.

Its a zero hr contract but the a a range monthly pay is £500 hopefully they agree on an instalment

 

[Titfield]

I wish you good luck in resolving this.

I do not think that we, the experienced forum members, can give you any additional constructive advice.

The three possibilities seem to me to be (1) find the money and pay in full thus ending the matter (2) hope that the TOC are minded to offer a payment plan which you can meet and thus eventually end the matter (3) end up in court which if found guilty would provide a payment plan but at great financial cost and also at the cost of a criminal record which may have longer term repercussions.

 

[CyrusWuff]

True, but they should give the leniency to pay in installments at least

The main reason for not offering the opportunity to pay in installments is so that they can proceed to prosecution if you don't pay, as they only have six months from the date of the offence to file the Court paperwork

 

[John R]

The main reason for not offering the opportunity to pay in installments is so that they can proceed to prosecution if you don't pay, as they only have six months from the date of the offence to file the Court paperwork

A secondary reason is that they then need to put in place an administrative process to ensure that subsequent payments are all made on time, and what to do if they are not. eg follow-up letters etc. All that costs money and takes resource that they may not have, especially if it is a manual process.