Sent letters for prosecution from old house

[bluewallpaper]

Hi guys,

New here so apologies in advance for any mistakes.

I was given a penalty fare a few months ago. The fare was from me boarding through the car park at Bath station and attempting to buy a ticket from the information desk at Bristol Temple Meads. The only trains I usually get are local Bristol ones for which the only way you can buy a ticket is on the train or at the info desk, so I assumed this was the same for Bath to Bristol, same company, same short journey.

I moved house within the next week and lost the info slip they give you so I rang GWR, told them of my address change and they told me I'd get a letter soon.

A couple of months went by and 3 days ago I received a message on facebook from a new tenant in my previous address showing me letters they'd been sending me during that time increasing my penalty fare which now stands at £147. With payment being demanded within 7 days of the letter issued, which was 2 days before I received any messages, giving me 2 days to come up with the money.

I spoke to a member of the prosecutions team on the phone and he advised me that I can pay up to 10 days before my court date, which would now give me 12 days to pay. Also, my predicament is that on the letter it says if I plead guilty on the letter and send it within 7 days (so by tomorrow) I could get a 33% reduction in my fine. However, I don't have access to this letter and by the time I've heard back from the courts that 7 days will have passed and I'll be stuck with a fine I cannot pay. He also advised me to send a letter to the court address on the letter I received explaining the situation. (Sidenote: I can't see any address on the photos of the letter this guy sent me, so if anyone knows that I'd be incredibly grateful)

I was wondering if anyone could advise me with the writing of this letter and the situation in general. I've never had a fine or had to deal with the law before so I'm not sure how to approach this.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.

 

[island]

Why didn’t you pay the penalty fare?

 

[gray1404]

It looks like you were corrected issued with a PF for boarding at a station where you could have got a ticket before travel, but choose to travel without a ticket. I am disappointed to hear that upon calling GWR around a week later and advising them you had lost your PF slip they were not able to assist in giving you what you needed to be able to pay off the PF still as you were still within the time limit. This would only have cost you £20. I don't think it is right for them to say to wait for a letter when the customer is trying to sort it out already because they know that by the time this is issued, it is for non payment of a PF and the matter has got worse.

From the information you have given you have 2 days to pay what GWR are asking for. This is an out of court settlement. Payment of this will resolve the matter in that you will avoid going to court and avoid a criminal record. I do not know how much you would be fined if it went to court but it could be a similar amount to what GWR (or more) are asking for now. I would therefore phone GWR as a matter of great urgently (and certainly before your 2 day deadline) and pay off the £147 they are asking for now to avoid this going to court. If you miss this deadline the amount you have to pay may increase.

I believe GWR accept card payments over the phone. I am assuming they will accept a credit card (although some will only accept debit). I would say it would be better to put the amount on a credit card or use a bank overdraft then to have this end up in court. I do not normally advocate going to in debt by the way for the record.

 

[bluewallpaper]

Why didn’t you pay the penalty fare?

I couldn't at the time I only had £10 on me.

It looks like you were corrected issued with a PF for boarding at a station where you could have got a ticket before travel, but choose to travel without a ticket. I am disappointed to hear that upon calling GWR around a week later and advising them you had lost your PF slip they were not able to assist in giving you what you needed to be able to pay off the PF still as you were still within the time limit. This would only have cost you £20. I don't think it is right for them to say to wait for a letter when the customer is trying to sort it out already because they know that by the time this is issued, it is for non payment of a PF and the matter has got worse.

From the information you have given you have 2 days to pay what GWR are asking for. This is an out of court settlement. Payment of this will resolve the matter in that you will avoid going to court and avoid a criminal record. I do not know how much you would be fined if it went to court but it could be a similar amount to what GWR (or more) are asking for now. I would therefore phone GWR as a matter of great urgently (and certainly before your 2 day deadline) and pay off the £147 they are asking for now to avoid this going to court. If you miss this deadline the amount you have to pay may increase.

I believe GWR accept card payments over the phone. I am assuming they will accept a credit card (although some will only accept debit). I would say it would be better to put the amount on a credit card or use a bank overdraft then to have this end up in court. I do not normally advocate going to in debt by the way for the record.

Thanks for responding, I appreciate your time and help.
My problem is that I don't have £147 and have been given 2 days to raise it, which doesn't seem right to me. Having been advised by GWR to send a letter to the courts I'm mainly looking for advice on this as it seems like my only option right now.

 

[gray1404]

If there any way at all you could phone GWR to pay the £147 over the phone before the 2 days it up? Anyway at all. It will only be 2 days because time will have been ticking since they first sent the letter to your old address and I suspect there has been a delay in the person person at your old place letting you know about this letter.

 

[bluewallpaper]

If there any way at all you could phone GWR to pay the £147 over the phone before the 2 days it up? Anyway at all. It will only be 2 days because time will have been ticking since they first sent the letter to your old address and I suspect there has been a delay in the person person at your old place letting you know about this letter.

Yes there was a 2 day delay in him telling me. Just wanted to report back that after a few calls and emails GWR have reduced the fine back to the original penalty fare of £20.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[175mph]

Yes there was a 2 day delay in him telling me. Just wanted to report back that after a few calls and emails GWR have reduced the fine back to the original penalty fare of £20.

Thanks for the assistance.

Remember a penalty fare is not a fine but glad you got it sorted.

 

[gray1404]

Thats great. Glad you were able to get it sorted. That was very decent of GWR. I think you might have got away with it because GWR failed to update your address or didn't help you when you phoned up to try to pay the £20.

Anyway, do you have it in writing from GWR (perhaps by email) that they have put it back down to £20 and are willing to accept this? Also do you have some proof that you have paid the £20? i.e. if you paid by card over the phone keep your bank statement which shows the card payment.

 

[bluewallpaper]

Thats great. Glad you were able to get it sorted. That was very decent of GWR. I think you might have got away with it because GWR failed to update your address or didn't help you when you phoned up to try to pay the £20.

Anyway, do you have it in writing from GWR (perhaps by email) that they have put it back down to £20 and are willing to accept this? Also do you have some proof that you have paid the £20? i.e. if you paid by card over the phone keep your bank statement which shows the card payment.

Yes thankfully this was done over email and it has been corrected on the section of their website where you can pay the penalty fare. I'm going to pay through that as opposed to over the phone so that I can screenshot evidence of payment.