West Midlands fraud Investigation - edited railcard

[jammyworm]

Hello all

I am in a very difficult situation at the moment and I would like some advice as I am unsure about how to proceed.

So I was making a journey to Coventry that a friend had bought a ticket for me to use and sent to me this was the 16-25 railcard.

I didn’t have a railcard so I used my friends one but the expiry date had been edited and it was expired a year ago.

They said that this was fraud and took my details and a week later the friend who bought the ticket said she had been emailed about a fraud investigation. She said that she has had to respond to the email after having some legal adviceand that the the legal advice given also suggested that you might want to contact the Fraud Investigation team directly with the Case ID no. And to apologise and say it wasnt done deliberately and seek a quick solution to paying a penalty or the balance that should have been paid.

This was my first time using West Midlands train and I have not used that railcard on any other journey before.

I’ve been really quite panicked about this if I had known the implications I would have just bought my own railcard which I have done so.

I’m really scared about the possibility of going to court and having something put in my criminal record. I’m just a student right now and I have to help with bills and contributions at home with my family so having to pay a £1,000 would really be detrimental to me financially.


Should i proceed with the advice that was given?

I would really appreciate any advice given.

 

[notmyrealname]

Can you show us any of the correspondence on this please? Cover up names, addresses and any reference numbers.

 

[AlterEgo]

Hello all

I am in a very difficult situation at the moment and I would like some advice as I am unsure about how to proceed.

So I was making a journey to Coventry that a friend had bought a ticket for me to use and sent to me this was the 16-25 railcard.

I didn’t have a railcard so I used my friends one but the expiry date had been edited and it was expired a year ago.

They said that this was fraud and took my details and a week later the friend who bought the ticket said she had been emailed about a fraud investigation. She said that she has had to respond to the email after having some legal adviceand that the the legal advice given also suggested that you might want to contact the Fraud Investigation team directly with the Case ID no. And to apologise and say it wasnt done deliberately and seek a quick solution to paying a penalty or the balance that should have been paid.

This was my first time using West Midlands train and I have not used that railcard on any other journey before.

I’ve been really quite panicked about this if I had known the implications I would have just bought my own railcard which I have done so.

I’m really scared about the possibility of going to court and having something put in my criminal record. I’m just a student right now and I have to help with bills and contributions at home with my family so having to pay a £1,000 would really be detrimental to me financially.


Should i proceed with the advice that was given?

I would really appreciate any advice given.

To clarify, I understand:

- you are the person who travelled
- you have not been contacted
- your friend has been contacted

Is that all correct? Have you been contacted at all?

Whose railcard did you use? Was it the person's who bought the ticket?

 

[jammyworm]

To clarify, I understand:

- you are the person who travelled
- you have not been contacted
- your friend has been contacted

Is that all correct? Have you been contacted at all?

Whose railcard did you use? Was it the person's who bought the ticket?

Hi I was not contacted the friend who bought the ticket was. I used a different friends railcard

Can you show us any of the correspondence on this please? Cover up names, addresses and any reference numbers.

It wasn’t me who was contacted so I’ll ask my friend for the correspondence

 

[Spaceship323]

It wasn’t me who was contacted so I’ll ask my friend for the correspondence

Do not get involved in your friend's case, you'll possibly just incriminate yourself, West Midlands Trains took your details when you were stopped so will probably be writing to you in the near future

 

[AlterEgo]

Hi I was not contacted the friend who bought the ticket was.

Then your friend needs to handle this. Simply buying a rail ticket is not an offence. They should say, and do, nothing.

You should also say, and do, nothing, unless the train company contacts you.

 

[Hadders]

Altering a railcard, and then using it to obtain discounted travel is a very serious matter.

Essentially there are two issues here:

1. You were stopped travelling with a railcard discounted ticket. You had 'borrowed' a friends railcard but this had been fraudulently altered.
2. WMR have investigated the fraudlent railcard and written to your friend asking for an explanation

I think you're both in trouble here. You travelled with an invalid ticket and a fraudulently altered railcard. While your friend has not been caught travelling with the fraudulent railcard, and buying tickets isn't an offence, the rail company does have evidence that your friends railcard was altered and the finger will point towards them.

Neither you or your friend are required to incriminate yourselves there is a danger that if you don't co-operate with train company that they might decide to prosecute one or both of you. As things stand, only your frind has been asked to provide an explanation but I suspect you will also be contacted in due course.

We could really do with seeing a copy of the email that has been sent to be able to advise properly but the best way of keeping this out of court is likely to be to 'fess up' about what has happened and hope that the train company offers you an out of court settlement, which they normally do.

 

[furlong]

Roughly how long have you known each of these friends and how well do you trust them? How regularly do you meet them face-to-face?
Where did the idea to do what you all did come from?

Did the railcard you used also have your photograph on it?
Did you pay your friend for the ticket? Was it an electronic ticket (with a 2D bar-code) or a printed cardboard rectangle ticket? Single? Or return (which direction)?
Did you offer your other friend anything in return for the railcard?

How many other people do you know who were doing similar things?

 

[Ducatist4]

I recall a post from some time back where people on Facebook market place were offering to buy tickets for people at a discount.