Hadnt realised my railcard had expired

[spicylemon11]

Hi,

I was recently pulled by a Revenue Protection Inspector for having an expired railcard during a journey and therefore my ticket was invalid. They looked through my journey history and saw that I had made 2 other journeys with my railcard expired. This was a genuine mistake as I hadn't reallised my railcard had expired, and I am happy to pay for those journeys plus the admin fee which has been mentioned on here (£100-200).

I am worried, however, that this could potentially go further and lead to prosecution and therefore a criminal record as this could have severe consequences on my career due to my line of work. How likely is it to come to this based off of 3 invalid incorrectly paid tickets? The rail line service was GWR if that matters.

Thanks

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@spicylemon11. Welcome to the forum. Whilst the matter could possibly proceed to you being prosecuted, if you engage positively and honestly with GWR when you hear from them in due course, you should be able to negotiate a so-called "out of court settlement". They don't have to offer this, but most likely will do.

Expect to have to pay the full undiscounted Anytime Day Single fare for each of the journeys where you bought/used inappropriately discounted tickets, plus maybe a three figure sum on top towards GWR's investigation and admin fees.

Presume you've provided the revenue member of staff with a correct and up-to-date postal address and you're not planning on moving elsewhere anytime soon.

P.S. Have you now bought a replacement railcard?

 

[spicylemon11]

@spicylemon11. Welcome to the forum. Whilst the matter could possibly proceed to you being prosecuted, if you engage positively and honestly with GWR when you hear from them in due course, you should be able to negotiate a so-called "out of court settlement". They don't have to offer this, but most likely will do.

Expect to have to pay the full undiscounted Anytime Day Single fare for each of the journeys where you bought/used inappropriately discounted tickets, plus maybe a three figure sum on top towards GWR's investigation and admin fees.

Presume you've provided the revenue member of staff with a correct and up-to-date postal address and you're not planning on moving elsewhere anytime soon.

P.S. Have you now bought a replacement railcard?

Thanks for your response. I engaged completely honestly and positively with the RPI and will continue to do so as this proceeds. Happy to pay whatever as I accept its my mistake, it's just the thought of a criminal record makes me extremely anxious. I bought a replacement railcard the second the RPI walked away and set a calendar reminder on my phone. I will not be making the same mistake twice.

On a side note, I really wish the railcard would have a renew feature when you try to buy a ticket or atleast could send an email to notify of upcoming expiry. I'm sure many others have been caught out the same way as me by complete accident.

 

[Brissle Girl]

On your latter point, there has been lots of discussion regarding automatic reminders for railcards - it does seem an obvious thing to do.

As already said, it’s very unlikely that this will proceed to prosecution, provided that you cooperate when you receive a letter. However, the amount you’ll be asked to pay is likely to be based on Anytime Single fares for each individual journey. If these have been long distance that could be a nasty shock in comparison to the discounted fares most people pay, so worth researching the cost of these, in case you need to save up to pay any settlement quickly (companies normally allow only 14 days).

 

[Skymonster]

The good news is that unless you totally ignore GWR’s communications or fail to cooperate (which you have already said you don’t plan to do), it will be rather unlikely this will reach court unless you have a track record of fare evasion with GWR or any other TOC. It’ll cost you, but you’d be pretty unlucky to end up with a record given what you’ve said. Indeed, GWR’s Revenue Enforcement Policy at http://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-w...WR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023.pdf specifically states:

We’ll do our best to settle out of court.
Prosecution can have serious consequences on your personal and professional life. So, if you don’t pay your fare, we will do everything we can to avoid taking you to court.
We’ll probably send you an offer to settle out of court – usually asking you to pay an amount to cover your fare and our costs.

So, GWR will write to you, it might even offer an administrative disposal immediately or could ask for your explanation. You will need to respond appropriately - people here can help with and proof read your response before you send it which is highly recommended. Ultimtely you should receive a settlement offer which will need to be paid promptly and won’t be subject for negotiation.

For what its worth your railcard can be renewed a couple of weeks before it expires without losing any validity period, so don’t set an alert on your phone for the date of expiry - well do, but also set one for two weeks prior so that you can replace it before you reach the deadline. I buy / renew my railcard via Railcard and I do get a reminder - maybe some of the bottom-feeders in rail retailing that also sell railcards don’t?

 

[Honestviews]

I agree with Sjymonster - I get a reminder but I do buy it direct. Also you can renew it up to 30 days before without losing any validity.

Another tip is to always open your railcard once you are taking a journey - that way you will check it even if your ticket doesn't get checked.