Hi Guys, I have received a few letters from Clarity which started with the usual we are trying to contact someone, which I ignored (why help them?) then came the "you owe us loads of money" letter, which I also ignored because I see why I should ring them or do anything initially. Then came the "we will send round the FieldCall people to discuss the fact that you owe us loads of money" letter. I was not too purturbed because a) I had been chased almost a year ago for almost the exact same amount by Lowell, who finally admitted they were wrong and appologised for writing to me (I had written a very polite "prove it" letter), and b) I recently came across these forums which are a revelation. I wrote a letter back basically saying, very nicely (I think) - prove it, and I don't want you sending anyone round to talk to me about it. Today I received the attached letter (suitably redacted), to which I want to reply in this way: Dear Clarity, If you don't know who I am, then stop accusing me of owing you money. Yours faithfully, etc. What do people think? I don't wish to fire flaming letters at them, because I feel that that sort of thing can later predudice things, if, for some reason it all turns sour. I am not worrying particularly, but would like to ensure that my response is measured and reasonable. Any advice?

I wont list all the details but i used my husband season ticket today and got caught. I stated he was aware of me having his ticket but i only told him this as i was on the train in the morning and got caught on the return journey home. Wish i was not so honest telling the truth but there i am, i shoulg have never took his ticket. I dont think it would look good having made a false journey once already plus it is a season ticket, plus the owner was aware of this. As you advised, i will await for the letter from swt but sigh,, , dont really wanting to end a year in this way but read all the posts related to fare persecutions on this site which help.. .just waiting for the letter

Tawnyowl here with a thought that entered my mind about one minute ago. Best write it down because another minute or two and it will be forgotten. Age is my excuse.Strange how many times that excuse is used nowadays. When this post is finished will check up how old i am. Went to the docs last week for healthy heart check up,you go once a year to check you are still here after having heart attacks. Check blood pressure,things like that. Now definitely not keen on hanging around the docs as you just never know what you might catch. Nurse told me to shut up while checking my pressure as she could not get a reading. Last time she saw pressure like that was in a cooker. I do go on a bit at times. After ten minutes she said perfect,as expected. Goodbye nurse see you next year was my reply.Headed for the door sharpish. Just hang on a moment have you had a flu jab.Nurse said . Well jabs that word,i nearly passed out thinking of the needle remembering those jabs they give you in the hospital in your stomach to thin the blood.Well i think that is what they are for.I tend not to ask many questions in hospital as if they take a liking to you they may fancy experimenting. Well no why. You had better have one then. Which arm i said,choose your spot. Well can you believe it,she paraded in front of me with this needle about two inches long giving me a smile that would freeze the desert oasis. And came at my arm like a Olympic javellin thrower complete with run up.At a speed worthy of a sprinter. In it went,my feathers nearly fell off and i was ready to take flight. But managed to stay put. After recovering for a split second i said my goodbyes and headed for the door sharpish.Hold on a minute the nurse said,not so fast. Have you had a pneumonia jab. What are we having a laugh i have never heard such a thing. Settling down a touch after reassuring me there was such a thing i said as usual,which arm would you like. My she said you are a bright one,there is only one arm left to have go at. And once again out came the needle. Took a fine run up and in it went,180 i replied,(Darts term) and legged it shortly afterwards,because if another jab had been required where would it have gone.Fell for that before in hospital,putting my arm out and the nurse shook her head and pointed to my trousers. What a job,three layers of thermal insulation,well it was winter,braces the lot,then i got harpooned,tetanus that time. What have i come in for,ah i know i caught a cold,just got rid,now put my back out but will not stop me running my empire. The smallest business in the UK,it must be.But i am pleased how things are going. From 1-10 probably 2. Now how are you all this cool, windy huge coastal tides day.Have you a cold that arrived from who knows where. Strange is it not that i am sure i read that you can catch a virus from touching a screen,a door things like that. Now what is the first thing you do when going to the docs. Hit the computer to say you have arrived,age,date of birth etc. That is what i came to ask.How are you all. Bye for now Tawnyowl.

Hi Folks, My 15 year old son has been landed with a £60 fine from those wonderful people at Southern (Govia) for not producing a valid ticket. In fact, he does have a valid season ticket, but it happened to be in his other blazer so he didn't have it with him. I am told that he was informed at the time that if he produced his season ticket at the station office no further action would be taken. My son insists he did that (um, yeah - I will give him the benefit of the doubt, although Govia apparently aren't). I have explained the situation to Govia and have the season ticket to hand but they have declined the appeal. Do we suck it up and pay, or is there any form of kind words or actions that can be taken here? Thanks

Just when you thought the banking industry was at least starting to have its wild speculation to make personal profit at everyone else' expense curbed ... 'FRAID NOT ... Finance minister George Osborne signaled in a speech in June that he wanted a "new settlement" with the financial sector, taken to mean a softening of approach and an end to so-called "banker bashing". A few weeks later, he ousted FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley, who had warned he would "shoot first" and ask questions later as he faced fresh scandals in the sector such as the attempted rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates and currency benchmarks and the mis-selling of loan insurance. http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-banks-idUSL8N12F0O820151015 and you thought new laws were being introduced to address the simple fact that no bankers are being prosecuted for bankrupting the world?? Britain Doesn’t Need New Laws To Tackle Corporate Corruption, Government Decides The business minister has scrapped proposals for new corporate crime laws – because no one is being prosecuted under existing ones. http://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/britain-doesnt-need-new-laws-to-tackle-corporate-corruption#.dyAyvB8jk

Hi there, I hope this is a good place to put this question. Long and short of it: I was offered a season ticket loan which has been paid out of my salary each month. I am now leaving my employment on (until now) good terms. There's approx. 3 month left on my season ticket loan. I have asked to pay the remainder back via standing order over the remaining 3 months to make it manageable. I asked on the 8th June. I received a response on the 22nd saying the following (I've 'anonymised' the email, and rounded the monetary figures to the nearest £5 for anonymity as well.): Some other factors: 1) I never signed any documentation regarding the above loan 2) This will leave me without salary for 2 months 3) I've considered the option of getting a refund on my season ticket from the train company and use that money to pay my employer back. However - because of how the train company sorts discounts I wouldn't be refunded the full amount, so would be out of pocket by at least a few hundred and, more importantly: I know from my partner getting a refund recently, the train company can take as long as six weeks to sort out the money back. As such, not only would I be without a train ticket for a month and have to find MORE money for travel to London, I'd still have no salary for living/bills etc. So that's not really an option. If they deduct my salary in the above mentioned way, it will leave me in a situation of substantial hardship. Am I able to do anything? I'd be very grateful for any help!

Hello Im really hoping that someone can help a terrible decision that i have made. I have no previous convictions and are 100% sorry for this and i a bit of a state. I paid for an annual pass for 2 years. Cost was £4k per year. Half way through year two the ticket was lost for a second time. For a further two months i had to pay the cost of the ticket from salary in addition to directly with the station each week as southeastern refused to issue a replacement. Costs were spiralling as this was all happening at the same time that deposit for a house was required which was due for completion late June. During a stupidly drunk night out in south west london we were talking to some people and they said they knew someone who could help - i realise how irresponsible and stupid this sounds. They put us in touch with a man who said he would sort for £350. He met us in the pub took another ticket from my partner and returned in around an hour. He said it wouldnt work in a barrier but it would if i showed attendant. I used this ticket every day from around mid July until my actual ticket expired in October 2014. Stupidly and due to so many racked debts i used from time to time - maybe 50/50 going forward. A guard spotted this one day and held the ticket which also has my photocard. I ran away as i was so scared. He kept my ticket on entry to the train in london I realise this is the stupidest thing i have ever done. The address that is registered to that ticket i dont live at any more. I am also moving from current address next month. I have read on blogs here that i should wait for a letter to arrive and then contact a solicitor in the hope of a settlement outside of court. I am of course willing to pay all fees and even double on top of necessary. What should i do? How do i know if they have written if i dont love there any more? Will they find my new address and arrest me because i have not responded to the letter? Will i receive a court summons? Please help me - i am absolutely terrified and appalled at my out of charachter behaviour. Thank you. S

If I lose my season ticket (not oyster) and report it, will it still work if someone else finds it ??

Hi all, I need some advice and was wondering if the seasoned members could help me. I was recently caught using my husbands annual season ticket by a ticket inspector and received a reference slip along with the prosecution address on the bottom. It was an annual season ticket via FCC. I usually have my own monthly season ticket, which expired the day before the offence but as I was late for work etc, I used my husbands. I accept that this is totally unacceptable. As a result, the inspector confiscated my husbands season ticket and mentioned that a letter will be sent out within the next 4 weeks. The inspector also said I could contact the prosecution office in writing beforehand explaining the 'intent'. Is this a good idea? or should I wait for the letter? the facts are that I used an invalid ticket and the ticket belonged to my husband. I did offer to pay any penalty fare but the inspector wouldn't allow me to. I'm more than willing to settle the case out-of-court but not sure on the best process to do this. So my questions are: 1. Would it be a good idea to write a letter before receiving an official letter from the prosecution office, to explain the mistake? Or should I wait for the official letter? 2. Would my husband get into trouble? 3. What is the process of getting the confiscated season ticket returned to my husband? 4. What would likely be the outcome? Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate any advice on this.

Hi In July my son was travelling by train from Bolton to Manchester to go to work. He had a monthly pass which he showed to the ticket inspector before going to the platform and catching the train. It was only when he got off the train at Manchester that another ticket inspector noticed the pass was two days out of date. My son explained that he had not noticed it was out of date as he had not used it for over a week as he had been off work for a week and offered to purchase a ticket. He was told all he needed to do was give him his details and the reason why he had not noticed the ticket was out of date which he did. He thought nothing more of it until last Thursday a letter came here for him (as he was living with me at the time) because he was working away he asks me to open any mail that may come here instead of his own address which I did and it was a court summons stating that the case was to be heard Dec 1st. I've spoken to him as he is still working away and he is not sure what to do. He can pay a £100 fine and it doesn't go to court, plead guilty and receive a fine of up to £150 or plead not guilty and if found guilty he could receive a fine of up to £1000 (the original fare he should of paid is £4.10). We're both really angry because the letter states he had received two letters in August one asking for an explanation and the other informing him of the fine because he had given them my address they would of come here and I definitely know they didn't. Also the documents are stamped 4th November and it didn't arrive until the 20th November! The documents have two witness statements the ticket inspector and an admin women who states two letters were sent and has them as exhibits. We both had a discussion on one hand should he just pay the early settlement fee of £100 he has until tomorrow to do that or should he plead not guilty as it was a genuine oversight and not as the charge states an act to intentionally avoid paying the fare. Any advice would be really helpful but we really need advice quickly as he only has until tomorrow to make a decision and send the documentation back for Thursday.

Hi, I'm sure you helpful people must get bored of these but I would appreciate any opinions. I have an annual season ticket which I left at home one day on my way to work. I got to City Thameslink where I explained this to the staff member at the barriers. He made a phone call to confirm that I held a ticket and then let me through after filling in a form and giving me a small slip of paper to show he had done so. He stated that I would be contacted if they needed anything further. A few weeks later I received a letter asking for proof that I hold a ticket. I posted a photocopy of my season ticket and rail card along with a letter of explanation and thought that was the end of it. However I have now received a summons to court under bye law 18(2) claiming £17.30 rail fare and £120 costs. I understand that as I did not have my ticket with me then I am at fault. However I have never been given the opportunity to pay a fine and will now presumably have a criminal record. I work in an industry that takes an extremely dim view of any criminal record and I could be at risk of losing my job. This seems completely disproportionate for a simple mistake. I have tried contacting the prosecution office by phone and email but get no response. Do I have any options or is this just the way it is? Thanks in advance Forgetful

Hi. Im really hoping someone will respond quickly to this - I've not had a wink of sleep. I used my husbands season ticket on the train yesterday, and got stopped by an inspector. At that point I said it was mine. He asked for my photocard I said I had left it at home, he then confiscated the card (an annual gold card - 4 months still to run), took my address and made me sign a paper that had something at the bottom about the Prosecutions Dept. I dont know what I was thinking - I gave my name and address, so of course they are going to very quickly realise that the season ticket is in my husbands name and not mine. I have not yet told my husband, but obviously will have to tell him today. He is going to be furious. In my defence, I have a network rail card, which is in a blue travel wallet - exactly the same as my husbands. I keep in the hall drawer - he doesn't usually put his there, so I took it from the drawer and put it in my bag without checking it. I got to the station, realised the mistake but could not return to the house as my husband was out and I had no keys. I absolutely recognise that I should have bought a ticket, I dont know why I was so stupid as to then use the ticket, and I cant explain why I didnt just confess to the inspector - there were two of them, I felt foolish and incredibly embarrassed in front of everyone on the train and persisted with my ridiculous story. The inspector told me to call the Prosecutions Dept and give my photocard details and the travelcard would be returned - but obviously not, as I lied to him. I recognise I dont have especially compelling argument - plain stupidity. How can I make this right? Should I call the Prosecutions Dept, give them the ref number and come clean over the phone? Or should I write a letter? I have read on here such differing advice and I am so terrified, not least because I now need to tell my husband before he looks for his ticket, and explain to him what will happen next. I will do anything I can to settle this quickly and without having to go to court. I'm mortified. Its a bank holiday Monday, so I cant phone Prosecutions Dept til Tuesday. But is it better to write or phone? What about my husbands ticket - will he get it back, and if he pays for travel in the interim, would that extra cost be refunded? I am so, so sorry - have never done anything like this. Never will again. I have some personal circumstances that are causing a great deal of stress (emotiional and financial) though I wont get into that here, and Im not sure if it will seem like a sob story to try to present them in my defence. Grateful for any advice.