Caught using brothers weekly pass- need help cant sleep

[charmedgirl]

Hi Yesterday I was using my brothers weekly pass and i got caught my the ticket officer. He took my details and said that i would recieve a letter from northern rail. I have asked everyone and they said that northern rail is going to prosecute me for fraud. whats going to happen, i am extremely worried

[Old-CodJA]

Hi Yesterday I was using my brothers weekly pass and i got caught my the ticket officer. He took my details and said that i would recieve a letter from northern rail. I have asked everyone and they said that northern rail is going to prosecute me for fraud. whats going to happen, i am extremely worried

 

 

Prosecution is a probability, some people will tell you it is a certainty. They are wrong, however it is a high likelihood, particularly if when questioned, you agreed that you used the pass with a pre-meditated intention of avoiding the fare due. That is an offence contrary to Section 5.3.a. of The Regulation of Railways Act [1889]

 

Within the next few weeks you will receive a letter from the TOC, which will advise you of their intention and give you an opportunity to give your explanation of your action. You should make sure that you write in reply and you should be certain to quote the case reference that is given in the letter that you receive.

 

You should wait until you get that letter and then, reply with a truthful explanation, in your reply, you may ask the TOC to allow you to pay the unpaid fare due and the reasonably incurred cost of dealing with the matter, in order to allow the case to be settled administratively and without Court action.

 

The TOC is not obliged to agree, but if there is no previous record for similar matters and you have not had any previous warnings, they will consider it.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

Have a read around this forum, there are lots of threads about using someone else's pass. Hopefully the person who received advice will have come back here to tell us what happened.

 

My best, HB

[marmaris30]

Would you normally have used a pass of your own? If so then would that pass have covered the journey you were making, as your brother's pass would if he was using it? If so then you could attempt to explain that in mitigation, when the letter arrives to say what the company intends to do.

 

If on the other hand you 'accidentally' used someone else's pass because you thought you might get away with it, then a grovelling apology might see you get off with a warning for a first offence.

[Old-CodJA]

Would you normally have used a pass of your own? If so then would that pass have covered the journey you were making, as your brother's pass would if he was using it? If so then you could attempt to explain that in mitigation, when the letter arrives to say what the company intends to do.

 

If on the other hand you 'accidentally' used someone else's pass because you thought you might get away with it, then a grovelling apology might see you get off with a warning for a first offence.

 

Yes, marmaris is exactly right, if there is nothing at all previous in your name and you can prove that it was a pure accident, because you also hold your own pass for that journey, when you get the letter, send a clear photocopy of your pass / season and photocard if it requires one along with your explanation.

[charmedgirl]

Yes, marmaris is exactly right, if there is nothing at all previous in your name and you can prove that it was a pure accident, because you also hold your own pass for that journey, when you get the letter, send a clear photocopy of your pass / season and photocard if it requires one along with your explanation.

 

Hi yes, i have my own photocard from 1 year ago, but i didnt have a ticket in my name. it was a normal weekend day trip.

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

Why did you use your brother's pass please?

 

HB

[charmedgirl]

Hello again.

 

Why did you use your brother's pass please?

 

HB

 

Hi it was going to expire in 1 day so i thought i could use it and i didnt know that i season passes were not transferabble.

[honeybee13]

Hi it was going to expire in 1 day so i thought i could use it and i didnt know that i season passes were not transferabble.

 

Thank you for that.

 

I think the guys were trying to ascertain whether you might have other mitigating reasons for using this card. Is this the one you're going to tell the TOC, or are there any others?

 

HB

[renegadeimp]

Tell the truth to them, be very apologetic and offer to pay the cost of the fare, plus any administration costs they might incur. Normally £150 or so is a good settlement figure, and they will most likely settle out of court.

[charmedgirl]

Hi, there are no mitigating reasons for using the card, can i put this reason down in my letter or not? i dint know they were not transferable at all. I have a season ticket myself back when i was in uni? i can send that one in to show that i am a genuine and loyal customer of the railway company??

[marmaris30]

I wouldn't tell them you have your own season ticket, as it's not relevant unless it's for the same route (presumably it isn't). They could simply say that you should be perfectly with the general terms and conditions, one of the most obvious being that tickets are for use only by the person named on them and shown on the photocard. It looks like a fairly obvious attempt to evade paying the fare so a grovelling apology and offer of compensation is probably your only option.

 

If you'd simply boarded the train without a ticket then you might have got away with a penalty fare at most, or even just paying for a normal ticket, depending on where you were.