Witness Statement Penalty Fare

Hello all!

Recieved a witness statement for trying to dodge the train fare today, on the thameslink line, ive been caught like twice or thrice at this point and instead of recieving the slip of paper where i could pay off the penalty fare i recieved a Witness Statement from the man at the gate.

To my understanding this means I could get prosecuted if thameslink sees fit. Should be recieving the letter they said they’d send in a few weeks so just wondering what to expect and do or say.

Obviously its dumb to dodge rail fares but spending about £10-15 a day every week just to go to uni and back is something i would definitely rather not do if i can help it, pfft.

Another thing, cant believe a railway officer read me that stupid miranda rights mantra. felt cheesy coming from someone who’s fake police. But hey, im the dude getting caught lol.

Reply 1

martin7

Original post by Dogiyz

Recieved a witness statement for trying to dodge the train fare today, on the thameslink line, ive been caught like twice or thrice at this point and instead of recieving the slip of paper where i could pay off the penalty fare i recieved a Witness Statement from the man at the gate.

To my understanding this means I could get prosecuted if thameslink sees fit. Should be recieving the letter they said they’d send in a few weeks so just wondering what to expect and do or say.

I have sympathy with people who get penalty fares due to some genuine mistake or misunderstanding.

But you just seem to be an incorrigible fare dodger. You've been given penalty fares before, and learned nothing from them.

So it seems perfectly reasonable to me that having been caught dodging your fare yet again, then the train company are considering prosecution.

Obviously its dumb to dodge rail fares but spending about £10-15 a day every week just to go to uni and back is something i would definitely rather not do if i can help it, pfft.

Interesting view. What other services do you use that you think you'd rather not pay for?

If you're not prepared to pay to travel by train, perhaps consider using some other mode of transport.

Another thing, cant believe a railway officer read me that stupid miranda rights mantra. felt cheesy coming from someone who’s fake police. But hey, im the dude getting caught lol.

Well they have to do that, because y'know, they want to use what you've said in evidence in court.

Perhaps you'd have preferred that they'd called the "real" police for them to arrest you and perhaps interview you at a police station?

In terms of what you can do: wait for the letter to arrive and see what it says. You may, if you play your cards right, be able to persuade the train company to settle out of court -- which would mean no court case, and no criminal record. You could ask advice on the RailUK Forums "Disputes & Prosecutions" section at
https://www.railforums.co.uk/forums/disputes-prosecutions.152/ Obviously the fact that you've been caught fare-dodging several times before isn't going to help your case.