Introversion

I upgraded my Gatewsay this morning and instantly received a message that I had lost the game. Annoying as I'd spent a couple of days building up enough money forthe upgrade - I had been caught a few times and paid all the fines.

Any suggestions - or is normal in this game that you can lose without any warning?

It is quite normal. Sometimes when you get caught, you pay a fine. Most of the time when you get caught, the game is over. Create a new user, and start over again. You will probably do that quite a bit until you get the hang of things.