Warning issued as train passenger handed £462 fine for simple railcard mistake

A train passenger was fined £462 after a simple mistake left him with the wrong ticket.

The traveller was taken to court by Northern Rail after he incorrectly used a discount card on a short journey between Prescot and Liverpool Lime Street.

The unnamed traveller, whose case was highlighted on X by Bolton News reporter Jack Fifield, was fined £220, alongside a victim surcharge of £88 and costs of £150. The traveller’s train ticket was worth £4.30, court records shared by Mr Fifield showed.

In a separate incident, another traveller separately told The Telegraph how Northern had threatened him with court over an alleged £1.90 underpayment.

Sam Williamson, 22, said he had used a railcard to purchase a ticket but was unaware that he could not do so for the train that he was on. After offering to pay for a new ticket, he was told by the ticket inspector that he could not do so and a report would need to be produced.

Last month, as many as 74,000 prosecutions for alleged rail fare evasion in England and Wales were quashed after a landmark court ruling.

Judge Goldspring, the chief magistrate for England and Wales, declared six test cases as void, saying the process should never have been used.

Nathan Seymour-Hyde, a solicitor and partner at Reeds Solicitors, said the ruling didn’t “mean that people can just get on trains and dodge their fare.”

But he added:” The train companies can simply amend their procedures and always prosecute under the railway bylaws when using the single justice procedure, or they can prosecute another way in open court listings, and then they can select whatever offence they like that way.”

In another case, a man from Leeds endured a legal battle with Northern Trains over a £3.50 fare.

Christian Waters had tried to buy a ticket to Leeds from Kirkstall Forge Station. However, the ticket machine was broken and there was nobody occupying the service desk.

When he attempted to pay the fare on arrival at the destination, he was taken aside and fined.

He appealed the fine and when this was rejected, he refused to pay and was sent several threatening letters with increasing financial penalties.

He eventually pleaded not guilty to a single justice procedure before the case was withdrawn and settled for £3.50.