I was fined £85 just for getting off my train one stop early
A SINGLE mum is being prosecuted after refusing to pay an £85 fine for an “incorrect” train ticket.
Claire Long, 40, claimed the £5.40 ticket she bought covered her journey but the train operator disagreed.
Claire travelled from Orrell in Lancashire, near her home, to Manchester Victoria but was unable to buy a ticket at Orrell as it had no facilities.
On arrival at Manchester, she told an inspector she had come from Orrell where she couldn’t buy a ticket.
She then bought a return ticket but got it to Wigan Wallgate which is one stop nearer Manchester than Orrell.
As Claire and her friends were returning from Manchester, they were stopped by the same woman inspector, who questioned their purchase.
Claire said: “We knew there would be no trains back to Orrell by the time we were coming home, so we had asked for returns to Wigan Wallgate.
“I explained everything to her but she said we were trying to defraud the train company. I have travelled that route so many times and I’ve never had this problem.”
One return ticket to exactly the same as one to Wigan Wallgate at the time of February’s incident. It is just 40p more now.
Four of the elevenstrong group in which Claire was travelling were also stopped.
She said: “One of my friends got a formal warning, but I got a fixed penalty notice of £85, which I disputed Claire travels frequently on Northern Rail route Orrell cost because I had a valid ticket as far as I’m concerned.” Having not heard back from Northern Rail for several months, Claire assumed the matter was dropped, until last week when she received a summons over the unpaid fine.
Claire said: “It’s ridiculous, pathetic. I’m a single mum and this is just too costly. If I wanted to avoid a fare, I would have asked for a ticket from somewhere much closer and saved myself a lot of money.
“You wonder what the criteria is over being fined, especially with me being the only one getting prosecuted when there was a group of us stopped at the exact same time.
“I just feel train operators have too much power. It seems like another way to make money.
“Fair enough, they might find some real fare dodgers but proceeding with this when I haven’t done anything wrong is ridiculous.”
On its website, the rail firm states: “Northern Rail does not issue any fines instantaneously. Typically an ‘unpaid fares notice’ or a ‘fail to purchase notice’ will be issued, granting the customer 21 days to remedy the payment of the fare only. In some instances an incident report will be created and further information will be requested before a final decision is made as to the outcome.”
It failed to respond when approached for comment.