Northern Rail have dropped the case against a man who accidentally paid £1.90 less on a ticket into Manchester
Sam Williamson was using ‘Anytime Singles’ at peak times with 16-25 railcards, which makes the ticket invalid on a trip into the centre of Manchester from Broadbottom which he bought on the ticketing app.
Williamson says that when buying the ticket it was not explicitly stated that the ticket was not valid when travelling during peak time
This morning on X Williamson announced that
I’m delighted to say that last night I got a message from the Debt Recovery unit at @northernassist confirming that they will “be taking no further steps against [me]”.
Williamson thought added “That said, the problems at the heart of my case are FAR from solved.”
adding that
But whilst I’m off the hook, plenty of others aren’t. People like Cerys, who had no idea she was fined, will still have criminal records for honest mistakes similar to mine. Next Monday, Northern will continue to take people to court over invalid Railcard usage pre-10am.
He also said that “I also hope that the government will step in to stop train operators bringing cases like mine through the courts. TOCs already have easier, quicker and more proportionate tools available; if someone has accidentally bought the wrong
