Passenger slapped with brutal £471 fine for underpaying train ticket by £4.57

A woman has been slapped with a £471 fine for failing to pay the £4.57 difference in her train ticket price after using an expired 16-25 Railcard. The unnamed woman had been travelling from Manchester Piccadilly to Grindleford on an Off-Peak Single with Northern Railway.

But when ticket inspectors checked, they noticed she had used the 16-25 Railcard discount, which when presented, was no longer in-date.

The total cost of the fare was £13.70 - but she received a £4.57 discount thanks to the Railcard. According to Northern Railway, the woman's details were taken after the ticket inspector found her Railcard was expired.

She was then sent a letter "requesting an explanation" - to which she failed to respond. She was then issued a Fixed Penalty Notice, costing £100 plus the price of the single fare - amounting to £113.70.

The railway company said this remained unpaid and turned to Manchester Magistrates to reclaim the cost. In total, the woman was fined £220, ordered to pay £13.70 in compensation, charged £88 to fund the victim's services and given additional costs of £150 to pay.

In total, she was fined £471.70 - £458 more than the price of the ticket. A spokesperson for Northern Railways told Express.co.uk: "Everyone has a duty to ensure they have a valid ticket for their journey.

"In this instance, the railcard the customer presented during the ticket inspection was out of date. As such, a ‘Travel Incident Report’ was opened and the customer had the opportunity to provide evidence of a renewed railcard at a later date.

"Unfortunately, the customer has chosen not to engage with the process and so the matter was ultimately referred to the courts as a last resort.

"Northern is entitled to pursue passengers who commit an offence by travelling on a train without a valid ticket. We only impose penalty fares, and/or pursue prosecution, where an individual has committed wrongdoing by travelling on a train without paying the correct fare for their journey."

And while some felt the charge was a "waste of court time", others felt the passenger was in the wrong. One person wrote on X: "Absolutely correct of Northern! It is the travellers responsibility to check their railcard, same as to buy a ticket."

Another said: "She should have just paid her fine instead of ignoring it." A third added: "Wouldn't have happened if they had engaged with the process early on. Seems they ignored it."

But others defended the unknown woman, with one writing: "The only reasonable solution is to pay the £4.57 for the mistake and buy a new railcard. We are passengers, not criminals! The rail industry needs to help us and stop ripping us off. If they can fine, they can sell a ticket. Also make ticketing fairer and simpler already!"

Another wrote: "This is totally disproportionate. Rail ticketing is complex and confusing to many."