Court Summons Wrong person

[i8toys]

Received a Summons on Friday morning at my home address for a non- payment of fare in January from GWR. It wasn't me.
Same name and nearly the same dob.

Details changed to protect identity but to try and explain. My details Joe Bloggs, address in the North , dob 01.01.2001

It details on the summons- Joe Bloggs different address in the south. Dob 01.01.2006.

The covering letter from GWR only had my name and address- not the summons.

How do I extricate myself from this invalid service? Is it GWR spamming everyone with the same name in the hope they get the right person or identity theft?

 

[WesternLancer]

Received a Summons on Friday morning at my home address for a non- payment of fare in January from GWR. It wasn't me.
Same name and nearly the same dob.

Details changed to protect identity but to try and explain. My details Joe Bloggs, address in the North , dob 01.01.2001

It details on the summons- Joe Bloggs different address in the south. Dob 01.01.2006.

The covering letter from GWR only had my name and address- not the summons.

How do I extricate myself from this invalid service? Is it GWR spamming everyone with the same name in the hope they get the right person or identity theft?

Was the court summons the first you heard of this? Usually the railway company write to people before court action is started. Did you have anything before this? If so did you respond to it?

Likely someone who has genuinely committed a ticketin offence has used your name / address. This is not uncommon.

You need to write to GWR and probably also the court to make it clear it was not you.

 

[Haywain]

How do I extricate myself from this invalid service?

By responding and telling them it wasn't you. Don't overthink this. The train company will see this happen regularly and, as there is no requirement to carry or show ID in this country, cannot prevent it. You should also plead not guilty to the summons.

 

[i8toys]

Was the court summons the first you heard of this? Usually the railway company write to people before court action is started. Did you have anything before this? If so did you respond to it?

Likely someone who has genuinely committed a ticketin offence has used your name / address. This is not uncommon.

You need to write to GWR and probably also the court to make it clear it was not you.

Yes completely out of the blue. Nothing before this

 

[WesternLancer]

Received a Summons on Friday morning at my home address for a non- payment of fare in January from GWR. It wasn't me.
Same name and nearly the same dob.

Details changed to protect identity but to try and explain. My details Joe Bloggs, address in the North , dob 01.01.2001

It details on the summons- Joe Bloggs different address in the south. Dob 01.01.2006.

The covering letter from GWR only had my name and address- not the summons.

How do I extricate myself from this invalid service? Is it GWR spamming everyone with the same name in the hope they get the right person or identity theft?

Apols as you have the general advice but something occurs to me to check with you.

You say in your post that you have "received a summons"

However, later on you mention "a covering letter" from GWR

I will happily stand corrected as I'm not an expert, but I would have thought a summons would come direct from the court (so would not be from GWR with a covering letter) - so I just mention this to ask if you are sure you have actually had a summons

If you want to upload any paperwork you have received, with your personal details and ref numbers obscured, I am sure someone with knowledge of this sort of paperwork will be able to double check.

Apols if I have misunderstood.

In any case I'm sure the advice to inform GWR about this is the best thing to do.

There maybe info and contact details of use in the GWR Prosecutions Policy here:

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-...WR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023.pdf

 

[i8toys]

Apols as you have the general advice but something occurs to me to check with you.

You say in your post that you have "received a summons"

However, later on you mention "a covering letter" from GWR

I will happily stand corrected as I'm not an expert, but I would have thought a summons would come direct from the court (so would not be from GWR with a covering letter) - so I just mention this to ask if you are sure you have actually had a summons

If you want to upload any paperwork you have received, with your personal details and ref numbers obscured, I am sure someone with knowledge of this sort of paperwork will be able to double check.

Apols if I have misunderstood.

In any case I'm sure the advice to inform GWR about this is the best thing to do.

There maybe info and contact details of use in the GWR Prosecutions Policy here:

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-...WR-Revenue-Protection-Policy-January-2023.pdf

I received a pack of papers addressed to myself at my home address.

The covering letter was addressed to me from GWR stating it was a court summons and how to pay blah blah blah

The remaining pages were the actual summons - detailing another person's address and dob, and their interaction with the revenue protection officer in January, witness statements etc, previous letters sent in January to that address.

I called GWR who were worse than useless and they said you need to prove its not you. I sent off my id and evidence I was elsewhere. Nothing back

I also called clerk to the justice at the Court to explain that I received a summons in error. They have filed a complaint as its a data breach and told me to return the papers to sender and they will add to their system not to send anymore paperwork to my address.

I will send recorded delivery letters explaining that this has been sent to me in error to both GWR revenue protection and the Court.

I don't know what more I can do.

 

[jfollows]

GWR are lying if they say that you have to prove it’s not you.
On the contrary, they have to prove that it is you.
No point tilting at windmills if you have easy proof, but ultimately you’re also within your rights to tell them to get lost.
Plead not guilty as advised and put them to prove that it was you, which they can’t, but also engage with them to see sense.
Rail companies know that people caught give incorrect details all the time.

 

[i8toys]

My letter to GWR/Clerk of court

Your ref: Case No: FGWxxxxxx

I write to inform you that a County Court summons has been sent to the wrong person/address, as the person at this address is not the person/address detailed on the summons.

I received yesterday, at my home address, a letter enclosing a county court summons from GWR /XXXX Magistrates Court for Mr XXXX, Other address, other date of birth, for non-payment of a train fare on xx January at xxxxhrs. Letter enclosed.

My home address is xxx and my date of birth is xxxx. Proof of ID enclosed.

I also enclose evidence that on the day of the fine on I was at xxxxx,

I am not the person detailed on the summons so will not be attending and I would appreciate confirmation from the Court in this regard.

I have sent this correspondence via recorded delivery to both GWR and the Clerk to the Justice.

Does that sound okay? Or too much info?

 

[AlterEgo]

You aren’t dealing with the county court, you’re dealing with the magistrates court. Also, is it a summons you’ve been sent, or a Single Justice Procedure Notice?

 

[pwharley]

I received yesterday, at my home address, a letter enclosing a county court summons from GWR /XXXX Magistrates Court for Mr XXXX, Other address, other date of birth, for non-payment of a train fare on xx January at xxxxhrs. Letter enclosed.

This is getting confusing. A County Court summons does not come from a Magistrates Court - it comes from (as the name suggests) a County Court.

Does the correspondence look genuine e.g is the GWR letter on headed notepaper? I'm just wondering if this is a scam....

 

[i8toys]

Sorry you're right. I've no idea of the terms. Its from a Magistrates court and its a court summons.

I've amended my letter to say court summons.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Apr 2025 ==

This is getting confusing. A County Court summons does not come from a Magistrates Court - it comes from (as the name suggests) a County Court.

Does the correspondence look genuine e.g is the GWR letter on headed notepaper? I'm just wondering if this is a scam....

I did wonder about spam but the case exists at the Magistrates Court when I called.

The covering letter looks genuine and I checked the franking machine postage stamp matches the address of the revenue protection office.

 

[WesternLancer]

Is there any benefit in uploading copies of this paper work if there is some confusion that needs checking.

If the op rang GWR customer services I doubt anything they said about any of this would be relevant / accurate sadly.

 

[dosxuk]

Rail companies know that people caught give incorrect details all the time.

They also know people who they have caught will try the "it wasn't me" excuse all the time.

 

[Haywain]

They also know people who they have caught will try the "it wasn't me" excuse all the time.

Which is a reason that they might ask for photographic ID to be provided. They will then compare this with the brief description they have of the person who was stopped.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

My letter to GWR/Clerk of court

Your ref: Case No: FGWxxxxxx

I write to inform you that a County Court summons has been sent to the wrong person/address, as the person at this address is not the person/address detailed on the summons.

I received yesterday, at my home address, a letter enclosing a county court summons from GWR /XXXX Magistrates Court for Mr XXXX, Other address, other date of birth, for non-payment of a train fare on xx January at xxxxhrs. Letter enclosed.

My home address is xxx and my date of birth is xxxx. Proof of ID enclosed.

I also enclose evidence that on the day of the fine on I was at xxxxx,

I am not the person detailed on the summons so will not be attending and I would appreciate confirmation from the Court in this regard.

I have sent this correspondence via recorded delivery to both GWR and the Clerk to the Justice.

Does that sound okay? Or too much info?

As people have already said it's a good idea to get the terminology about what court is involved right - but otherwise I think the rest of your letter is fine. Strictly, it's not up to you to prove that you're not the person they're looking for - but it's a good practical thing to do in that if you stand on your right not to get involved it may still be you who ends up with someone banging on your door looking for a fine to be paid.

 

[Haywain]

Strictly, it's not up to you to prove that you're not the person they're looking for

However, if you don't help with this now you'll be standing in a court room asking them to prove it was you.

 

[island]

I will happily stand corrected as I'm not an expert, but I would have thought a summons would come direct from the court (so would not be from GWR with a covering letter) - so I just mention this to ask if you are sure you have actually had a summons

You are correct that a summons is issued by a court, although two of the other ways of commencing criminal cases, which are a single justice procedure notice and a postal requisition, can be issued by prosecutors directly, and these latter document types are often colloquially or informally referred to as summonses. It is not clear which type of document the OP received.

 

[WesternLancer]

You are correct that a summons is issued by a court, although two of the other ways of commencing criminal cases, which are a single justice procedure notice and a postal requisition, can be issued by prosecutors directly, and these latter document types are often colloquially or informally referred to as summonses. It is not clear which type of document the OP received.

Thanks - helpful to learn that.