Given A Penalty Fare Notice

j_will070 · 6 Jun 2026

Hello, I was wondering if someone can help me with this.

I received a letter on Tuesday (2nd June 2026) from Northern Rail saying that because I had failed to produce a ticket for the conductor and furthermore failed to pay the ‘promise to pay’ ticket within the allotted time window I was being fined £106.20 and have 14 days to either pay or appeal.

This was for a train journey from Fitzwilliam train station to Leeds train station At 19:30 on the 2nd May 2026.

The issue is this was 100% not me, I haven’t been on a train in over two months and especially haven’t been on this particular route.

The confusing part is why and how this has been addressed to me with full name and address. I can’t understand how this has come about and why.

If anyone is unfamiliar with Leeds train station it requires you to scan your ticket at the barriers to leave so whilst a conductor may not have scanned a ticket on the train you will have to have one to leave. This is where this has taken place as said person was trying to leave.

I have submitted an appeal but on both the letter and the form you fill in online were addressed to MR. Also where they have the details that were given to them the gender is listed as Male. I am a female so am even more bewildered as to what has happened.

The letter was very brief and other than the facts stated there were only a list of debt related websites to visit on how to deal with this from a financial perspective. There was a number to ring but all you got was an automated voicemail which provided you with an email however, this was VERY hard to make out as the woman didn’t speak clearly whatsoever.

I submitted an email to the email I could find and requested CCTV footage from either the train or the train station from the incident and said I was more than happy to provide ID whether it’s passport or driver’s license to compare and show the person is not me.

I have been advised as well that it’s hard to disprove them if you were simply just at home which is my worry.

As you can imagine this is very stressful and I’m unsure what the next steps are if this is unsuccessful as it feels incredibly wrong to expect someone to pay a fine that isn’t for them.

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SussexMan · 7 Jun 2026

I doubt it will cause an issue but data protection legislation doesn't permit you to have data about other people so to say, "it wasn't me" and at the same time to request the CCTV images they have, doesn't make sense.

Mcr Warrior · 7 Jun 2026

@j_will070. Welcome to the forum. Others should be able to advise on how now to best proceed, but if indeed it wasn't you, there has it be every chance that it was maybe some 'friend' or acquaintance of yours that has landed you in it, by providing your name AND address when stopped at Leeds railway station.

Fawkes Cat · 7 Jun 2026

Mcr Warrior said:
@j_will070. Welcome to the forum. Others should be able to advise on how now to best proceed, but if indeed it wasn't you, there has it be every chance that it was maybe some 'friend' or acquaintance of yours that has landed you in it, by providing your name AND address when stopped at Leeds railway station.

You also need to know that it's not for you to prove that it wasn't you: it's for the railway to prove that it was.

So in principle you could ignore the whole thing. But just as people lie when they are caught, so some people lie when they get the letter. So the railway will probably come back to you, wanting to take you up on your offer to see your passport or driving licence.

As I say, you could then ignore that. But I would suggest choosing to co-operate: if they ask, provide evidence of who you are. Once you have done that then most likely the railway will accept it wasn't you, and will stop bothering you.

WesternLancer · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Hello, I was wondering if someone can help me with this.

I received a letter on Tuesday (2nd June 2026) from Northern Rail saying that because I had failed to produce a ticket for the conductor and furthermore failed to pay the ‘promise to pay’ ticket within the allotted time window I was being fined £106.20 and have 14 days to either pay or appeal.

This was for a train journey from Fitzwilliam train station to Leeds train station At 19:30 on the 2nd May 2026.

The issue is this was 100% not me, I haven’t been on a train in over two months and especially haven’t been on this particular route.

The confusing part is why and how this has been addressed to me with full name and address. I can’t understand how this has come about and why.

If anyone is unfamiliar with Leeds train station it requires you to scan your ticket at the barriers to leave so whilst a conductor may not have scanned a ticket on the train you will have to have one to leave. This is where this has taken place as said person was trying to leave.

I have submitted an appeal but on both the letter and the form you fill in online were addressed to MR. Also where they have the details that were given to them the gender is listed as Male. I am a female so am even more bewildered as to what has happened.

The letter was very brief and other than the facts stated there were only a list of debt related websites to visit on how to deal with this from a financial perspective. There was a number to ring but all you got was an automated voicemail which provided you with an email however, this was VERY hard to make out as the woman didn’t speak clearly whatsoever.

I submitted an email to the email I could find and requested CCTV footage from either the train or the train station from the incident and said I was more than happy to provide ID whether it’s passport or driver’s license to compare and show the person is not me.

I have been advised as well that it’s hard to disprove them if you were simply just at home which is my worry.

As you can imagine this is very stressful and I’m unsure what the next steps are if this is unsuccessful as it feels incredibly wrong to expect someone to pay a fine that isn’t for them.

This isn’t a ‘fine’ or a Penalty Fare like you see on posters on stations. but I suspect some sort of ‘out of court settlement’ albeit for an offence you didn’t do.

It would be helpful if you could upload a copy of what you were sent and copy if your reply / appeal for us to see (but blank out your personal detail and any reference numbers before uploading it here.)

You say you e mailed your appeal to an address you found.
What was that email address?

If it wasn’t the team that sent you the letter that might not get you anywhere.
We can check that for you.

Are you saying the letter you received didn’t have an email or postal address on it you could reply to?

No doubt someone has used your name and address when they have been stopped for travel without a ticket. It might even be someone you know. It’s an unpleasant thing to do. They might do this in other circumstances so seperatly do some on line security checks eg update passwords and check you are correctly on the electoral register where you live (registered to vote).

We can help you resolve this with the railway company with advice on what to do and what to say to them.
But it would help to see what they have said to you and who has sent you this.

Haywain · 7 Jun 2026

WesternLancer said:
This isn’t a ‘fine’ or a Penalty Fare like you see on posters on stations

It sounds to me that it's a reminder letter for an unpaid Penalty Fare. We need to see the latter to correctly advise the OP, but it seems to me that it should be treated in the same way as other cases where someone has given another person's details with a simple letter stating that the person being 'chased' had not travelled.

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

Hello everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my claim and give advice it is very much appreciated.

I can see my mistake in interchanging the words fine and fare which wasn’t intentional so apologies if this has caused confusion on what I’m actually trying to say.

Here is the letter I was sent the writing in the green pen is from me trying to decipher what the woman on the automated voicemail was saying. As I said before it was very unclear and the first letter sounded like it could’ve been any letter with an ‘eee’ sound. The back is the first email I tried but it bounced so wasn’t a real email.

The email I found online was ‘enquiries@northernrail.co.uk’

Thank you again for any advice given or that can be given in the future!

Haywain · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
the writing in the green pen is from me trying to decipher what the woman on the automated voicemail was saying. As I said before it was very unclear and the first letter sounded like it could’ve been any letter with an ‘eee’ sound.

It would have been DRPU, the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Unit.

j_will070 said:
The email I found online was ‘enquiries@northernrail.co.uk’

That will just be customer relations, so isn’t ideal and may not get passed on appropriately.

Fawkes Cat · 7 Jun 2026

Haywain said:
It would have been DRPU, the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Unit.

That will just be customer relations, so isn’t ideal and may not get passed on appropriately.

Practically speaking, send a reply to the address at the top of the letter: it's freepost so you don't need a stamp. Make sure you include their reference, but essentially all you need to say is what's in the last but one paragraph of the email that you sent them (although as people have said, there's no point in asking for the CCTV).

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

Haywain said:
It would have been DRPU, the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Unit.

That will just be customer relations, so isn’t ideal and may not get passed on appropriately.

I tried the DPRU address as that’s something I thought I heard from the woman on the answerphone but they keep bouncing back

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jun 2026 ==

Fawkes Cat said:
Practically speaking, send a reply to the address at the top of the letter: it's freepost so you don't need a stamp. Make sure you include their reference, but essentially all you need to say is what's in the last but one paragraph of the email that you sent them (although as people have said, there's no point in asking for the CCTV).

I think this is going to be the best moving forward as I said in another reply the other email they gave on the answerphone (or which I thought I could hear) keeps bouncing back even though I’ve double checked all of the details.

whirlybird · 7 Jun 2026

Can you post the email address you used here? It might be possible to identify any typo you have inadvertently made.

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

Does anyone have any advice on what to add in a letter to the free post address?

I know a lot of you have mentioned about it being pretty pointless mentioning CCTV as they don’t HAVE to provide this. I just thought it would be an all round good way to make a comparison that it wasn’t me but I suppose there are certain nuances to this as well as the data protection aspect.

I’m unsure how I can prove I was not there as when I googled how to go about this many people on websites such as Reddit were saying they can easily debunk things such as Find My Friends or Apple Maps location that your phone pings to as they can argue that your phone was there but you are not.

I know it sounds silly to speculate in great detail but I’ve never ever dealt with anything like this so am unsure as to how nitpicking they would/could be regarding the claim

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jun 2026 ==

whirlybird said:
Can you post the email address you used here? It might be possible to identify any typo you have inadvertently made.

This is the other address I sent it to other than the enquiries email I stated above and another user has said this should be the correct DRPU address

Fawkes Cat · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Does anyone have any advice on what to add in a letter to the free post address?

I know a lot of you have mentioned about it being pretty pointless mentioning CCTV as they don’t HAVE to provide this. I just thought it would be an all round good way to make a comparison that it wasn’t me but I suppose there are certain nuances to this as well as the data protection aspect.

I’m unsure how I can prove I was not there as when I googled how to go about this many people on websites such as Reddit were saying they can easily debunk things such as Find My Friends or Apple Maps location that your phone pings to as they can argue that your phone was there but you are not.

I know it sounds silly to speculate in great detail but I’ve never ever dealt with anything like this so am unsure as to how nitpicking they would/could be regarding the claim

Please see my posts at #5 and #9 above. You don't need to prove anything: in the long run it will save you hassle if you do provide evidence of who you are - but it's for the railway to show that it was you that they stopped, and not for you to prove that it wasn't.

AlterEgo · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Does anyone have any advice on what to add in a letter to the free post address?

I know a lot of you have mentioned about it being pretty pointless mentioning CCTV as they don’t HAVE to provide this. I just thought it would be an all round good way to make a comparison that it wasn’t me but I suppose there are certain nuances to this as well as the data protection aspect.

I’m unsure how I can prove I was not there as when I googled how to go about this many people on websites such as Reddit were saying they can easily debunk things such as Find My Friends or Apple Maps location that your phone pings to as they can argue that your phone was there but you are not.

I know it sounds silly to speculate in great detail but I’ve never ever dealt with anything like this so am unsure as to how nitpicking they would/could be regarding the claim

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jun 2026 ==

This is the other address I sent it to other than the enquiries email I stated above and another user has said this should be the correct DRPU address

It's drpu@northernrailway.co.uk - you have the wrong email address there.

RuddA · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Does anyone have any advice on what to add in a letter to the free post address?

I know a lot of you have mentioned about it being pretty pointless mentioning CCTV as they don’t HAVE to provide this. I just thought it would be an all round good way to make a comparison that it wasn’t me but I suppose there are certain nuances to this as well as the data protection aspect.

I’m unsure how I can prove I was not there as when I googled how to go about this many people on websites such as Reddit were saying they can easily debunk things such as Find My Friends or Apple Maps location that your phone pings to as they can argue that your phone was there but you are not.

I know it sounds silly to speculate in great detail but I’ve never ever dealt with anything like this so am unsure as to how nitpicking they would/could be regarding the claim

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jun 2026 ==

This is the other address I sent it to other than the enquiries email I stated above and another user has said this should be the correct DRPU address

Looking at the screenshot of your letter it appears to be drpu@northernrailway.co.uk rather than northernrail

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

RuddA said:
Looking at the screenshot of your letter it appears to be drpu@northernrailway.co.uk rather than northernrail

Oh thank you so much!

Haywain · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
mentioning CCTV as they don’t HAVE to provide this.

It's not that they don't have to but that they would be breaching the GDPR regulations by doing so, and you have no entitlement to CCTV images of any person other than yourself.

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

Haywain said:
It's not that they don't have to but that they would be breaching the GDPR regulations by doing so, and you have no entitlement to CCTV images of any person other than yourself.

Yeah that’s what I’m seeing a lot of, I think I was just very naive in thinking it would be an easier way to prove and compare against the person the inspector was dealing with at that date and time and then an ID of mine.

I think because it’s CCTV I was just assuming for the circumstances of this and how I’ve been told on Reddit its a criminal matter not a civil matter that it would be allowed to be used but obviously that isn’t the case

WesternLancer · 7 Jun 2026

I suggest the op uses the correct email now supplied by forum members.

Then also print a copy of that e mail off, make sure it all includes your correct postal address. Sign it by hand, write on it ‘as also sent by e mail’ and post it to the free post address on the letter from Northern.

Don’t ask anything about cctv etc. just
say it was not you on a train that day. Enclose a copy of your photo ID too eg passport or driving licence.
Ask if they can confirm in writing that they will be dropping the matter.
Keep it polite and focussed.

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

Hi everyone just an update that I emailed the correct address and received an automated email saying it may take 10 days to get a response however, in a second half of this they stated that they don’t actually deal with penalty fares and I’ve got to submit an appeal which I already have

AlterEgo · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Hi everyone just an update that I emailed the correct address and received an automated email saying it may take 10 days to get a response however, in a second half of this they stated that they don’t actually deal with penalty fares and I’ve got to submit an appeal which I already have

You don't have to submit an appeal. It is not your penalty fare and in any case the time has lapsed for a formal appeal against it.

The DPRU will deal with this as it is now a debt and prosecution matter. Do let us know when they get back to you.

gray1404 · 7 Jun 2026

You've done all you can for now. You have submitted correspondence to them confirming it is not you who was stopped and you've received an acknowledgement of them receiving that email.

The only other thing you could do is print it off and sends a hard copy to their Freepost address. I personally don't think it's necessary to do this. If you do however I would stick to just using their free post address and not bother wasting money sending it tracked or recorded. If you are posting it as a post office then ask for a free proof of posting receipt as well.

WesternLancer · 7 Jun 2026

j_will070 said:
Hi everyone just an update that I emailed the correct address and received an automated email saying it may take 10 days to get a response however, in a second half of this they stated that they don’t actually deal with penalty fares and I’ve got to submit an appeal which I already have

If you believe you have submitted an Appeal can you tell us who you sent that to?
If you sent it to Northern that is almost certainly not a Penalty Fare appeal.

Ref the auto acknowledgement reply you’ve had, make sure you keep that safe and keep it long term. It’s proof of the action you have taken. You might yet need it.

AlterEgo · 7 Jun 2026

WesternLancer said:
We don’t know if this actually involves a Penalty Fare until you upload a copy of the letter you received.

It is a Penalty Fare. It's attached in Post 7.

WesternLancer · 7 Jun 2026

AlterEgo said:
It is a Penalty Fare. It's attached in Post 7.

Thanks for this correction.

My Apols to the op for missing this and thanks for sharing those papers.

j_will070 · 7 Jun 2026

AlterEgo said:
You don't have to submit an appeal. It is not your penalty fare and in any case the time has lapsed for a formal appeal against it.

The DPRU will deal with this as it is now a debt and prosecution matter. Do let us know when they get back to you.

Thank you so much! I definitely will and apologies if anything is seemingly incorrect or doesn’t make sense this is the first time anything like this has happened and I’m not familiar with the steps, laws and regulations or terminology surrounding this so everyone has been a great help I really appreciate it.

Given A Penalty Fare Notice

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