Help Over £510 Rail Fine

[ademac]

Hi in May ‘24 my daughter travelled from Stevenage to Leeds to go back to uni. It was a strike day and the train was a few minutes late but otherwise it was a standard journey for her. She had her 4 year student railcard on her and a valid ticket bought through Trainline, her friend was with her. No one stopped her or ticketed / fined her on the train.

Fast forward to February of this year and her employer received a notice that they would be fined if they don’t start paying back a £510 fine. At this point we have no idea why she’s been fined at all as no prior letters had gone to any residence so this was the first she had known of this fine.

It took many weeks to find out it was in fact a rail fine and even longer to find out a date and time of the supposed offence. Since then she’s been told to fill out several forms but never gets any response, has visited the court in Leeds to try to get help and advice numerous times and she is getting absolutely nowhere.

I’ve tried lner, the railway ombudsman and transport focus and no one has been of any help apart from to say that she should be able to get the fine cancelled, but it never is. The court won’t let her see the duty solicitor and in trying to sort it out it is costing more and more time and money in travel, her study time etc. her friend with the same ticket on the train with her has had no fine.

We don’t know who to speak to to get help at this point. I try to remain open minded that maybe somehow she did something wrong but we can’t figure out what ( she didn’t sit in first class with a standard ticket for example) there was only one train that hour going to Leeds and she got on it. We’ve asked for photographic evidence but non has been produced.

At this point we don’t know where to turn and the fine is being paid off monthly.

Does anyone have any advice/ suggestions etc please? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this

 

[WesternLancer]

Hi in May ‘24 my daughter travelled from Stevenage to Leeds to go back to uni. It was a strike day and the train was a few minutes late but otherwise it was a standard journey for her. She had her 4 year student railcard on her and a valid ticket bought through Trainline, her friend was with her. No one stopped her or ticketed / fined her on the train.

Fast forward to February of this year and her employer received a notice that they would be fined if they don’t start paying back a £510 fine. At this point we have no idea why she’s been fined at all as no prior letters had gone to any residence so this was the first she had known of this fine.

It took many weeks to find out it was in fact a rail fine and even longer to find out a date and time of the supposed offence. Since then she’s been told to fill out several forms but never gets any response, has visited the court in Leeds to try to get help and advice numerous times and she is getting absolutely nowhere.

I’ve tried lner, the railway ombudsman and transport focus and no one has been of any help apart from to say that she should be able to get the fine cancelled, but it never is. The court won’t let her see the duty solicitor and in trying to sort it out it is costing more and more time and money in travel, her study time etc. her friend with the same ticket on the train with her has had no fine.

We don’t know who to speak to to get help at this point. I try to remain open minded that maybe somehow she did something wrong but we can’t figure out what ( she didn’t sit in first class with a standard ticket for example) there was only one train that hour going to Leeds and she got on it. We’ve asked for photographic evidence but non has been produced.

At this point we don’t know where to turn and the fine is being paid off monthly.

Does anyone have any advice/ suggestions etc please? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this

Welcome!
Despite those organisations - who should know but don't seem to have been of help to you - I am pretty confident experts on here will be able to untangle this and tell you what options are available to you.

But more information (if you have it) will be needed

start off by answering as many questions as you can from this post :

Please read before posting in Disputes & Prosecutions

Guidance for those asking for advice: Please bear in mind the following, when asking for advice in this section: We need to know all relevant facts in order to assist you, including, for example: The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey The stations* where you changed...

www.railforums.co.uk

Then upload copies of any paperwork you have about this (with all personal details and ref numbers obscured) - get all the paperwork together so you can upload it clearly for people to see. Include replies from any of those organisations you mention that you have contacted about it, copies of any of the forms that you say have been submitted (what type of forms, who have they been sent to etc).

What it sounds like has happened (perhaps) is:

- your daughter has been taken to court for a ticketing offence (which she may or may not have actually committed) without her knowing it, then found guilty of a ticketing offence, charged by the court, fined, fine never paid, and the court, or court bailiffs, have got an attachment of earnings order for the payment of the fine concerned from her pay / income. Could this be correct?

- if this is the case (and a court found her guilty) I don't think the railway can undo that - I think it's a matter for the court process to undo, and there are some experts on here about court process who will know better than me.

- If so my hunch is that the likely course of action that needs to be taken is to do something called a Statutory Declaration (SD) - but doing this is a bit complex to get right (so don't just google that and do it without advice from here, or from a solicitor if you wish to pay their fees which of course will create a cost to you to try to get this resolved)

- When did your daughter find out about this (this is important to know because there is a time limit AIUI on doing an SD from the point you first know you have been prosecuted without knowing it - if that was as long ago as February 2025 when the employer was told to deduct pay that could be a problem now....

- have you found which court the prosecution was brought at (was that Leeds Magistrates court?)

- could someone who was stopped have given your daughters name and a false address and this has been the consequence (ie not an address where she would have received any post at nor might it have been returned to sender)? Quite a few letters from the railway and the court would have been sent out before it got to the point of an attachment of earnings order being submitted to her employer I would have thought.
This might of course be an explanation even if it does not resolve the immediate problem now.

Obviously this is important to resolve because if she has been prosecuted as well as having to pay a £510 sum our daughter will presumably have a criminal record for fare evasion against her name that she did not know about and this would presumably crop up on things like DBS checks etc - something you are probably well aware of.

 

[ademac]

Thank you for your response I am waiting for her to send me proof/ letters etc as they are at uni with her. I will post them when I can.

This is exactly right, it’s an attachment of earnings and that was the first point we knew anything whatsoever about this.

I assume that she had received no letters as she’s moved every uni year and the previous house said there had been some letters for her when she went there but they had now “lost” them so we could not read them or find out any more information. At this point we still didn’t know why she had received an attachment of earnings, other than it was a fine of some sort.

We eventually found out it was a rail fine, then found out it was for an invalid ticket which didn’t make sense to us as we pay for all her travel and she always seemed to buy her tickets priority to travel etc , then some weeks after that, after begging someone at court they told her the date and time.

By May this year we had at least some understanding of what she had purportedly done. I will try to clarify what forms she has filled out so far but she’s done them herself to the best of her ability as no one would advise at court and anyone we had reached out to at that point had not really helped.

I can only assume she’s been fined via Trainline. As I say it was a strike day and they’re pretty chaotic at the best of times. It’s a mess to be honest!

 

[WesternLancer]

OK just a few points

Thank you for your response I am waiting for her to send me proof/ letters etc as they are at uni with her. I will post them when I can.

You will need to get her to scan them carefully - removing her personal details

This is exactly right, it’s an attachment of earnings and that was the first point we knew anything whatsoever about this.

I assume that she had received no letters as she’s moved every uni year and the previous house said there had been some letters for her when she went there but they had now “lost” them so we could not read them or find out any more information.

Understand how this happens but it isn't great - because it means important post was sent but she had no system for getting it after she moved. But that's water under the bridge now.

At this point we still didn’t know why she had received an attachment of earnings, other than it was a fine of some sort.

We eventually found out it was a rail fine, then found out it was for an invalid ticket which didn’t make sense to us as we pay for all her travel and she always seemed to buy her tickets priority to travel etc , then some weeks after that, after begging someone at court they told her the date and time.

Can she recall being spoken to on the train by the guard or a ticket inspector - they would almost always tell you what was wrong with a ticket and take your name and address, possibly asking for ID to confirm it - can your daughter recall anything like that happening (ever in general or especially on the journey you mention)?

Is it possible someone impersonated her? Gave her name and address (someone she may well actually know like another student) - this does happen - the railway company usually take a description of the person they stopped which they won't share with you or her but by sending them a copy of your own photo ID it can help to ensure that they know it was not you that was the traveller.

By May this year we had at least some understanding of what she had purportedly done. I will try to clarify what forms she has filled out so far but she’s done them herself to the best of her ability as no one would advise at court and anyone we had reached out to at that point had not really helped.

I can only assume she’s been fined via Trainline. As I say it was a strike day and they’re pretty chaotic at the best of times.

No - Trainline is just a ticket retailer - they don't fine anybody for this sort of thing - she will have been fined by a court, after a prosecution was brought by a Railway company for travel without a valid ticket. That could have been LNER - who you mention if it does relate to this train trip (presumably on an LNER train) - do you have reason from what the court told you / your daughter that the case was brought to court by LNER?

Have you written to LNER prosecutions unit (not customer services) to ask if they brought this case to court by any chance?

It’s a mess to be honest!

I fear it is....

 

[ademac]

Sorry just to add it was at Leeds court and they’ve told her she has no county court judgement but that’s all we know

 

[Hadders]

Forum members will assist you in this matter but a couple things to be aware of:

- As things currently stand your daughter has been convicted of an offence. It’s possible to ‘reset the clock’ via what is known as a statutory declaration but you normally only get 21 days to do this once you become aware of the issue, so speed is of the essence when we ask for copies of documentation.

- We also need to know whether someone else has given your daughter’s details or whether she was stopped for some sort of ticket irregularity. It is very important that we understand exactly what happened.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==

Sorry just to add it was at Leeds court and they’ve told her she has no county court judgement but that’s all we know

Rail fares are dealt with under criminal law, not civil law so there won’t be a county court judgement.

 

[pedr]

How did you find out about the date and time of the alleged offence? Are you sure that this actually relates to a journey your daughter made?

Regardless of whether she’s guilty or not (and it sounds as if she isn’t, but has nevertheless been convicted) a person who doesn’t actually receive paperwork and become aware of criminal proceedings brought under the Single Justice Procedure or by a summons sent by post is entitled to have the case re-set so that they can engage with the process. You are supposed to make that request as soon as you are aware of the conviction, but magistrates can accept out of time requests if there is a good reason for the delay. If your daughter has been diligent in trying to figure this out and has been unable to find the right process despite corresponding with courts this may well be possibly despite the time that has elapsed since she learned of the conviction.

A statutory declaration can be made in front of a solicitor for a small fee then delivered to a court. It will need to explain, probably in some detail, why the declaration is late, so having a full timeline of every step that she’s taken to work out what’s going on, and what the responses were will be important. After that is done it should be possible to discuss the case with the prosecuting train company in ways they can’t engage with until that’s been done. On the face of the information so far it sees more likely that someone has given her name and details falsely, but if it relates to a journey she was actually on that might be more complicated to prove.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Let me be bad cop for a moment: it's critically important to make sure that your daughter is telling the truth. As you'll have seen from the above, there are ways to unwind things like this (although too much time may have passed to use them) but these involve direct involvement with the courts. And the courts will not take it at all well if they are asked to make a decision which is not based on the truth.

I am sure that you have no reason to disbelieve what your daughter is telling you - but it's important for everyone to understand that to attempt to get this overturned involves authorities which will be far less loving and forgiving than a parent.

 

[WesternLancer]

Sorry just to add it was at Leeds court and they’ve told her she has no county court judgement but that’s all we know

I think it would be worth you sharing this thread with your daughter and her registering on the forum so she can answer questions direct if needed.

She needs to appreciate that time is now of the essence and it’s vital she progresses things promptly and efficiently. Over the next few days there are probably very few other priorities she could have than attending to this.

She’s not paying a civil court debt here. Rail fare ticket irregularities are criminal offences so she’s been found guilty of a criminal offence and paying a fine for this as well as having got a criminal record. Obviously I appreciate this may not be for anything she’s actually done but unfortunately that is the position she’s now in that needs tackling.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==

Let me be bad cop for a moment: it's critically important to make sure that your daughter is telling the truth. As you'll have seen from the above, there are ways to unwind things like this (although too much time may have passed to use them) but these involve direct involvement with the courts. And the courts will not take it at all well if they are asked to make a decision which is not based on the truth.

I am sure that you have no reason to disbelieve what your daughter is telling you - but it's important for everyone to understand that to attempt to get this overturned involves authorities which will be far less loving and forgiving than a parent.

Thus is also important.

Even a minor ticket problem can potentially escalate to court if letters are not received and responded to. The railway company will have lots of cases where someone’buries their head in the sand’ and does not reply and they just get escalated. There is no way the railway company can differentiate your daughter from those sorts of cases unfortunately.

Like I mentioned ask her if she has any recollection at all if being asked anything about her ticket on that or any other train trip.

 

[ademac]

Thank you for the responses, all very valid points and yes it does occur to me she was stopped on the train all those months prior and either doesn’t want to fess up or didn’t realise the significance. We’ve had so very little information to go on. I’ve asked her to put together some information and hopefully join this thread. Thank you all and have a lovely evening

 

[GadgetMan]

Thank you for the responses, all very valid points and yes it does occur to me she was stopped on the train all those months prior and either doesn’t want to fess up or didn’t realise the significance. We’ve had so very little information to go on. I’ve asked her to put together some information and hopefully join this thread. Thank you all and have a lovely evening

Did your daughter purchase the ticket for her friend? If so, could it be the friend that had the issue (eg. No railcard) but because it was bought on your daughter's ticketing account she's been dragged into it?

 

[ademac]

Forum members will assist you in this matter but a couple things to be aware of:

- As things currently stand your daughter has been convicted of an offence. It’s possible to ‘reset the clock’ via what is known as a statutory declaration but you normally only get 21 days to do this once you become aware of the issue, so speed is of the essence when we ask for copies of documentation.

- We also need to know whether someone else has given your daughter’s details or whether she was stopped for some sort of ticket irregularity. It is very important that we understand exactly what happened.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Dec 2025 ==


Rail fares are dealt with under criminal law, not civil law so there won’t be a county court judgement.

Thank you I’m still waiting for the paperwork the little that she has. 21 days after the statement of earnings letter (the first we knew of this) we still didn’t know what this fine was for and it was longer than that before we knew date and time which I think she was told over the phone.

 

[KirkstallOne]

It took many weeks to find out it was in fact a rail fine and even longer to find out a date and time of the supposed offence. Since then she’s been told to fill out several forms but never gets any response, has visited the court in Leeds to try to get help and advice numerous times and she is getting absolutely nowhere.

I’ve tried lner, the railway ombudsman and transport focus and no one has been of any help apart from to say that she should be able to get the fine cancelled, but it never is. The court won’t let her see the duty solicitor and in trying to sort it out it is costing more and more time and money in travel, her study time etc. her friend with the same ticket on the train with her has had no fine.

I am a little confused who has told you to fill out forms and who has given you information on the date and time of the offence.

What you really need to see is the prosecution paperwork, likely a single justice procedure notice. The magistrate’s court should be able to (in fact must) supply a copy of these to your daughter so try the enquiries line first off.

Separate to that obtain any other letters she has been sent and the fully story about the incident. As others have said if she was unaware she was being prosecuted she can get it set aside (and then hopefully negotiate with the train company), but the clock is ticking.

 

[WesternLancer]

I am a little confused who has told you to fill out forms and who has given you information on the date and time of the offence.

What you really need to see is the prosecution paperwork, likely a single justice procedure notice. The magistrate’s court should be able to (in fact must) supply a copy of these to your daughter so try the enquiries line first off.

Separate to that obtain any other letters she has been sent and the fully story about the incident. As others have said if she was unaware she was being prosecuted she can get it set aside (and then hopefully negotiate with the train company), but the clock is ticking.

Further to this (but not instead) and assuming it was LNER that brought the case to court, a short focussed and polite formal letter or email to LNER revenue protection team to ask what the alleged offence was might get some valuable background information that would help obtain info the OP hasn’t ever had but needs to know. Especially if they have no idea that they ever did anything wrong. Or may have been impersonated.

Does anyone here know LNER’s revenue protection office contact details?

I wonder if the op’s daughter has not been making formal written enquiries but trying to speak to people in person or via contact numbers all of which is never imho the best way to progress things and ends up wasting time because you can never get to speak to people who can properly tell you what’s going on or why.

 

[KirkstallOne]

Further to this (but not instead) and assuming it was LNER that brought the case to court, a short focussed and polite formal letter or email to LNER revenue protection team to ask what the alleged offence was might get some valuable background information that would help obtain info the OP hasn’t ever had but needs to know. Especially if they have no idea that they ever did anything wrong. Or may have been impersonated.

Does anyone here know LNER’s revenue protection office contact details?

I wonder if the op’s daughter has not been making formal written enquiries but trying to speak to people in person or via contact numbers all of which is never imho the best way to progress things and ends up wasting time because you can never get to speak to people who can properly tell you what’s going on or why.

Yes indeed, as the presumed original prosecutor they should have a copy of the same paperwork but you need to be clear what you are asking for - a copy of the original Single Justice Procedure Notice. That will have a detailed description of the allegation and likely a witness statement.

 

[Hadders]

Thank you I’m still waiting for the paperwork the little that she has. 21 days after the statement of earnings letter (the first we knew of this) we still didn’t know what this fine was for and it was longer than that before we knew date and time which I think she was told over the phone.

I know this has already been alluded to but your daughter needs to understand that this is very urgent. Dealing with it is not something that can wait. She must stop doing everything else and concentrate fully on this.

It is not something that can wait until tomorrow, next week or next month. She has a criminal conviction, it can probably be sorted with help from forum members but it's going to need a serious amount of lifting snd shifting by her.

 

[Haywain]

Further to this (but not instead) and assuming it was LNER that brought the case to court, a short focussed and polite formal letter or email to LNER revenue protection team to ask what the alleged offence was might get some valuable background information that would help obtain info the OP hasn’t ever had but needs to know. Especially if they have no idea that they ever did anything wrong. Or may have been impersonated.

Does anyone here know LNER’s revenue protection office contact details?

I don't see any point in doing this at this stage. If it was not the OP's daughter who was stopped it is unlikely to have any connection with the LNER journey she made. And if no correspondence has been received it is likely that an address was given that the daughter won't know. The railway companies are not going to release information about a person they cannot identify as the person asking questions - that's simple GDPR.

 

[WesternLancer]

I don't see any point in doing this at this stage. If it was not the OP's daughter who was stopped it is unlikely to have any connection with the LNER journey she made. And if no correspondence has been received it is likely that an address was given that the daughter won't know.

Up thread the op mentions post for the daughter at an old address that the current occupants can no longer find.

The railway companies are not going to release information about a person they cannot identify as the person asking questions - that's simple GDPR.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I think that the advice we need to give is that if the OP's daughter wants to fight this, they need a solicitor.

That's because I think we're out of our depth: the problem is more to do with how the criminal justice system works than with the underlying railway offence, and although we have helped people with in time Statutory Declaration applications, this one isn't in time.

Of course, employing a solicitor isn't cheap (although the daughter's students union might be able to refer for free/reduced price). So the OP's daughter may want to consider whether it's worth pursuing. Obviously there's currently £510 to pay, but there's also a criminal conviction. That needn't be a problem for many people, but for some regulated professions (I think particularly medicine, law, accountancy and finance) a conviction can be a total bar.

So paying up and walking away may be the best answer. But if clearing her name is objectively important, paying for a solicitor may be the way to go.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I am a little confused who has told you to fill out forms and who has given you information on the date and time of the offence.

Probably the Court fines office, who are able to see what the conviction was for and brief particulars of the offence. The forms they are referring to will, I presume, be a statutory declaration to the Court that the OP’s daughter was unaware of the prosecution and applying to have the conviction set aside on that basis.

 

[island]

Probably the Court fines office, who are able to see what the conviction was for and brief particulars of the offence. The forms they are referring to will, I presume, be a statutory declaration to the Court that the OP’s daughter was unaware of the prosecution and applying to have the conviction set aside on that basis.

I agree. But the main issue here is that the passenger has (apparently) dithered for the best part of ten months since finding out about her conviction, and a statutory declaration really needs to be made within 21 days of finding out. A court has discretion to accept a declaration late, but ten months late is stretching it quite far.

The OP also needs to declare to any insurance providers etc. that she has a criminal conviction, as failure to do so may invalidate her insurance. It's not clear if the £510 has been paid, but if it hasn't, continued non-payment could result in the attendance of bailiffs at her address, her car (if she has one) being clamped, or even her arrest.

 

[KirkstallOne]

dithered for the best part of ten months

Oh I missed the Feb 25 date I thought this had all been happening over the last few weeks.

Yes seems we are well beyond any interpretation of 21 days after first finding out.

 

[Tetchytyke]

But the main issue here is that the passenger has (apparently) dithered for the best part of ten months since finding out about her conviction, and a statutory declaration really needs to be made within 21 days of finding out.

Absolutely. I would agree that the daughter has very likely missed her window of opportunity to resolve the matter. But as Court staff can’t really give advice they’ll likely have just explained the procedure.

I notice the OP referred to their employer receiving a letter. This will likely have been an Attachment of Earnings Order. At least bailiff fees aren’t added to an Attachment of Earnings Order. It’s unclear whether the fine is being repaid through this Order, but the OP did refer to the fines being repaid monthly which would certainly tie in with an Attachment of Earnings Order.

Truthfully I don’t think the daughter can do anything about it now, she’s buried her head in the sand for far too long.

 

[ademac]

This is the attachment of earnings order. The date we’ve been given for the invalid ticket offence was 20th April for getting on a train to Leeds at 13.36 and she had a ticket for the 13.28 which came in late at 13.36 so I’ve posted a screenshot of her Trainline ticket and the strike timetable for that day. Sorry my dates were a little out . I hope I’ve scored out any personal information! I’m not the most tech savvy and definitely not law savvy!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2025 ==

Absolutely. I would agree that the daughter has very likely missed her window of opportunity to resolve the matter. But as Court staff can’t really give advice they’ll likely have just explained the procedure.

I notice the OP referred to their employer receiving a letter. This will likely have been an Attachment of Earnings Order. At least bailiff fees aren’t added to an Attachment of Earnings Order. It’s unclear whether the fine is being repaid through this Order, but the OP did refer to the fines being repaid monthly which would certainly tie in with an Attachment of Earnings Order.

Truthfully I don’t think the daughter can do anything about it now, she’s buried her head in the sand for far too long.

I understand what you’re saying but no matter how many visits to the courts etc she’s just given numbers to ring and is then told to fill out forms and, which she does, they are never responded to.

We do did not know for many weeks after, well after 21 days what this fine was even about. Tbh I expected it to be some sort of car parking fine and we were surprised by it being a rail fine.

Like I’ve also said we’ve never had access to any of the letters prior to the attachment of earnings letter so we are very blind as to what is going on. The next tenants have destroyed or lost all of the letters. But she has dithered at times for sure and has also been told there’s backlogs you don’t hear immediately back when she fills the forms in. So she waits hoping to hear something.

 

[saismee]

I hope I’ve scored out any personal information!

As you've used a highlighter tool, the information is still faintly visible. May want to remove those images and re-redact them.

 

[WesternLancer]

This is the attachment of earnings order. The date we’ve been given for the invalid ticket offence was 20th April for getting on a train to Leeds at 13.36 and she had a ticket for the 13.28 which came in late at 13.36 so I’ve posted a screenshot of her Trainline ticket and the strike timetable for that day. Sorry my dates were a little out . I hope I’ve scored out any personal information! I’m not the most tech savvy and definitely not law savvy!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2025 ==


I understand what you’re saying but no matter how many visits to the courts etc she’s just given numbers to ring and is then told to fill out forms and, which she does, they are never responded to.

We do did not know for many weeks after, well after 21 days what this fine was even about. Tbh I expected it to be some sort of car parking fine and we were surprised by it being a rail fine.

Like I’ve also said we’ve never had access to any of the letters prior to the attachment of earnings letter so we are very blind as to what is going on. The next tenants have destroyed or lost all of the letters. But she has dithered at times for sure and has also been told there’s backlogs you don’t hear immediately back when she fills the forms in. So she waits hoping to hear something.

Hi - it's possible to view the NI number, payroll number and employer on that attachment of earnings order as the obscuring has not covered it up properly - I suggest you take it down (or ask mods to take it down for you) and get the top of the doc covered over with a bit of paper to obscure all those things and a new photo taken
But it may not be vital as it doesn't tell us much more than this is definitely an attachment of earnings order from a court (ie does not say who bought the prosecution)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2025 ==


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The date we’ve been given for the invalid ticket offence was 20th April for getting on a train to Leeds at 13.36 and she had a ticket for the 13.28 which came in late at 13.36

So she travelled on 20 April 2024 on the 13.28 train from Stevenage going to York and changed for Leeds (probably at Doncaster). It doesn't matter that the train was running a bit late - that would not have invalidated her ticket

so I’ve posted a screenshot of her Trainline ticket

So this might be pertinent - because what you have uploaded is not a ticket - it's a receipt (which is not valid for travel) so if she showed that to the guard on the train and could not show the actual ticket for whatever reason, that would be grounds for her to be reported for a ticket violation - but I can not think for one moment that this would have happened without some sort of discussion with the Guard / ticket inspector about that - eg being asked for the actual ticket not the receipt (I do accept that after all this time she may only have the receipt to share here and not the ticket any more however)
But is you daughter 100% clear that no such conversation happened?

and the strike timetable for that day. Sorry my dates were a little out . I hope I’ve scored out any personal information! I’m not the most tech savvy and definitely not law savvy!

I understand what you’re saying but no matter how many visits to the courts etc she’s just given numbers to ring and is then told to fill out forms and, which she does, they are never responded to.

It would be really helpful to know what these forms are. After she has filled them in does she take a copy (eg a picture of the form she has completed)? or if it is on line a screen grab - she must know at some point what she is filling in. Can you get more info on that or ask her to join the forum

We do did not know for many weeks after, well after 21 days what this fine was even about. Tbh I expected it to be some sort of car parking fine and we were surprised by it being a rail fine.

As mentioned up thread by @pedr there may be a process for out of time Statutory Declaration (SD) requests to be considered

Like I’ve also said we’ve never had access to any of the letters prior to the attachment of earnings letter so we are very blind as to what is going on. The next tenants have destroyed or lost all of the letters. But she has dithered at times for sure and has also been told there’s backlogs you don’t hear immediately back when she fills the forms in. So she waits hoping to hear something.

So how does she know the Attachment of Earnings Order relates to a case from LNER - is that what the court have told her verbally when she has been to Leeds Magistrates court?

as per post #13 from @KirkstallOne it seems she is entitled to a copy of the prosecution paperwork - she should do that (but she should not delay doing the SD application process whilst waiting for that now in my view)

 

[chrisjo]

The date we’ve been given for the invalid ticket offence was 20th April for getting on a train to Leeds at 13.36 and she had a ticket for the 13.28 which came in late at 13.36 so I’ve posted a screenshot of her Trainline ticket

This would appear to make the possibility of any impersonation extremely unlikely.

 

[ademac]

This is the attachment of earnings order. The date we’ve been given for the invalid ticket offence was 20th April for getting on a train to Leeds at 13.36 and she had a ticket for the 13.28 which came in late at 13.36 so I’ve posted a screenshot of her Trainline ticket and the strike timetable for that day. Sorry my dates were a little out . I hope I’ve scored out any personal information! I’m not the most tech savvy and definitely not law savvy!

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I understand what you’re saying but no matter how many visits to the courts etc she’s just given numbers to ring and is then told to fill out forms and, which she does, they are never responded to.

We do did not know for many weeks after, well after 21 days what this fine was even about. Tbh I expected it to be some sort of car parking fine and we were surprised by it being a rail fine.

Like I’ve also said we’ve never had access to any of the letters prior to the attachment of earnings letter so we are very blind as to what is going on. The next tenants have destroyed or lost all of the letters. But she has dithered at times for sure and has also been told there’s backlogs you don’t hear immediately back when she fills the forms in. So she waits hoping to hear something.

I agree. But the main issue here is that the passenger has (apparently) dithered for the best part of ten months since finding out about her conviction, and a statutory declaration really needs to be made within 21 days of finding out. A court has discretion to accept a declaration late, but ten months late is stretching it quite far.

The OP also needs to declare to any insurance providers etc. that she has a criminal conviction, as failure to do so may invalidate her insurance. It's not clear if the £510 has been paid, but if it hasn't, continued non-payment could result in the attendance of bailiffs at her address, her car (if she has one) being clamped, or even her arrest.

The fine is in the process of being paid off.

 

[Haywain]

I suggest you take it down (or ask mods to take it down for you)

I have reported this to the mods.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Dec 2025 ==

I think that the advice we need to give is that if the OP's daughter wants to fight this, they need a solicitor.

I don't think that is necessary, and it would probably cost more than the fine.

 

[Starmill]

If this thread had been posted in February there may have been many things we may have been able to usefully suggest. At this stage however, in December, it doesn't seem at all likely that clearing the conviction will be possible.