Northern Trains summon man to court after he "accidentally forgot" to pay £2.63 for train ticket

Northern Trains is taking a passenger to court after he “accidentally forgot" to pay £2.63.

Olivia Utley, a GB News correspondent, shared on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that her husband is being summoned to court by the train company after he failed to pay the full amount for his ticket on 27 June. 

Ms Utley attached a picture of the letter sent by Lancashire Magistrates Court summoning her husband.

She said: “Excuse me ⁦@TrainsNorthern⁩ are you genuinely taking my husband to COURT over £2.63 he accidentally forgot to pay?! The paper and stamp you’ve used on this letter is worth more than his debt. Please explain to me how this is a good use of anyone’s time.”

In follow-up posts, on Wednesday 8 November, she explained that her husband had forgotten that his 26-30 railcard had expired the previous month and had bought a discounted ticket from Grange over Sands to Lancaster. She said the full price of the fare was £7.90 but he had paid £5.27 at the discounted price.

She said: “When the ticket inspector pointed out his error he bought a digital railcard on the spot and offered to pay the difference between the two fares. The inspector said no, demanded his address and said he’d be required to provide a written explanation. This was in June, he never received a request for explanation, forgot about it… and has now he’s been summoned.”

Northern Railways official account on X responded to Ms Utley. The firm said: “Hi Olivia, I am sorry to hear about this. Travel without a valid ticket will make any passenger on our service liable to Penalty fares. You are entitled to appeal this”.

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