Woman told to pay £150 fine over missing train ticket – but she never made trip

A woman was ordered to pay an £150 fine for getting on a train without a ticket – but she didn't actually make the journey.

Chalanta Davies, from Upton in Merseyside, was inundated with multiple letters and emails.

Merseyrail alleged that the 19-year-old customer assistant travelled from from Birkenhead Park to Liverpool Lime Street on Saturday, December 5, 2020 without paying her fare.

An officer took a picture of her provisional licence after a penalty notice was issued, the Liverpool Echo reports.

However, Chalanta lost her licence as she travelled on a bus back from Liverpool.

Someone then took it before getting on the train and handing it to the rail worker.

Chalanta was initially told she needed to pay a £20 fine, and the amount has since increased.

She said: “They still wanted me to pay the fine even though I asked them for CCTV as evidence it was me, but they said they had deleted the footage which is quite weird so I said to them you’ve got no evidence it was me so I’m obviously not going to pay the fine because it wasn’t me.”

After complaining to Merseyrail, Chalanta received an enforcement email telling her she still had to pay the fine.

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It read: “Please be advised that the officer took a picture of your driving licence, showing your name and address which you handed over whilst you utilised the toilet after disembarking from Liverpool Lime Street lift area. The penalty will stand.”

Things escalated further when Chalanta received a letter asking her to either plead guilty or not guilty.

She added: “I put it all over Facebook and I think it’s got back to the court or Merseyrail and they said they’re not going to go ahead with it anymore.

“This person who has my ID, they haven’t paid the train ticket and they’ve been caught out and whoever has caught them has asked to see their ID and they’ve obviously showed them my one that I’ve lost.

“They’ve been pretending to be me and using my identity so the fine went to my address.

“They put in the court letter that I had black hair but I haven’t, I’ve got brown hair so that’s a bit of an odd one.

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“It’s just so annoying that the officer hasn’t looked at the person and ID properly.”

Suzanne Grant, Commercial Director at Merseyrail, said: "Ensuring that those travelling on the Merseyrail network pay the correct fare or hold the correct travel pass is something that is important to our passengers and we implement a penalty fare scheme to make sure this is the case.

"Following a review of this incident the fine has been withdrawn.”

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