Mother divides opinion over son's £1,200 fine for expired railcard (2024)

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A mother has divided social media after she revealed that her son has been charged £1,200 for wrongly using his expired £30 railcard for a year.

The mother posted her story to the Redditpage r/LegalAdviceUK on Wednesday claiming that her 19-year-old son has been using the train to travel back and fourth from university.

She said he was recently informed by an inspector that his rail card is invalid and was asked to provide his name and home address.

They then received a letter asking for more details, which they sent over, before a second letter arrived that said 'due to the number of journeys made between January to now that were without a valid railcard, the fee is around £1200'.

She added: 'Unfortunately he never thought to check if it was valid this whole time, he was under the impression he paid the three year railcard however it was just the one year one.'

The distraught mother asked for 'any advice or thoughts' as her husband thinks they should not pay the fee and should instead 'contact them back stating he shouldn’t be responsible for the previous journeys as it was on the ticket inspectors responsibility to ensure that his tickets were valid'.

The father maintains that had his son been told it was invalid the first time he tried to use it then he would have renewed it back in January and only had the fine for one ticket to pay and that every time since then it was due to the failure of the inspectors to check. He believes that they should only have to pay for this one incident that was caught.

However, the mother is worried that her son could end up with a criminal record if they refuse to pay it and end up in court.

A National Rail 16-25 railcard valid for one year costs £30 and, according to the website, can save users an 'average of £192'. It can be used on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, the Elizabeth Line and National Rail services.

They also offer a three year option which costs £70 and saves the user £20 on the price of three one-year railcards.

They can be renewed easily online 30 days before expiry without needing to verify your ID again. The website states that if the user gave their email address when first purchasing the card they will receive an email to remind them when it is about to expire.

'But it’s still on you to make sure that your Railcard is still valid before buying or using Railcard-discounted tickets.', the website adds.

The original post was uploaded to X, formerly Twitter, by user @jackfifield who directly addressed theSecretary of State for Transport and said: 'This s**t is so disgusting I cant take it. @LouHaigpeople should not be severely punished for innocent mistakes. This needs addressing now.'

He added: 'A Railcard is £30. £1200 is not proportionate.'

But not everyone agreed, with one writing: 'So a guy travelled for a year on an invalid railcard and then when he is punished for it cries victim? Sorry this is c**p. I've been travelling on trains for nearly 60 years. Always with a valid railcard or ticket. You don't pay you get punished. Simple as. Take it on the chin.'

Another said: 'It's not just once though is it; repeated use of the railcard over a year. It's steep - but it's a repeated incident and he didn't even check once?!'

Someone else added: 'The lengths people will go to to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility is insane.'

However, others agreed that it was an unfair punishment, with one replying: 'This is barely even a "crime" and extremely disproportionate. Shame on those excusing this.'

Another sided with the father, writing: 'It should be on the rail service to have realised the first time. One time fine for the most recent travel instance would have been sufficient in my opinion, it seems like a genuine mistake and the kid is obviously gonna be renewing it. Bit extreme.'