Help - Son issued with court summons for non payment of train fare - wrong person and wrong address

This is equivalent for being arrested for a crime you didn't commit. You need to prove innocence, not ignore it. They messed up the summons, do you want them to mess up the conviction too?? Because make no mistake it will go on your sons record @Jesuswasacapricorn

Everyone appears to be missing the point, this is a CRIMINAL court, not a civil one. He will get a criminal record and he needs to deal with it, whether it's been sent incorrectly or not. There won't be a CCJ or bailiffs, it will be a criminal record.

I think you’re missing the point. If he has a piece of paper, he has to do something about it. If he doesn’t, they might be bailiffs arriving at his house or work still, police. More likely bailiffs.

If the OP does nothing, there should be no consequences to her son as the summons is NOT for her son.

There will be consequences for the person who the summons is for. But if the person did not get the summons, then it seems unfair for them to have consequences if they did not get the summons.

Exactly this. He just needs to let them know they haven't served the summons properly on the person named in it.

Responding to the summons doesn’t mean attending court or offering a plea. A summons has been received at their address, albeit via GWR letter, and the court case will go ahead. As the OP doesn’t want to leave it in the hands of GWR or ignore it, the only other option is to respond to the summons which is as simple as a letter from her son explaining the errors and that he wasn’t on the train.
If he does nothing any fines incurred due to a lack of response could be attributed to the OPs address which from what information we have is a possibility, continue to ignore and that can cause bigger issues than the inconvenience of writing a letter in response to what has been received. Once the court is aware, (because they don’t know what they aren’t told), the magistrate should ask GWR or whoever is bringing the prosecution to check their records or alternatively they will withdraw the case there and then.

He does need to challenge the summons and give anyone evidence that he wasn't there - they know who it is, the correct person is on the summons.

All he needs to do is get them to understand they've sent the letter to a name and address that is not the one on the summons. Just the same as if the letter said Florence Nightingale and the summons said Joe Bloggs.

Adding in evidence of where he was and whatnot is just confusing the issue - which is they've posted the summons to the wrong address.

He can't respond to the summons as it's not addressed to him. It's someone else with the same name but a different address and different date of birth.

Listen, this happens quite often. I once saw a bloke summonsed, in the description from the ticket officer guy that he was black with an Afro, the defendant was Spindley and white. Go to the court, see the prosecutor who works for the train service show them the evidence and they’ll wave you goodbye.

He can't engage with the summons because it is not him who is being summonsed. If he does engage with it, that will be him a accepting that the service is valid and he is the summonsed person, even if he (the summonsed person) considers that he has a defence.

If you read what I said properly I said he should engage with challenging the incorrect service. That is discretely different and would be the correct thing to do.

I am absolutely not advising he should ignore it altogether and "waste the court's time".

I'm legally qualified ... are you?

Its not his summons thats why

There is a lot of misinformation on this thread

Someone's summons has simply been sent to the wrong address is all.

He hasn't been summoned.

Your son should not respond to the summons itself as that would be engaging with the process.

If there are any costs as a result of refusing to engage, then you could be liable for them. Courts take a dim view of people who waste their time. Especially if they are doing it to "make a point".

Fixed penalty notices are issued on the basis of already being guilty until proven innocent. Ridiculously the onus is on the recipient to appeal or prove they are not the person owing the money.

The strange bit about this story is that you normally get sent a letter offering you a deal with you know a few quid extra fine on top of it, before it gets to a summons.

Do you think that your son might have ignored these? hence it’s got straight to a court date?

From what I remember, they offer you like “pay the train fare plus a penalty fine of 50 quid “and then they send you a notice of the intended prosecution then they send you the summons.

Check your home insurance for the free legal helpline that almost all include. Mine is 24/7 and was a lifesaver. You'll get to speak to an actual lawyer who will tell you/your son exactly what to do.

It sounds like the court documents are addressed to the correct person (or at least the details he gave which may be fake). This is good. But the covering correspondence has been sent to your son by GWR. I'm a solicitor and we refer to this as invalid service as it's been sent to the wrong address.

I suspect what has happened (from other posters comments) is that the perpetrator Joe Bloggs has not responded to GWR initial correspondence about the fine so they have sent copies of the summons to other possible addresses they have managed to identify in case he has moved.

Your plan to write to GWR and the Court returning the summons or copies (keep a copy yourself as a paper trail) and explain this is has been incorrectly served on the wrong person/address as the person at your address is not the person/address on the summons (explain other differences such as different date of birth, with copy ID) and any evidence that he was elsewhere on the day (record of exam, screenshot of Google map timeline). That last bit isn't strictly necessary as invalid service is really all you need to rely on but it definitely won't hurt. State clearly that since your son is not the person in the summons he will not be attending and that you would appreciate confirmation from the court in this regard. In each letter clearly state that you have sent this correspondence to both GWR and the Court.

Phone the court after a week and repeat as necessary asking them to confirm they have received the correspondence and noted that the incorrect service.

Your son should not respond to the summons itself as that would be engaging with the process.

I’ve had loads of experience of this. You must turn up in court and explain to the person before actually goes into the court, the mixup are normally they wipe it. This is not unusual.

How will it lead to a criminal conviction for OPs son, when the summons isnt to OPs son?

But he hasn't had a summons. He has been posted someone else's summons.

If your son has had a summons then he needs to respond to the court, within the time specified.

It's not him. He can show a bill or passport or something to prove it?
He's nothing to worry about surely. If such a person doesn't a really exist, that's the debt collectors problem, not his.

You don’t need to pay.

You need to get on with challenging this BEFORE court....

Its not his credit rating you should be bothered about, this could lead to a criminal conviction if he does nothing.