Some horrible teenager has given my address to get out of paying for a train ticket

[Al991]

A have got a letter from the train company telling me that my son, whom I’ve never heard of, tried to dodge a ticket and now I need to pay for it. I want to ring them and tell them what’s happened but partner says we shouldn’t engage and should just write return to sender not at this address on the letter. Says if we appeal the fine that’s sort of like saying it’s our fine.

What would be the least ridiculous way to deal with this stupid situation 🙄

The time to write 'return to sender, not at this address' is before you open the envelope! I would call them and sort it out.

I would ring them. Say you opened the letter as it was addressed to you but you don’t have a son so clearly someone has given a false address. Much easier to just have a quick chat.

I agree with your husband, not your issue as it's nothing to do with anyone at your address. Someone more knowledgeable on train fines might disagree though.

Why would the lettter have come to you though? If its addressed to some non- existent person, I agree with DH, "Not known at this address" is the answer. If its addressed to you, then respond with the facts, not appealing it, tell them its not factual.

You definitely need to phone them up and sort it out.

Have they addressed it to you, i.e. the person who gave your address knows who you are? And is it an actual fine or a threatening letter saying "pay up or else we'll take legal action"? If it's a threatening letter just write back telling them the truth, that you've no idea who the person is. They have to prove otherwise.

Was it addressed to you by name, or to your fictional son?

If you don't know them how did they know your name and address?

We had the same thing happen to us. A lad gave our address, his name was on the letter we received, unluckily for him his brother was a mate of DS so we were able to call and tell them the correct address.

First question who is it actually addressed to? Writing return to sender is kind of a Burying your head in the sand response and they'll probably just keep writing then pass it to debt collection so it's much easier to just call them and tell them.

I had the same thing a couple of years ago.

The letter was addressed to a random name, my house number but not quite the street name, my town, completely random postcode.

I just called them and they sorted it over the phone in about 2 minutes.

Call them and explain. I imagine it's not the first time they've experienced this.

It's probably in the name the person gave with OPs address.

I had this except it was in my child's name and was sent to my old address. The person at my old address knew where I had moved to so put it through my door. It wasn't possible for my child to have been on this train as it was shortly after I had dropped them off at school and been marked present. Even if they'd have walked out of school and got in a car immediately after being marked present they couldn't have physically got to the place where they were accused of being without a train ticket. I just emailed the train company (think it was South Western) and explained all this, they replied and basically said sorry, forget about it. And I've not heard anything since.

Just call them, they won’t beleive the old return ro sender thing, explain someone has given a false name and address. They can easily check it as no such person exists.

Write in clear capital letters:

NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS. PLEASE AMEND YOUR RECORDS.

I had three years of bills for unpaid parking fines incurred by the daughter of the person I bought my house from. Relentless & annoying. And this is what I wrote on every letter, in very clear upper case.

Someone else will know how to do this, but there is a way you can make sure that your address is disconnected from any bills or fines or the like, for which you're not responsible.

I had one of these at my house of someone that didnt live there. The debt collection company just asked for proof of tenancy and that was it never heard from again

They will have ways to then check if said person even exists etc

I had something similar at a flat I rented years ago - endless phone calls for a Mr Morgan, clearly debt collectors and they wouldn’t believe me that he didn’t live there so we ended up unplugging the landline in the end. So annoying

I presume that the letter is for a different last name and the train company serves your area? Then it's likely that the person lives or lived near you and shares the same post code but has given your house number because an address check is done when the penalty notice is issued so he would have passed the address check where the road name and post code match. Regardless it is not your problem.
Call the number on the letter and explain that you are the resident and that you've never heard of the person on the letter and give them your name so that they can cross reference the databases that they use. That should clear it up straightaway and you'll hear no more. You could RTS the letter but this relies on Royal Mail returning the letter back to the sender and this may take months and the letters will keep coming until a court summons arrives. It will be quicker to phone the train company as it's a common misconception that RTS will put an end to these letters.
Hope this helps.

The problem with dealing with all this by phone as people keep suggesting is that there will be no record. Either write to explain the situation or follow up a phone call with a letter explaining.

I would write to them and state very clearly that no-one of that name resides at this address and, furthermore, you do not have a son. You can only assume they have been mislead by their fare-dodger.

Send it Signed For and keep a copy of the signature on the Track and Trace website.

I had this once but I think it was my old next door neighbour as they did have my correct name AND address, including post code. I wrote back to them explaining I was at work at the time which could be proved if needed, and a description of myself and told them to look into it further, but I never heard from them again! I’m not sure if they had a description of the person who they caught on the letter that made me think it was her, or just that I couldn’t imagine anyone else would know my postcode. She was a neighbour who had been evicted and was always causing trouble so maybe I just assumed. Anyway, it wasn’t you so you don’t need to pay it! They must get this all the time.

I would send an email then you have written evidence - I doubt they’ll pursue it further once you’ve done that.

Deal with it by phone so you know it's been done; follow up by letter so you have a record including a name or reference number you get during the phone call. If you don't reply you risk it snowballing.

Is it genuine? It sounds scammy to me