Hannah King, a journalism student from Leeds, was travelling with Northern Rail from Salford to Manchester Piccadilly after visiting a friend when her phone, which had the e-ticket, ran out of battery.

Hannah’s friend bought her a new ticket but forgot to remove her railcard from the purchase.

Northern Rail staff stopped her, took her details and informed her she would receive a letter for not having a railcard.

She bought a £3.20 ticket at the discounted price of £2.15, but has now been slapped with a fine, bringing the outlay to £103.20 thanks to being issued with a £100 penalty.

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Hannah said: “I received a letter in the post and sent them an email the cost is totally disproportionate to the amount of the ticket – I got a £100 fine for a £3 ticket, I was fuming.

“£100 is a week’s worth of rent for a student like me, it’s insane. I’m a student and I travel regularly with Northern – every time I buy a ticket – I would say I’m a loyal customer and I expected to be treated a little better and valued.

“I sent a huge email explaining my situation to which I got a two sentence reply, saying ‘a fine will be on its way shortly’. I feel like they haven’t really listened to what I said.”

Shortly after, Hannah received the fine of £100 for not having a railcard in the post, along with the original ticket cost of £3.20 before the railcard discount. She has considered appealing the fine but doubts it will be successful.

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