Overseas relative received CDN Enforcement letter with wrong details - what to do next? (England)

Hi all,

Just a quick check of “what should I do next”. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

An overseas relative visited Newcastle in March. She used the metro, but lost their ticket on the trip. At their destination, she explained the situation to a metro employee and offered to pay the fare again. He said that she could not do this, and instead that she must give him her details, and a fine would be issued. She gave him her details and my address.

Fast forward to today. I found a letter in the post area of my block of flats addressed to “Mr (relatives name)” and “flat 20”. My relative is a Mrs and I live at flat 1. It is a CDN Enforcement letter, stating that she has “failed to make payment as directed” and that she owes £274 payable within the next few days.

It is clear that the employee took down her details incorrectly: wrong title / gender and wrong address. I infer that previous details of the fine have been sent to my neighbour, so we have not received them, and things have escalated.

What should we do next?

I was intending to write to the fines officer and explain the situation. The letter states that we can appeal the decision to enforce the fine, but not the actual conviction. Which is annoying. We are prepared to pay the fine, but in an ideal world, we would like to fight the conviction - as my relative would have paid the fine if it had been issued correctly.

My relative is moving to the UK in about a month’s time permanently. Will this be on her “record” as a formal conviction? Can we do anything to overturn this? What are the implications.

Thank you for reading this far. As a thanks for anyone replying, I will be making a modest charitable donation to a Shelter (the homeless charity). Do let me know if there is another cause you would like me to donate too.