Someone impersonated me and now I have to go to court.

[blakey1152]

Granted this is not rail but bear with me as I feel it’s incredibly similar and about the burden of proof. I had an incident where someone had given my details for dropping a cigarette butt in Southwark outside London Bridge. I received a letter from an enforcement officer / team to pay for a fine. I called them up tried to have a sensible conversation said it wasn’t me I don’t even smoke and I wasn’t in London that day. The overall tone and attitude was very similar to what people experience with TOC’s They insisted I prove I wasn’t there and evidence my whereabouts. Had the attitude been different I might have been more helpful, to cut along story short I refused point blank and told them they need to prove I was there and asked them to please send me a picture of this person as there’s a wealth of cctv around the area that supposedly is me and if it somehow miraculously turns out to be me I will gladly pay the fine but until then do not bother me again. I hung up and never heard anything else. If it was not you, ask them to prove it as other posters have mentioned the proof lies with them. Google search history is way too much effort that you should have to go through because someone has used your details. TOC’s like enforcement officers seem to think the burden of proof need not apply. You should make them prove their case!

I agree with this! I too had a similar experience with bailiffs not long after I had moved into a new property.
The onus was on me to prove I wasn't the person that hadn't paid a parking fine and I don't drive!
Cost me about 15 quid to get all the documents they insisted on. Never got that back and not even an apology. They scared the life out of the missus!

 

[4COR]

I agree with this! I too had a similar experience with bailiffs not long after I had moved into a new property.
The onus was on me to prove I wasn't the person that hadn't paid a parking fine and I don't drive!
Cost me about 15 quid to get all the documents they insisted on. Never got that back and not even an apology. They scared the life out of the missus!

Whereas similarly, we had bailiff letters and phonecalls after moving into our property. It only took me giving the callers the details of the seller's solicitors and date of completion to get them off our back.

There should be no obligation to spend cash to prove who you are in this circumstance - it's a big issue for the bailiff if they serve a warrant on the wrong person ...

(Rather stupidly in my case above, the seller moved to Spain, and then, realising their mistake moved back to the same village - the last phone call I had, I redirected them to the flat above the post office and heard no more...)

 

[ukkid]

According to an update on Reddit, case withdrawn