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Not having enough phone battery to show your train ticket could lead to £100 fine

No battery, no excuse: The fare-dodger defence that falls flat with Northern train ticket inspectors <i>(Image: Northern)</i>
No battery, no excuse: The fare-dodger defence that falls flat with Northern train ticket inspectors (Image: Northern)

NORTHERN is urging passengers using digital tickets on their services to make sure they always have enough battery power to present their ticket for inspection – or face a £100 penalty fare.

Unable to distinguish between genuine customers caught ‘power short’ and those deliberately attempting to fare-evade, the train operator’s conductors and revenue officers have no option but to issue the £100 national penalty fare.

In the last year, Northern has installed over 11,800 plugs and 17,200 USB sockets on-board its trains.

Northern has begun a trial with a company called BattPoint to provide power packs at stations for those travelling without their phone charger or power cable.

They cost 99p for the first 10 minutes or £3.99 for the day and come with Micro USB, Type-c and iOS adapters - making them suitable for many devices including those by Apple and Samsung, as well as games consoles like Nintendo Switch.

The whole process is contactless and no app download is required.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “Customers not only have a duty to buy a ticket before they board one of our trains – but also to be able to present it for inspection.”