A BOLTON businessman has won his battle with train operator Northern Rail to avoid paying an £80 fine for a 70 pence mistake.

Business boss Andrew Dickson, who is a presenter and chairman at Bolton FM, contested a fine handed out to him by Northern Rail after he accidentally said he had travelled into Manchester from Bolton train station instead of Lostock when purchasing a train ticket.

He had been unable to buy a ticket at the station due to a closed office and as there was no conductor on board he paid his fare when he arrived at Manchester Piccadilly.

Mr Dickson, who runs the Wow Consultancy firm, normally travels from Bolton to Manchester once a week, but had switched to Lostock after experiencing poor service at Bolton.

When asked where he had travelled from by the ticket seller, he accidentally said Bolton instead of Lostock and when quizzed by an operative he was told he had paid 70 pence too little for his journey.

The 67-year-old was later informed that he would have to pay an £80 fine for his offence of “fare evasion” or face legal proceedings.

Mr Dickson sent the operator the 70 pence difference for his ticket but said he would refuse to pay the £80 because he had not intentionally dodged the fare.

After raising the issue in The Bolton News and receiving widespread support locally, Mr Dickson has been informed that Northern Rail has now accepted the 70 pence payment and closed the matter.

Mr Dickson said he was pleased that “common sense had prevailed” but would have preferred Northern Rail to pledge to review the way they handle such matters in the future.

He said: “I would like to thank everyone for their support, including The Bolton News but I think that Northern Rail should have apologised for the way I was treated.

“I would really like to have heard that they would be reviewing the way they do things and put a stop to the threatening and bullying manner in which they do things — its not acceptable.

“Everyone’s circumstances are different and while I agree they should clamp down on fare dodgers, they have to be able to accept when people have made an honest mistake.”

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: “Having reviewed Mr Dickson’s case, we have accepted his payment of £0.70 for the difference in fare between Lostock and Manchester Piccadilly and have closed his case.”