Thanks - yes I have already written to them explaining that it couldn't have been our son; unfortunately, as it was January 1st, he was at home in bed, then at a friend's house. The friend's parents are happy to confirm this, but of course my communication so far has only been with the revenue collector - I'm waiting to be referred back to the relevant authority once they receive my letter saying I have no intention of paying. To complicate things further, our son is at University, but the letter came to our home address, so he hasn't even seen it!

Slightly different situation for us - got letter from IRCAS (body that collects penalty fares for train companies) saying our son travelled on a train on 1st January without a ticket, was issued with a penalty fare notice, has not paid or appealed so now we owe £20 plus £30 admin fee! This is the first any of us have heard of it- including our son who never even uses the train line in question! How have we received a reminder letter when we got none of the previous communication, and how did they get our address when it wasn't him and they didn't get his correct name? Is someone giving a false name and address and if so how did they arrive at us? Also the letter was addressed to parent/guardian of master ......... when our son is over 18 - so it clearly wasn't an adult they caught!