Passengers of Northern's Cumbria coastal line will pay a stiff penalty for attempting to buy tickets on the train.

The new penalty will be introduced on June 30. It will equate to double the price of the ticket of £20, whichever is the largest amount.

The fines have been rolled out around the country and this latest round includes Barrow to Carlisle.

The fines will apply to stations where there are ticket vending machines or ticket offices.

In addition, tickets can be bought at any time before a customer boards a train by using the Northern website or mobile app, with no booking fees incurred.

If these facilities are not available at stations, or if offices are closed or machines out of order, customers will still be able to buy a ticket from the on-board conductor.

Where customers want to pay cash, but ticket machines are card only, they will be able to obtain ‘promise to pay’ notices from the machines which can be presented, along with cash to the conductor – the full range of fares will still be available on board.

If, however, they have not bought the tickets from available methods, they will be issued with the penalty and any fare they by will be standard and not eligible for any discounted offers.

A Northern spokesman said: "We are investing millions of pounds to introduce more than 600 new ticket machines across the network and have developed our website and mobile app to give customers more options and to make buying a ticket easier than ever before.

"However, there will still be some circumstances in which customers are unable to buy tickets and our authorised collectors are able to use their discretion to ensure nobody faces unfair penalties."