£1m recovered from train goers without a ticket over the last year

The incredible amount was taken from passengers who had attempted to board trains without paying, using London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway services.

Revenue protection managers at the train operators recovered a total of £1,284,746 of unpaid fares during the financial year to April 2019.

A total of £876,483 was recovered from passengers on London Northwestern Railway services, while £408,463 was recovered from passengers on West Midlands Railway.

These figures cover both Penalty Fare Notices and tickets sold to passengers at stations, attempting to board trains without paying.

Committed

Sean McBroom, head of on board experience for London Northwestern Railway, said: “We know that our fare paying passengers find ticketless travel a real issue, and we are committed to tackling this as best we can. We have been trialling a new route-based approach to help inform our revenue protection activity, so passengers will see our teams out at stations and on trains more frequently.

“We always advise passengers to purchase a ticket before travelling – either from station staff, ticket vending machines, online, or via the London Northwestern Railway or West Midlands Railway apps. Anyone found travelling without a ticket will be liable to a penalty fare if they are found travelling on our services.”

The train operators issued a total of 19,579 penalty fares during this period. Penalty fares are issued to anyone found travelling without a ticket, where they started their journey from a station where ticket purchasing facilities were available. These can be issued by teams stationed at ticket barriers, but also by revenue protection managers on trains across the rail network. These cost passengers either £20 or twice the walk up single ticket cost, whichever is greater.

A total of 95 per cent of these penalty fares were enforced last year, with just five per cent being successfully appealed.

The train operators are continuing to tackle ticketless travel across the rail network, and during March 2019 alone, revenue protection teams spent 2,506 hours at stations and on trains.

For repeat offenders, unpaid penalty fare notices and where there is sufficient evidence that someone has been deliberately travelling fraudulently, court cases can be brought. 3,038 such court cases were heard over the past year, with £462,292.95 recovered in costs and revenue.