Fare evasion has become 'normalised' and is costing the taxpayer £400m every year, damning report reveals

Daily Mail​

5 days ago

Fare evasion is becoming 'normalised', train staff have told an inquiry which found they are struggling to cope with 'aggressive' passengers who refuse to buy tickets.
Travellers are using 'a range of techniques to persistently' underpay or avoid paying and see it as a 'victimless crime ', according to the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).
Staff enduring abusive behaviour when asking fare-dodgers to present their tickets are warning that evasion is becoming 'increasingly more challenging to tackle'.
The report had been commissioned to look at concerns some passengers were being unfairly prosecuted by train operators over genuine mistakes when buying tickets.
But it found fare evasion is a mounting problem now costing taxpayers £400million a year which is resulting in higher fares and less investment cash to improve services.
It said: 'Rail staff we spoke to described how fare evasion is becoming normalised among certain passenger groups and increasingly more challenging to tackle.
'As well as occasional opportunistic fare evaders, there are some individuals who use a range of techniques to persistently underpay and avoid their fares.
'Added to this, some fare evaders consider that it is a victimless crime and are either not aware of or are undeterred by the consequences of being caught.'
The reference to 'certain passenger groups' relates to intentional evaders identified as 'opportunistic', 'calculated' and 'chronic' - rather than specific societal groups.
The report comes after MailOnline highlighted some of the worst cases of evasion in exclusive clips from the new Channel 5 series Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law.
And shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick tweeted a video last week in which he confronted people pushing through the barriers at Stratford station in London.
The ORR report found rail staff are facing 'challenges in dealing with aggressive and abusive behaviour when undertaking revenue protection duties'.
It added that employees believe 'passengers making genuine mistakes should be treated fairly and proportionately', but 'establishing this intent can be difficult'.
The ORR said official estimates from the rail industry and Department for Transport indicate that 'fare evasion and ticket fraud accounts for at least £350-400million of lost revenue each year'.
It also said: 'Anecdotally, some industry stakeholders have told us that they believe the actual level of fare evasion is somewhat higher.'
However, the inquiry also found operators are taking 'disproportionate action' against passengers who do not hold a valid ticket.
The ORR said travellers face 'inconsistent treatment and outcomes' for similar ticketing issues across the railway - and criticised Britain's 'complex' fares system.
The review was commissioned by then-transport secretary Louise Haigh in November last year to review how the industry handles revenue protection and fare evasion, after cases where passengers were being prosecuted over small amounts of money were highlighted in the media.
The ORR's report noted one case where a passenger was threatened with prosecution for accidentally selecting a 16-25 Railcard discount when they held a 26-30 Railcard, which provides the same discount.
The case was eventually dropped after their MP became involved.
A second incident saw a passenger's printed e-ticket damaged by water to the extent where it could not be scanned by a member of rail staff.
Despite subsequently providing proof of a valid ticket for the journey, they were threatened with prosecution and in the end agreed to settle out of court for £81 to avoid the risk of conviction.
A third case saw a passenger successfully appeal a penalty fare but discover four years later - after a criminal records check for a job - that they had been convicted for fare evasion without knowing about it.
They claimed they had never received any documentation or court material.
Another incident highlighted in the media last year involved engineering graduate Sam Williamson who said he feared getting a criminal record and being fined hundreds of pounds.
He was told he was being prosecuted by Government-owned operator Northern because he unknowingly used a railcard at the wrong time, resulting in a £1.90 underpayment.
Northern dropped its action against him following media coverage.
The Department for Transport also instructed Northern to review its ticketing policy, which resulted in the operator withdrawing all similar live prosecutions and a pledge to analyse historical cases.
In the latest ORR report, it found there are 'a range of circumstances' in which passengers may innocently travel without a valid ticket, such as forgetting their railcard or simply making a mistake.
But the regulator warned the same reasons can be used by passengers who 'deliberately choose' to underpay or avoid their fare, and it can to difficult for rail staff to determine their intent and decide how to handle the situation.
The report stated: 'Making this more challenging is the railway's complex fares and ticketing framework. This has grown more complicated over time.'
The ORR noted that under railway byelaws, it is an offence not to be able to present a valid ticket for a journey, regardless of the passenger's intent, which means 'disproportionate action can end up being taken against some passengers'.
The inquiry made a series of recommendations to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and the Department for Transport, such as ensuring passengers have 'clearer information' about tickets, and creating consistency in how passengers are treated when ticket issues arise, particularly in relation to prosecutions.
ORR director of strategy, policy and reform Stephanie Tobyn said today: 'Effective revenue protection is essential for a sustainable railway, but it must be fair and proportionate for passengers.
'Our recommendations aim to protect both industry revenue and support passenger confidence.
'Our evidence shows a system that has evolved over time where the legal framework and enforcement processes are increasingly complex and appear weighted towards industry, leaving some passengers who make innocent errors vulnerable to disproportionate outcomes.
'But meanwhile, fare evasion remains a significant problem, and rigorous action should be taken against those who intentionally seek to defraud the railway.'
Train operators use the Penalty Fares system, which is a £100 penalty plus the price of the full single fare applicable for the intended journey.
If paid within 21 days, the Penalty Fare is reduced to £50 plus the price of the single fare.
Rail minister Lord Hendy said: 'This report shows that decades of failed privatisation have created a mess of deep-rooted issues across our railways, which have been left unchallenged and are now causing chaos and frustration for passengers.
'Through the creation of Great British Railways, we're bringing operators together to establish oversight and better standardise practices, putting an end to inconsistent prosecutions and making sure passengers are treated fairly.
'Deliberate fare-dodging costs the taxpayer up to £400million annually - money which could be better spent on improving passenger experience - and must be dealt with, but ham-fisted prosecutions that punish people who have made an innocent mistake is not the way to do this.
'We will look at this report in detail and set out what we'll be doing to address the issues raised in due course.'
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, said it welcomed the ORR's 'sensible recommendations'.
She continued: 'The rail industry will work on implementing the recommendations in line with our plans to create a simpler, better-value fares system.
'We need to strike the right balance addressing genuine, honest mistakes made by customers and taking firm action against those who deliberately and persistently seek to exploit the system.'
In January, the watchdog Transport Focus suggested passengers caught without a ticket should be let off with a warning for a first offence. It urged operators to introduce a so-called yellow card system to 'make things fairer for everyone'.