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£3.4 million recovered from fare dodgers by South Western Railway

South Western Railway has recovered £3.4 million from fare dodgers in the last year. The train operator revealed the figure as part of its revenue protection work. Unpaid fares cost the railway close to £240 million a year. New research shows that more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of Brits believe that those who deliberately avoid paying the correct fare are exploiting the system and it's not fair to paying customers. South Western Railway's revenue protection team features in a new documentary, 'Fare Dodgers', which premieres on May 19 at 9pm on Channel 5. The documentary highlights the team's efforts to reduce fare evasion and make train travel fair for paying customers. The launch of the documentary coincides with new research from the train operator, which shows that around seven million of the 153.2 million journeys on South Western Railway's network annually are made without a valid ticket. These unpaid fares cost South Western Railway close to £40 million a year. According to the Rail Delivery Group, this figure rises to over £240 million a year for the whole of the rail industry. A poll of 2,000 UK adults conducted by YouGov on behalf of South Western Railway revealed that 68 per cent disapprove of deliberate fare evasion and say that fare dodging is a serious problem that should be penalised. Peter Williams, customer and commercial director at South Western Railway, said: "Most customers on our network pay the correct fare and we understand genuine mistakes happen. "But, there's growing evidence of some systematically abusing the system - a criminal offence that deprives the railway of hundreds of millions of pounds each year. "We have a responsibility to protect revenue from tickets so that money can be reinvested into delivering the best possible service." Thanks to South Western Railway's revenue protection policy, the operator has identified persistent evaders and over the last year, recovered over £1 million from fraud cases. This includes an individual who owed over £49,000 for five years of dodging fares.