East Midlands Railway recovered almost £500,000 through the courts after fare avoiders were successfully prosecuted. From January 1 to October 13, Revenue Protections Officers and onboard staff have issued 9,642 notices and prosecuted 1,470 fare avoiders, returning a combined total of £493,000.
These fines and prosecutions were made for several reasons, including passengers travelling without a valid ticket, fraudulently travelling on a child's ticket and travelling beyond the destination of their ticket. People that were dealt with by the courts, had travelled without a ticket and refused to pay for their journey and the corresponding fine.
The sum of money that has been recovered through fines and fraudulent travellers in courts will help reduce costs for taxpayers. Neil Grabham, Customer Services Director at East Midlands Railway, said: "The vast majority of our customers always buy a ticket, and they understand that for the railway to successfully operate, improve, and secure investment, fares need to be paid for.
"Sadly though, there are a minority of determined people who always look to evade paying or look for ways to work the system. We have recently added to our revenue protection teams and created a totally new fraud team, all of whom will be doing everything they can to reduce ticketless travel and hold persistent offenders to account.’’
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