The chief magistrate has insisted 74,000 fines for alleged fare dodging on the railway should be quashed. The decision has focused attention on the extent of fare dodging.
Often rail passengers are guilty only of a misunderstanding. Thousands of people have inadvertently made journeys they assumed could be paid for by contactless card – only to discover they could tap in but had strayed across an invisible “tariff border” and could not a tap out. Others get impatient after queuing for ages for a ticket and jump on a train without one, intending to pay on board or at the other end.
