A government-owned train company says it is looking at overhauling its prosecution policy after The Standard discovered it has been taking alleged fare dodgers to court without offering any evidence.
London North Eastern Rail (LNER) is one of the train firms embroiled in a string of recent scandals around the way criminal cases are pursued against passengers accused of not having the right ticket.
In August, it was revealed that up to 75,000 criminal convictions would be overturned because eight rail firms - Northern, Transpennine, Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Arriva Rail Northern, Merseyrail or C2C - had been misusing the courts system for years.
Three weeks ago, Northern rail was in the firing line again for its harsh enforcement practices against young people who mistakenly broke the rules by using “anytime” tickets on peak time trains.
Now, The Standard’s investigation into the Single Justice Procedure – the fast-track court process used by many rail firms to bring criminal cases against alleged fare dodgers – has found LNER bringing cases to court without providing any evidence.
Northern Rail became government owned in January 2020 following poor performance from previous operator Arriva Rail North, operating under the Department for Transport OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL).
LNER, Transpennine, and Southeastern are also in the government-owned portfolio.
After being contacted by The Standard about the way it brings criminal cases, DOHL said it is conducting a review of enforcement practices across its companies.
“Doing the right thing for our passengers is at the centre of all we do”, a spokesperson said.
“We remain firmly committed to tackling fare evasion, this has not changed. But we have reached the view that it is right to look again at the simplification of fares and ticketing and revenue enforcement processes across our train operators to ensure they are being implemented fairly and robustly.
“We will continue to work with the government and the wider industry to ensure that we continue to put passengers first, with clear and easy to understand products and services.”
LNER has been putting forward cases to the courts which allege that a passenger did not have the correct ticket. But no actual evidence – particularly a statement from the ticket inspector – is included in the papers sent to the court.
Accused passengers are then written to at home and told to decide whether to plead guilty or not without seeing details of the case against them.
In one of those cases, a student pleaded guilty to not having a valid ticket despite insisting she had been misled by station staff into believing she could take the service.
Her journey home to see family had been disrupted by a strike, and she believed her ticket would be accepted on an alternative route.
Defendants in the Single Justice Procedure rarely have legal advice or representation before deciding on their plea, and are given warnings about increased costs and penalties if they do not respond or decide to fight the case.
When contacted, DOHL said the student had an Avanti ticket rather than one for an LNER service – details that did not feature in papers presented to court.
The evidence-free prosecutions also cast fresh doubt on the way the Single Justice Procedure is operating, with magistrates apparently convicting defendants in the absence of supporting evidence.
The vast majority of defendants in the Single Justice Procedure do not enter a plea to the charge they face. In those circumstances, magistrates are meant to conduct a mini trial to determine if the case is proved to the criminal standard.
Earlier this month, Northern came under fire for going after young passengers with a 16-25 Railcard who had travelled at the wrong time of day with an “anytime” ticket.
The small print of the railcard says they are only valid at 10am and subject to a minimum fare of £12, leaving passengers unwittingly falling foul of the law.
Northern responded by agreeing to withdraw all live prosecutions of that type, and to review its ticketing policies.
MPs waded into the scandal after The Bolton News reporting, and Birmingham MP Ayoub Khan said: “This is a scandal that must be addressed, which is why I have called on the government to urgently investigate this matter.”
During the summer, the Chief Magistrate ruled that up to 75,000 criminal convictions stretching back several years would be cancelled as train firms had been unlawfully using the Single Justice Procedure to prosecute fare evasion.
They had brought charges under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 and allegations of serious criminal conduct, both of which are banned in the fast-track courts.
