Fare dodging is rife on Britain’s railways. “The last time this was looked at by the industry, there was around about £300m per annum going out of the industry because of fare-dodging,” Stephanie Tobyn of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) told The Independent’s daily travel podcast. That works out at £600 per minute.
But people who mistakenly travel without a valid ticket are being treated too harshly, according to the rail watchdog.
Transport Focus is urging train operators to implement a “yellow card” system for passengers caught without a ticket, giving them the benefit of the doubt on a first offence.
Meanwhile Ms Tobyn of the ORR is calling for evidence from passengers who have been given a Penalty Fare or actually prosecuted for travelling without a ticket. “We want to look at people who accidentally find themselves in this position and then end up with a criminal record,” she says.
The moves follow cases of users being prosecuted and fined heavily after inadvertently breaching railcard rules.
These are the key questions and answers.
Define a train ticket?
The standard paper ticket, as issued by booking offices and ticket machines, is still common. But a 21st-century ticket can take many more forms than in the Victorian era, including:
- A ticket on “a mobile telephone or tablet device”
- A smartcard as used in Greater London (with the Oyster card) and elsewhere
- A bank card on which you have “tapped in” at station entry gates or on a reader on the platform.
What does the law say about rail tickets?
The basic principle is set down in the Regulation of Railways Act 1889. On request by a staff member, the rail passenger is required to produce “a ticket showing that his fare is paid”.
The rather more modern National Rail Conditions of Travel from April 2024 specify:
- “You must purchase, where possible, a valid ticket before you board a train”
- You must use the ticket “in accordance with the specific terms and conditions associated with it”.
The first term implies that if you have not been able to buy a ticket –for example because there is neither a booking office nor a working ticket machine – you are deemed innocent and can pay the appropriate fare on board.
The second term emphasises that you must respect, for example, the time restrictions on your tickets, the conditions of…
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