Practice firms in England are being urged to undertake a “yellow card” system for passengers travelling with out the proper ticket, fairly than handing out penalty fares or prosecutions.
Rail watchdog Transport Focus needs passengers to be issued a warning and have their names taken and recorded on a digital system, with fines solely issued for repeat offences.
It comes because the rail regulator is taking a look at how prosecutions and enforcement for fare evasion are handled, after it got here to mild that some passengers had been being prosecuted for minor offences.
Engineering graduate Sam Williamson informed the PJ final 12 months that he confronted going to court for paying £1.90 less than he should have done.
His case prompted widespread criticism of practice operator Northern, who later withdrew all live prosecutions in opposition to passengers reported for utilizing railcard reductions for on-peak companies the place the unique fare was under £12.
Some rail firms, equivalent to Cross Nation and Southeastern, have already got yellow card programs in place, with Merseyside Rail trying to introduce one this 12 months.
Transport Focus has additionally recommended a digital report of railcards so inspectors are capable of test when passengers have forgotten or misplaced playing cards.
“Passengers could possibly be issued reminders to alert them when their railcards are near expiry,” it added.
Natasha Grice, director for rail at Transport Focus, mentioned the watchdog had lengthy been involved concerning the complexity of rail fares, making it arduous for some passengers to purchase the proper ticket.
“We perceive and help the precept that every one customers of rail needs to be paying for his or her ticket, however we need to ensure that passengers who make an harmless mistake aren’t punished unfairly,” Ms Grice mentioned.
Fare evasion is estimated to price the business £240m a 12 months.
The Division for Transport commissioned a evaluation after more than 74,000 prosecutions for alleged rail fare evasion were quashed following a landmark ruling discovered a sure authorized process rail firms had been utilizing to tremendous and prosecute passengers with out tickets mustn’t have been used.
Then-Transport Secretary Louise Haigh requested the Workplace of Street and Rail (ORR) to take a look at how rail fare evasion is handled.
The ORR has requested any passengers penalised for boarding trains with out the proper ticket to share their expertise.
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, 2025-01-16 13:21:00
