Commuter finally cleared over 50p train fare fraud after 11-month legal battle

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Manchester Evening News:

Commuter finally cleared over 50p train fare fraud after 11-month legal battle costing thousands

A commuter has been dragged through the courts three times in a case costing thousands of pounds ^ in a dispute over 50p.

The 11-month legal wrangle finally ended with magistrates finding Conrad Astley not guilty of fraud.

He was prosecuted by Northern Rail after they claimed he intentionally did not pay enough when travelling into Manchester.

Legal experts estimate it would have cost the company, which was represented by a barrister, at least ^2,000 to bring the case.

Mr Astley had travelled to Piccadilly from Newton for Hyde station. Unable to buy a fare on the train, he was sold a ^4.70 return ticket at Piccadilly to travel back to Flowery Field station - less than a mile away from Newton for Hyde - for later that day.

Mr Astley says he was immediately pulled to one side by rail officials and told he had committed travel fraud because he had not travelled in from Flowery Field. He had travelled from the further Newton for Hyde and should have paid ^5.20. Mr Astley says he immediately offered to pay an on-the-spot fine.

He also wrote to the firm, admitting he had made an ^honest mistake^ and again offering to pay a fine.

But Northern Rail rejected the offer and pressed ahead with legal action.

He received a letter from the firm^s prosecutions unit which warned he faced a maximum ^1,000 fine or three-month prison sentence. Six months later he received a summons to court.

Mr Astley, from Hyde, said: "I tried a number of times to settle this in a sensible way and held my hands up that I^d made an honest mistake. I assumed the price to that cluster of stations was the same.

"They seemed adamant that quibbling over 50p, which doesn^t get you much more than a packet of chewing gum these days, was worthy of a public funded court^s time."

Mr Astley appeared before magistrates three times in total.

The case was adjourned once. He then entered a not guilty plea and appeared again for trial where he was cleared.

Pete Myers, from Northern Rail, said a ticket monitoring system was in place at Flowery Field station on the day. It meant everyone boarding the train at that station was given a voucher which they would have to produce when buying a ticket at Piccadilly to prove where they had travelled from.

He added: "On arrival at Manchester Piccadilly, Mr Astley bought a ticket from Flowery Field, but could not produce a voucher. He had travelled from a further station."

[readytostart]

Whilst it may be all of a hoohar ove a '50p mistake', I wonder how much revenue local operators lose through people buying tickets just to get them through barriers. Back in my ScotRail days, the amount of people presenting themselves at the Excess Fares window at Waverley asking for tickets from South Gyle, Edinburgh Park or Slateford greatly outnumbered those who actually boarded the train there. On several occasions when I'd not been able to get anywhere near the whole train checked I would phone ahead if only one or two passengers boarded the train at the closest station and give them a description of the passengers, caught a few people out. Also used to have people asking for tickets from Haymarket (also barriered) who after a stern talking to admitted that they'd come from a lot further afield.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=8439.0 shows how much buying short tickets added up in just a single case.

[Oxman]

When I worked at Reading, I very much enjoyed the occasional Friday evening blockades that were mounted by colleagues in Revenue Protection. A great many youngsters habitually travelled into Reading from stations up to 20 miles away to enjoy a heavy night out in the clubs and pubs of Reading - I am sure they still do. Many did not buy tickets at their point of origin, hoping that the barriers would be open at Reading, and they could avoid paying a fare. If the barriers were staffed, they would buy, at the excess ticket office, a single from the nearest station on their line - Tilehurst, Reading West, Twyford etc., irrespective of where they had  actually travelled from. Then they would use the ticket to exit through the barriers.

When a block was being enforced, the gates were set to reject tickets from the nearby stations - the customer would be advised to "seek assistance".

Assistance would arrive in the form of a Revenue Protection Officer, who would take the customer to one side and gently ask a few questions about where they live, where they had actually travelled from, etc. The odd trick question ("was the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) not working?" - when there was no ticket machine) usually revealed the truth, and the customer (now a fare dodger) would have their details taken and reported for possible prosecution. Many of those caught were under 18. Their parents would receive a letter inviting them to pay a penalty fare plus costs to avoid seeing their loved ones end up in court, with the inevitable criminal record that would result.

The attitude of Revenue Protection was to deter the majority and to prosecute the persistant fare dodgers. If you had been caught before, you did not get the offer of settling out of court - you were prosecuted. I had no problem with this, and it does make you think about what is actually going on when Northern Rail goes to these lengths.

[ChrisB]

'made an honest mistake'?.....youbdin't forget where you got on some minutes ago!

Correctly prosecuted, I feel

[vacman]

I wonder if Northern will appeal?

[Brucey]

I've been thinking about this one recently and can see that Northern's "ticket monitoring system" is flawed.  It would only ever work if they did this on the last station before the terminus.

The reason is that I could buy a ticket from Flowery Field to Manchester Piccadilly.  However, if I chose to board at Gorton (which is a shortter journey and perfectly allowed under the NRCoC^▸ (National Rail Conditions of Carriage)), my ticket would be rejected and I wouldn't have a voucher.

Northern would then be able to prove that I didn't board at Flowery Field, but would not be able to prove where I did board (unless an admission was made).

Provided the passenger says the correct things, I cannot see how this system would ever be able to provide a successful prosecution.

Unless I'm missing something