John Baron MP, c2c and Greater Anglia succeed in their campaign to increase penalty rail fares.

MP says penalty could rise to £50.

John Baron MP, together with c2c and Greater Anglia, has been campaigning in Parliament for tougher penalties for non-payment of rail fares. John has consulted local train operators and all believe the current penalty is no longer a sufficient deterrent. The penalty has remained the same at only £20 for some time. In response to the campaign, the Government is now working on a new statutory instrument which needs to be approved for the penalty fare to take effect. It is expected the penalty will rise to £50 (reduced to £25 if paid within 21 days). Government legislation is expected in the second half of this year, with the increase due to take effect shortly afterwards.

John said:

“Fare-dodging has become a serious problem. The existing £20 penalty is no longer serving its purpose. A higher penalty would help to dissuade fare dodgers and defer repeat offending.”

“Those travelling without a ticket are guilty of a form of theft, since they are not paying for a service they are receiving. Moreover, fare dodging adversely affects other passengers, pushing up their rail fares as the train operating companies understandably seek to recover lost revenue.”

c2c Managing Director Julian Drury said:

“People sometimes seem to think that fare evasion is a victimless crime, but in reality it affects every single passenger who uses the service. We strongly support moves to increase the penalty for fare evasion and help deter potential fare dodgers.”

Ruud Haket, Managing Director, Greater Anglia said:

“We fully support the steps to increase penalty fares. Fare evasion is damaging to the rail industry and unfair on the vast majority of passengers who pay their fares.  Increasing the deterrent is one important way of discouraging people from trying to avoid buying a ticket.  We have been working in collaboration with John Baron MP and other train companies to try and achieve progress on this issue, so we are pleased that the process is moving forward.”  

Ends

Word Count: 348

Date:   5^th April 2013

Notes to Editors