Fines for dodging rail fares will soar from £20 to £80 in England from January, in first increase since 2005
27 October 2022, 16:09 | Updated: 27 October 2022, 16:20
The minimum penalty for evading rail fares in England is set to increase from £20 to £100 in January, the government has said.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the rise was being introduced due to concerns that the current penalty is not seen as a sufficient deterrent.
The fine will be issued as a surcharge on top of the ticket price of the journey, though the fine drops to £50 if it is paid three weeks.
The DfT has suggested the change will help to modernise the network and ultimately cut the cost to taxpayers.
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Fares, which used to be collected by train operators which paid the government a fee are now given to the Treasury with firms receiving a fixed payment to operate services with.
Fare evasion therefore hits the public purse, and not the operators and their private owners.
At the moment, a £20 fine is in place for people who get the train without a valid ticket, or twice the the price of a ticket to the next station the service is going to.
But laws passed by Parliament yesterday mean the financial penalty in England will rise for the first time since 2005.
The hike will bring the penalty in line with those handed out by Transport for London and Manchester Metrolink, which charge £80 and £100 respectively.
A DfT spokesman said: "We need penalty fares to act as a proper deterrent, and we are putting in place a modern system that will help create a more sustainable railway."
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, estimates that fare evasion costs the industry about £240m each year.
Rail bosses are facing ongoing industrial action and grappling with how to increase revenues in following a slowdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The popularity of home working has seen passenger journey numbers drop dramatically.
The rail industry has launched a flexible season ticket in an attempt to accommodate hybrid workers and a rewards programme to get travellers back on trains.
A total of 332 million rail passenger journeys were made in Britain in the three months to the end of June, about three-quarters of the level seen before the pandemic.
