Greater Anglia has announced that fare dodgers were ordered to pay almost £400,000 after the operator prosecuted people caught riding trains without tickets.
More than 1,300 people were prosecuted between 1 December 2019 and 31 January 2020.
The courts imposed fines of more than £150,000 and costs of more than £235,000 on people.
Cases were heard at courts across Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and London.
Only people who board a train without a ticket and without any intention of buying a ticket are taken to court, which amounts to around 500 to 700 people a month.
What did the officials say?
Kim Bucknell, Greater Anglia's Head of Customer Service, said:
“We will take action against people who travel without the correct ticket and will always prosecute people who have boarded our trains with no intention of paying for a ticket.
“It's easy to buy a ticket either from a ticket office, ticket machine, online or via our app, so there is no excuse for travelling without a ticket – and it just ends up pushing up prices for our fare-paying customers.
“For every £1 spent on rail fares, 98p is invested in the railway. By not paying for a ticket, there's less money available for investment to improve the railway for everyone.
“We have a range of great value fares and offers available – especially if you book in advance.”
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Rayleigh would need significant structural alteration to accommodate barriers, particularly on the down side. The wily foxes of this world are also adept at jumping barriers and cruising through immediately behind a legitimate passenger-I have been shoved from behind more than once by such cheats. Good to see the courts doing justice though: A recent media splurge highlighted fines imposed on passengers allegedly standing in 1st class, but failed to acknowledge the extent of fare-dodging generally. Revenue officers do travel off-peak between Billericay and Southend Vic, but seem to vanish in the evenings when a lot of baulking takes place.
Also failed to mention that Network Rail should continue on fixing the landslide at/near Billericay since it happened few days ago and it’s still causing disruptions to Greater Anglia trains between London Liverpool Street & Shenfield-Southend Victoria and Wickford-Southminster with replacement buses continuing to operate.
And c2c accepting Greater Anglia tickets at Southend Central, Benfleet, Pitsea and Basildon stations for commuters travelling into London from not just Southend Victoria but from Prittlewell, Southend Airport, Rochford, Hockley, Rayleigh, Wickford and Billericay. As a result of the landslide.
Stations including Rayleigh that doesn’t have ticket barriers are easy targets for fare dodgers. Which I think Greater Anglia should install ticket barriers at those stations to stop fare invaders.