Responses will support the rail regulator’s wider work looking at train operators’ approach to suspected fare evasion and its impact on passengers, which is due to be completed in Spring 2025. ORR’s report will look to make recommendations on any areas for change and improvement.
ORR wants to hear from people who, for whatever reason, boarded a train without a ticket, or with an invalid ticket, and what happened as a result. This includes where a person:
- bought a new ticket for their journey or paid an additional fare;
- paid a penalty fare, which included the cost of a new ticket and
- faced prosecution by the train operator
ORR is asking people to let it know via a short questionnaire:
- the train operator involved
- the reasons for the penalty being issued
- what happened after the penalty was issued
- whether the train operator pursued court action/prosecution
- whether the person was aware of the consequences of travelling without a ticket, or an invalid ticket, before travelling
- any related documents that that can be uploaded
The responses provided, including copies of documents, will be a vital source of information for ORR’s independent report into the revenue protection practices of train companies. The questionnaire closes on 17 January 2025.
Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform, said:
Notes for Editors
- Call for evidence: Review of train operators’ revenue protection practices
Letter to ORR from the Secretary of State
Review of train operators’ revenue protection practices: terms of reference
On 13 November 2024, the Secretary of State for Transport asked ORR to carry out an independent review of train operators’ revenue protection practices.
ORR is looking into two main areas: operators’ and retailers’ consumer practices, such as how they are communicating ticket conditions; and operators’ enforcement and broader consumer practices in this area, including the use of prosecutions.