BRITISH Transport Police joined revenue inspectors at Redditch railway station yesterday (May 15) for a ticket inspection block where passengers cannot leave or enter the station without having their ticket checked.
The revenue inspection block carried out by two revenue protection officers from West Midlands Railway (WMR) and six British Transport Police (BTP) officers resulted in 37 penalty fares being issued after 231 passengers had their tickets checked.
Annamaria Izzard, head of revenue protection for West Midlands Railway, said: “The vast majority of passengers pay for their tickets before travelling but operations like this at Redditch will encourage those who don’t to think twice about ticketless travel.
Millions of pounds of vital revenue is lost every year from fare evasion which goes towards enhancing passenger journeys and improvements to the railway.”
On January 23, the cost of a penalty fare issued by WMR increased to £100, plus the cost of the original fare, reducing to £50 if paid within 21 days.
In the month following the cost increase, WMR issued a total of 2,014 penalty fares, averaging 67 a day.
Redditch railway station is among the hotspots for most penalty fares issued alongside Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill and Sutton Coldfield.
