POLICE and revenue protection officers from West Midlands Railway have been stepping up ticket inspections at Redditch railway station this week in an effort to reduce ticket-less travel across the local rail network.
Following an increase in the cost of penalty fares for ticket-less travel in January, Redditch has been highlighted as one of the hotspots for most penalty fares issued in the region alongside Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill and Sutton Coldfield.
As part of the efforts, British Transport Police joined revenue inspectors at Redditch railway station for the second time this week on May 18 for a ticket inspection block, where passengers cannot leave or enter the station without having their ticket checked.
The block carried out by eight revenue protection officers from West Midlands Railway (WMR) and two British Transport Police (BTP) officers resulted in 56 penalty fares being issued after 535 passengers had their tickets checked.
The block was active from 3.30pm to 9pm.
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.
