On the Tyne and Wear Metro, ticket examiners are being more pro-active in offering Metro fare cheats the chance to pay their £20 penalty fare on the spot.
Anyone who gets caught without a ticket on the Metro system gets issued with a standard £20 penalty fare notice for which they have 21 days to pay – but offenders are now being reminded they have the option of paying there and then.<br><br>The aim of the initiative is to reduce the amount of paper work and costs that are required as a result of processing Metro penalty fares and their payment. It is also aimed at cutting down on the number of people who fail to pay the penalty fare within 21 days and then face legal proceedings against them.<br><br>Metro Ticket Examiners (MTEs) and Travel Support Officers (TSOs) can take a payment from a person as soon as they are stopped.<br><br>Metro has instructed its frontline staff to ensure that ticket cheats are reminded they can pay their fine on the spot and will be given a receipt for this payment, rather than having to return to pay the fine at a later date at a Nexus travel centre.<br><br>Metro Director, Mick Carbro, said: “Our ticket inspectors are reminding fare evaders that they always have the option of paying the £20 fine on the spot.<br><br>“The aim of this is to get more offenders dealt with there and then. This will mean we can save on costs, cut down the amount of paper work we have to get through and reduce the number of people with legal proceedings against them for fare evasion.<br><br>“People who think they can get a free ride on Metro end up paying a stiffer financial penalty and it clearly makes more sense to pay the £20 on the spot rather than letting the situation result in a court appearance, a conviction and a fine of up £500.”<br><br>Fare evasion on Metro costs an estimated £1m in lost revenue every year. Metro has a pro-active fraud strategy in place to combat the problem which involves targeted inspections at stations and on board trains.<br><br>New Government sentencing guidelines, issued to magistrates at the start of August, mean that the courts now have the power to hit fare dodgers with harsher financial penalties.<br><br>Where an offender supplies insufficient information to the court fines are now based around an assumed weekly income of £350.<br><br>In September last year Nexus secured £13m from the Government to pay for 249 new ticket machines and electronic barriers. The barriers, similar to the ones on the London Underground, will be installed at 13 key stations next year and will make it even harder for cheats to avoid buying a ticket.<br><br>Metro employs a private contractor, St James Security, to provide revenue control staff.<br><br>Metro’s own Travel Support Officers, who patrol the system into the night, and Northumbria Police officers, also check tickets.
Meanwhile: a total of 544 people were prosecuted for non-payment of the statutory £20 penalty fare in the lead up to the festive period. The prosecutions total more than £144,000 including fines and costs.
All of the 544 who were taken to court have had their names added to the Metro Loser List, which names and shames Metro fare cheats on posters throughout the system and on the Nexus website, www.nexus.org.uk/metro.
Metro Director, Mick Carbro, said: “All those people who failed to pay up have been hit hard in the pocket this Christmas. It’s becoming more and more apparent that the courts are getting tougher with people who cheat their fare.
“When you consider that the average court fine for non-payment of the penalty fare is around £265 it really makes no sense to avoid paying for a ticket that can cost as little as £1.30.”
