Northern trains warn of court cases and prosecution to persistent fare evaders on their network

Northern has issued a stern warning to people who have a history of dodging train fares. The train operator has said that persistent evaders “should expect to be prosecuted for historic cases of fare evasion” once identified. 

The company has said that a case for the courts outlining the full scale of a fare evader’s track record will be made. This will be carried out by Northern’s Digital Fraud Investigations Team. 

The team was set up in 2021 following the steep rise in digital tickets in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has helped to carry out over 100,00 investigations into fare dodging.  

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “Fare evasion hasn’t been as simple as people just not buying a ticket for quite some time.

“There are people who try to outsmart the system through a complex process of fraudulent refund requests, delay repay claims and a process known as ‘short faring’. What those people might not realise is that, as with any electronic transaction, our systems are able to identify suspicious activity and bring it to the attention of our specialist investigators.” 

If you are prosecuted for ticket fraud, you will be done so under the Fraud Act 2006. Northern’s warning has been issued ahead of International Fraud Awareness Week (12-18 November) – an event to highlight the global effort to reduce the impact of fraud on society.