RAIL TICKET FRAUD has prompted action from ScotRail who say that the increased number of passengers travelling without proper tickets is on the increase.
The national rail carrier say that they are taking action against premeditated fare fraud through the launch of their ‘Buy before you Board’ campaign, aimed at encouraging customers to buy tickets before boarding their trains.
Saying that their action follows customer surveys that reveal passengers are fed-up with long queues at destination stations as people wait to buy tickets during the morning peak, ScotRail say that there is also an increase in deliberate fare fraud that is frustrating for the vast majority of honest customers.
Examples being cited are 19 travellers arriving in Glasgow having declared a shorter journey than they had actually taken, 123 travelling without a ticket on ten key services being monitored and 450 flexible journey tickets being used incorrectly during a four days monitoring period.
An estimated 900,000 rail journeys made throughout Scotland – including many on the Aberdeen to Inverness line through Moray – have taken place where the customer deliberately seeks to avoid paying.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s Head of Revenue Protection, said: “We provide a service and it’s only fair that everyone pays the correct fare for the service they use.
“We’ve invested heavily in facilities to make it much easier for our customers to buy tickets in advance. This means that staff on trains have more time to help customers with travel or other queries.
“Buying before boarding will result in much shorter queues to get through the gates at busy destination stations such as Glasgow Central.”
Further ticket monitoring and action will continue over different parts of the rail network in the coming weeks.