19 October 2006
Crackdown on ticket fraud
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport last week (9-13 October) joined forces with public transport operators, British Transport Police and Strathclyde Police in an exercise to clamp down on ticket fraud which is estimated to cost public transport users around £5 million annually.
Bus operators First, Arriva Scotland West, Stagecoach Western Buses and McKindless Bus Company Ltd took part in the joint ticket inspection exercise, along with rail operators First ScotRail and SPT Subway. This exercise was planned in conjunction with operators and Police to expose passengers travelling with fake, out of date, altered or inappropriate tickets.
Tens of thousands of tickets were inspected during the checks and early indications are that ticket fraud continues to be a chance some people think is worth taking. The final detailed analysis of the figures is still awaited, but it's estimated that last week around 1% of passengers were travelling without a valid ticket. This figure is a slight increase on last year, mainly because, unlike previous exercises, this time the inspection teams gave no advance warning of the clamp down.
SPT Chair Councillor Alistair Watson said: "It's the height of folly to risk getting a criminal record for the price of a bus or rail ticket. We are determined to stamp out this type of fraud, because the money it costs the transport industry could be spent improving the public transport network and keeping fares down.
"I welcome this initiative once again and hope it will make people think twice about using fake tickets. There is still a hard core of public transport users who persist in acts of fare evasion and they need to understand it's a mugs' game because there is every chance they will be caught."
Chief Inspector Vincent Smith British Transport Police's co-ordinator for SPT's Ticket Security Group added: "British Transport Police will not tolerate crime on the network and remains committed to targeting offenders who profit from this type of fraudulent activity.
"We fully support and endorse the work of SPT to stop ticket fraud on public transport. Partnership working is the key to tackling this problem, and we welcome any initiative that targets this type of crime."
ends