Shut barriers to catch train fare dodgers, minister says

THE Government will encourage stations to keep ticket barriers closed to tackle fare evasion on the railways, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

Fare dodgers cost the taxpayer £240 million a year, according to Huw Merriman, the newly appointed rail minister. He warned that continuing fare evasion could jeopardise future rail investment.

“For the barriers to be left open would be bad enough in the days when things were better,” Mr Merriman told MPs and rail officials last week. To do so when I am fighting so hard with the Treasury to justify all the investment we’re being given is madness.”

Mr Merriman showed a photograph he claimed he had taken of barriers left open at 11pm on a Saturday night at London Bridge station.

“On Saturdays, demand for travel is at 115 per cent of pre-Covid levels of passengers travelling, so we need to be collecting the revenue,” he said.

A staff sheet for gateline barrier staff based at the station last Friday seen by The Telegraph showed 14 people were rostered to look after barriers all day, with the main gates not having any staff present after 2pm. The document said the plan was subject to “all the staff being available”.

Mr Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex, added the rail industry “needs to tighten up to ensure the penalties are steeper so those who don’t pay – and expect the rest of us to pay because there’s a revenue shortfall and someone has to make up for it – get penalised”. While he said tailgating – following closely behind a passenger without putting a ticket through the barriers – “drives me absolutely mad” he acknowledged rail staff are often powerless to it.

He also warned that he “can’t just pretend fare evasion isn’t happening”.

In the Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, said that the core £17billion Northern Powerhouse Rail project would go ahead.

The HS2 rail link from Birmingham to Manchester was also included. Research seen by The Telegraph found that the £26billion initial estimate for this leg of the project is likely to reach almost £40billion by 2040.

The most recent data available from the Office for Rail and Road showed that rail industry spending topped £21billion in 2020-21. Mr Merriman vowed not to reduce the number of ticket inspectors to cut costs.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “Fare dodging is simply unfair because it means less money to invest in improving services or keeping fares down for all our customers.

“It is unfortunate that very occasionally an unexpected shortage of staff can mean that gates at some stations are left open for safety reasons.”

Network Rail – which manages London Bridge station – declined to comment, as did the Department for Transport, when approached by