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Ten British train operators have said they are reviewing fare evasion prosecutions dating back years after a court cast doubt on the validity of an estimated 75,000 criminal convictions.
DfT OLR Holdings (DOHL), the government-owned company that operates services on the Southeastern, Northern Rail, TransPennine Express and LNER networks, said in a statement on Friday that it was reviewing prosecutions for all four of its operations.
FirstGroup confirmed it is reviewing prosecutions of its rail businesses – South Western Railway, Great Western Railway, Avanti West Coast, Hull Trains and Lumo. Greater Anglia, which operates services from London Liverpool Street to Essex and East Anglia, also said it was reviewing previous prosecutions.
The review comes after six “test cases” of fare evasion at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week. The chief magistrate said the suspects had been informed by the court that their convictions were “likely to be unlawful”.
The test cases involved prosecutions brought by train operators through the ‘single justice proceeding’ (SJP) procedure, set up under the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.
The SJP allows minor criminal cases to be heard in private by magistrates instead of in open court.
Many train operators have brought charges for fare evasion under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889.
However, the 2015 legislation did not allow railroad companies, as private plaintiffs, to use the 1889 law under the expedited SJP process, leaving an estimated 75,000 cases potentially illegal.
DOHL said it remains committed to ensuring passengers have a valid ticket. But it added: “DOHL train operators stopped bringing new cases under the single legal procedure for offenses under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 in January and are reviewing its previous use.”
FirstGroup also said it was reviewing past cases and had stopped pursuing prosecutions under the SJP “earlier this year.”
Greater Anglia said it had halted prosecutions under the SJP in March. “We are currently assessing previous cases and any associated implications, taking into account any further official guidance on this matter,” the report said.
Train operators will be able to make their views known at a subsequent hearing of magistrates on July 19.
Any decision to invalidate past prosecutions could prove logistically complicated for operators if they were required to repay fines and undo other enforcement actions.
One major train operator – GTR, which operates the Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services – said it had never used the SJP to bring prosecutions under the 1889 legislation. Chiltern Railways and c2c also said they had procedure had not been used.
Transport for London, which operates the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth Line, Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink, said it had used the procedure under separate legislation that was not affected by the ruling.
Since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, fare revenues from franchised passenger train operations have been passed directly to the Ministry of Transport. Train operators instead receive a management fee for operating the services.
Penelope Gibbs, director of campaign group Transform Justice, said there appeared to be “unfairness” in the process of tackling fare evasion and that the approach was “completely inconsistent”.
“Some people are given the opportunity to pay the right rate; others are fined and others are prosecuted,” she said.