Over £7,000 fines in 90 minutes for train users

MAGISTRATES handed out over £7,000 in fines to Arriva Trains Wales passengers who failed to show a valid ticket – in just one 90-minute session last month.

In an hour-and-a-half, £7,028.30-worth of fines were issued by magistrates at Cardiff and the Vale Magistrates’ Court against 14 passengers on March 24.

Arriva Trains Wales customer services director Lynne Milligan said the fines were an effective deterrent to make sure that passengers pay for tickets and limit the company’s losses.

One man from Rhondda Cynon Taff was fined £619 for a journey that would have cost him £5.70.

The fine level is made up of a number of compensation, costs, surcharges and a punitive fine.

The lowest fine imposed was £243. Fines increase for repeat offenders, those who failed to attend the court and those with higher incomes.

Pleading guilty saw fines brought down considerably.

One passenger was initially issued a fine of £617, which was dropped to £244 after his guilty plea – the journey itself would have cost him £3.40.

The fines are mostly made up of courts’ charges, with Arriva Trains Wales receiving only the cost of the tickets and a victim compensation charge of around £40.

Ms Milligan said: “When anyone is stopped leaving the railway network without the correct ticket for their journey by one of our revenue protection team, people have at least three opportunities to respond with any mitigating information which is then reviewed by a senior manager.”

Ms Milligan said people must buy a ticket at the first opportunity to avoid getting a fine.

The penalty system has previously been criticised by Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies.

He said: “Those who make a legitimate attempt to buy a ticket but find they are unable to should not be penalised.”