East Midlands Railway recovers nearly £700,000 from fines and prosecutions since January

East Midlands Railway (EMR) says it has recovered more than £600,000 from fining or taking to court travellers in the past ten months - which they say is helping reduce costs for taxpayers. 

Between January 1 and November 13, the EMR's staff issued 11,510 notices and prosecuted 2,033 people. The combined recovered funds reached a total of £684,667. 

The operator says it's "committed to tackle fare evasion which ultimately costs rail customers and taxpayers."

They added that the fines and prosecutions were made for a range of reasons, such as travelling without a valid ticket, fraudulently travelling on a child's ticket, and travelling beyond the destination of their ticket. 

The EMR clarified that people were only pursued through the courts "after they travelled without a ticket and refused to pay for their journey and the corresponding fine."

Dave Meredith, Customer Services Director at East Midlands Railway, said: "The vast majority of our customers always buy a ticket, and understand that for the railway to successfully operate, improve, and secure investment, fares need to be paid for. 

"Sadly though, there are a minority of determined people who think they can get away without buying ticket.

"Simply put, fare evasion is a criminal offence, and our revenue protection teams and fraud team are working everyday to catch people trying to evade paying for their journey."

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