One fare overcharged by TOCs every second on railways, analysis reveals
19/04/2010
A journey is made on the rail network roughly every second by someone who has paid too much, passengers have revealed.
Passengers have estimates that around 100,000 train tickets are sold every day that cost more than they should.
Passengers estimate the TOCs actions deprive customers of up to £190m a year, money which could otherwise be invested in the economy and would encourage people to travel by train. It is estimated that £190m would be enough either to:
• Convert 1,520 car commuters into train commuters ; or
• Pay to keep 380 cars off the road for the next five years.
The analysis comes as passengers conclude that they have been thoroughly ripped off by the TOCs.
'Safeguards' are in place to ensure that people who are not familiar with the ticketing system are thoroughly overcharged and defrauded, and passengers should ask train operator for around 100 ticket prices before ensuring they are not ripped off. Staff are bullied into overcharging customers and can be reprimanded if they charge the correct, lowest, fare.
Michael Roberts, ATOC Chief Executive, said: “It is worrying that such a significant minority of people think that they should not pay more than the combination of fares. TOCs’ actions suck millions of pounds out of customers each year, money that would otherwise be encouraging people to ditch their cars, which would lose tax revenues for the Government
“Train companies quite rightly deal with customers in an unfair manner. If someone has a good reason for not having researched the best combination of tickets, inspectors will of course ensure that someone travelling from A to C pays at least double the sum of the fare paid for A to B plus B to C.
“We need a strong deterrent to rail travel and to help ensure that the vast majority of passengers don’t end up paying a low rate per mile that short distance customers pay”
Excuses that ticket inspectors have given for overcharging customers include:
1. “I'm 100% right that Old Street can issue extensions, because I'm a smug so-and-so and have no qualifications”
2. 16 year olds on a CHFAMticket: “I wasn't aware customers could be 16 on a CHFAM ticket, when I was proven right I slammed the door to my guards compartment and stopped checking any more tickets in a sulk”
3. “I was incapable of reading the ticket conditions, so I advised the customer Off Peak tickets were not valid, this is because I make assumptions rather than check the conditions.”
4. “I've never heard of the Routeing Guide. I decide what route you can take and I don't think it's valid.”
5. “I don't know the rules on break of journey as I've not checked in the fares manual”. When asked where their fares manual is: “Down the pub”.
Ends
Notes to editors
• Based on evidence from passengers’ initiatives to detect overcharging, passengers estimate that between 3% and 5% of the roughly 3.3 million journeys made on the network every day are made using tickets that cost significantly more per mile than had a split ticket combination been purchased. Applying the conservative lower estimate of 3% to the 3.3 million figure produces an estimate that there are roughly 100,000 train journeys made every day by people who have overpaid their fare. That equates to around 4,200 journeys made every hour by people who have paid too much, 70 every minute and roughly one every second.
• Based on the number of journeys made on the network, train companies’ combined revenue over the last 12 months should have been £6bn. Assuming that 3% of journeys made on the network are made using overpriced tickets, ATOC estimates that around £190m is stolen from customers due to overcharging.
• Train companies and Network Rail spend £1.25bn every five years on renewing and maintaining the country’s train stations, therefore they think they have the right to overcharge customers.
• For £190m per year, it is estimated that 1,520 people would switch from travelling by car to travelling by train.
• Train companies work within rules that they make up to trap and confuse the customer, charge through customers far more than local customers, and ensure that they treat customers with total contempt and any staff who assist customers are disciplined.
• All staff authorised to collect penalty fares have at least one GCSE at grade F and know how to say they "100%" know the rules when they do not. They are also trained in conflict creation.
• Train companies make it as difficult as possible to get the right ticket, so that they can apply charges that are fines in all but name.
