News

Mar 07, 2023

ScotRail to clamp down on ticket fraud with new staff and machines

SCOTRAIL has announced a crackdown on people who intentionally attempt to

SCOTRAIL has announced a crackdown on people who intentionally attempt to avoid paying the correct fare for their journey.

The train operator will hire 42 revenue protection officers to curb ticket fraud, which costs it around £2 million per year.

It has also introduced new ticket validation machines, which can be found at Edinburgh Waverley, Croy, Paisley Canal, and in Glasgow's Central, Queen Street, High Street and Rutherglen stations.

The devices read both mobile and barcoded tickets at ticket gates before allowing passengers through.

They will flag up tickets that are not valid for a particular journey.

READ MORE: South Uist: Compensation for small businesses is not off the table

They can also detect whether a passenger has travelled a longer distance than they claim. For instance, a passenger may claim to have only travelled from Edinburgh Haymarket to Waverley, when in fact they may have boarded in Glasgow.

The devices can even check if the customer is travelling from a station that is staffed, where they could have bought a ticket but chose not to.

Revenue protection officers will check tickets that are flagged by the devices.

If customers are caught intentionally using an invalid ticket, their details will be taken and they will be charged the correct fare.

For more serious cases, they may face being investigated by British Transport Police.

ScotRail has encouraged passengers to purchase tickets before boarding a train, which can be done at stations, ticket offices or online.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail head of customer operations, said: "Tackling ticket fraud has always been a priority for ScotRail.

"It's a small minority of passengers who deliberately try to avoid paying the proper fare, but it's honest, fare-paying passengers who bear the burden of lost investment in Scotland's railway.

"The 42 new revenue protection officers will be deployed around the rail network, working from first trains to last.

"Those roles will really help support frontline colleagues with ticket irregularity, fraud, and any difficult situations.

"We are determined to drive down ticketless travel, making the rail network a safer and more secure environment for customers and colleagues alike."

We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.

Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren't really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.

So that's why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.

The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let's get that debate started!

Callum Baird, Editor of The National

We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.

Please report any comments that break our rules.