Rail Minister response to the ORR's review into revenue protection

Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said:

“This report shows that decades of failed privatisation have created a mess of deep-rooted issues across our railways, which have been left unchallenged and are now causing chaos and frustration for passengers.  

“Through the creation of Great British Railways, we're bringing operators together to establish oversight and better standardise practices, putting an end to inconsistent prosecutions and making sure passengers are treated fairly.

“Deliberate fare-dodging costs the taxpayer up to £400m annually - money which could be better spent on improving passenger experience – and must be dealt with, but ham-fisted prosecutions that punish people who have made an innocent mistake is not the way to do this.

“We will look at this report in detail and set out what we'll be doing to address the issues raised in due course. In the meantime, we are working at pace to stop this from happening again by simplifying ticketing and developing plans for GBR to sell tickets online, alleviating confusion and making it easier for people to buy the right fare.”