Railway recovers £3.4m of taxpayer money from fare dodgers

More than £3.4million was recovered from fare-dodgers by South Western Railway (SWR)  in 2024.

Of the 153.2 million journeys that take place on SWRs network annually, around seven million are made without a valid ticket, new research from the train operator shows. 

These unpaid fares cost SWR almost £40million a year – money it says would have been reinvested to improve services and value for money.  

Through its revenue protection policy SWR identified persistent offenders including one fraudster who owed more than £49,000 for five years of dodging fares.

Peter Williams, customer and commercial director at SWR said: “Most customers on our network pay the correct fare and we understand genuine mistakes happen. 

“But, there’s growing evidence of some systematically abusing the system – a criminal offence that deprives the railway of hundreds of millions of pounds each year. 

“Our specially trained teams work around the clock to check tickets on stations and trains. They face many challenges, but their efforts have helped cut ticketless travel by more than 40 per cent since 2017 and recover millions of pounds of taxpayer money.”

The newly released figures come as the team behind these policies features in a new series of Channel 5’s behind-the-scenes documentary, ‘Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law’, which premieres tonight at 9pm.

Pictured top: The SWR team has helped cut ticketless travel by more than 40 per cent since 2017 (Picture: SWR)