Campaign launched against fare evasion

credit - Flickr

A campaign against fare dodging has been launched by rail operator ScotRail after it said that about 900,000 journeys are made each year in Scotland by passengers who deliberately avoid buying a ticket.

ScotRail carried out ticket monitoring at stations, before starting the campaign aimed at urging customers to pay their fare before boarding.

The company said the Buy Before You Board campaign would focus on tackling premeditated fare fraud.

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ScotRail announced the plans after a recent monitoring exercise carried out by the firm revealed that 132 people had travelled without a ticket on 10 services they examined.

Some 450 flexible journey tickets were found to be used incorrectly during four days of monitoring at Glasgow Queen Street station.

At Glasgow Central station, 19 customers declared a shorter journey than the one they had actually travelled during one morning peak-time focus on the East Kilbride and Barrhead lines.

That type of offence is the most common form of fraudulent travel, according to the train operator.

ScotRail added it had also invested in ticket vending machines at 26 new sites in a bid to help customers buy tickets in advance.