Fraudulent travel poses a huge and complex challenge to the rails sector. If we unite and show real commitment, we can tackle it
Revenue protection should be treated as a specialism
Last week, in my role as chair of the West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration, I co-hosted, with my colleague Lucy Wootton, an away day in Birmingham for frontline employees and managers from across the region’s railway to discuss the challenge of revenue protection.
As regular readers of this column will know, I’ve been both worried about fraud on the railway and undecided about the merits of nationalisation under one dominant entity. However, last week’s awayday gave me confidence that, certainly on the subject of revenue protection, a single, organisational approach has real merit. By the time we concluded in the afternoon with a customary team selfie to post on LinkedIn, there was a growing realisation that we are very much ‘better together’ in sharing data, intelligence, and best practices, and creating a ring of steel around the West Midlands through pooling resources and having a more consistent policy.
In the run-up to our away day, my brain had been muddled with preconceived views, some of which were founded on fact and reason, while the effects of social media had exaggerated others. Bored in the bath, as is my ilk, I scroll through my feed on my phone and see Birmingham and its environs having a greater proportion of Tik-Toks and other viral videos and images of lawlessness, be it street brawls, looting, general disorder and tension. Then, last week, I spoke with bus industry leaders in the West Midlands and learned, more than I have ever done before in the bus sector, that fraudulent travel is one of the top priorities right now. We’re not talking about travelling out of zone or adults posing as kids; we’re looking at brazen individuals steaming onto buses, refusing to pay, and drivers feeling somewhat powerless to intervene.
The evening before our away day, Lucy, who heads up the Grand Rail Collaboration on a day-to-day basis, witnessed three instances of blatant shoplifting in the Tesco around the corner from our venue. When trying to buy Blu-Tack for our flipcharts, it was locked away in a special cabinet to deter theft. I kid you not. Blu-Tack! As I wandered the streets before bedtime, I was shocked by the scale of homelessness, the aroma of wacky-backy and youths wandering around with balaclavas.
On to our away day, and it was thankfully reassuring. This isn’t a railway in despair but the collection of 50 folk focused on revenue protection in the region, and we sat through presentations from all the operators, from as far afield as Transport for Wales and heard from Network Rail and Travelsafe folk, listening to their unique and common challenges, but also a multitude of solutions.
There were learning points aplenty, and, without betraying confidence by revealing statistics and facts about ticketless travel or the ruses taken by fare evaders (just in case you lot get any ideas…), it’s fair to say that digital fraud is the biggest threat. It’s a constant battle to prevent forged barcodes or online tickets purchased for short hops just to gain access to the network to make longer journeys, as well as ‘Delay Repay’ and Railcard fraud. But it’s solvable. We heard good examples of some short flows being only redeemable by ‘Ticket Collection on Departure’ from machines, through to adhering to 100% scanning of barcodes (a simple fix that proves effective). We also recognised the value of increased online purchases – a fare evader with a dog assaulting a gateline employee being tracked down by a mix of CCTV and his ticket purchased by Trainline.
Meanwhile, Transport Focus presented the results of a survey that they had undertaken, soliciting customers’ views around fare evasion, and the findings were somewhat disconcerting. 64% said that the price of fares on the railway made it unsurprising that people evaded their fares, whilst 42% remarked that there was some justification for travelling without a ticket. Meanwhile, 57% thought that fare evasion was a significant problem.
The research suggested that customers perceived ticketless travel as a victimless crime, and in some respects, it was seen as payback for the railway’s inability to provide a decent service, while also creating complex fare structures that made it difficult to buy a ticket. These issues and the cost of travelling made fare evasion feel like ‘natural justice’ and ‘evening things up’, something that the delegates at our conference felt was a growing mindset among the customers they speak to while undertaking revenue protection activity. It’s undoubtedly a psychology that I have come across in discussions with a range of young and old in the communities in which I hang out.
Those at the conference also remarked that plummeting confidence in the government, along with a mix of welfare cuts and tax rises, among other perceived injustices, was also fueling mass disobedience when it came to buying a ticket.
Ticketless travel isn’t necessarily a new issue, though – Richard Thomas, one of the most experienced and arguably the definitive revenue protection expert in the industry, now at Chiltern and having spent four decades at London Underground, gave an insightful presentation that included a poster dating back to 1919 on the Tube threatening a crackdown on fare evasion!
This definitely feels like an issue that will benefit in the new world of Great British Railways
There were gripes in the room, but not unreasonably so. The British Transport Police were deemed to be hugely effective in the main, but sometimes undermined revenue protection officers by being too lenient when fare evaders were referred to them on the gateline for support. Ticket gates are often unstaffed when they should be fully operational, and when disruption ensues, they are too regularly opened, when a better balance could be addressed. Data between operators could also be more fully shared.
At the beginning of the day, we gave everyone on the table a map of the West Midlands and asked them to mark where they thought revenue was most at risk. We then collated all the maps onto a large one at the front of the room, and the findings were instructive in that most of the network was seen as problematic, but particular flashpoints were identified throughout. Simplistic, though this might sound, the view was that if we could address these – and they tended to be towards the centre of Birmingham – we could prevent seepage at source. Batten down the hatches at the central stations, and there was less chance of it flowing in and out to the nether regions.
By the end of the day, I felt quietly more confident. I ventured to the Apple Store across the road to get a perspective from the retail sector. I was interested in Apple because my social media feed often gives the impression that they are a magnet for shoplifters and looters, given the attractiveness of the products. I’m also fascinated by Apple because they design their stores and set up their customer service in a way that instils a sense of trust and feels so welcoming that it can only foster good behaviour, friendliness, and warmth. After a lengthy discussion with one very helpful member of staff, he told me that it was a real issue just after Covid, but now no longer due to a mix of good security and also any expensive product, such as a phone, for instance, being trackable – the equivalent, I guess of a rail ticket bought online. He told me the Tik-Tok videos I see are fake to gain clicks, but also admitted that a lot of his mates work in retail across Birmingham and find the people there to be less polite, more demanding, and threatening than they are elsewhere – ‘edgy’ is the impression I got.
Recruitment remains a challenge with rising staff assaults making it more difficult to attract folk into revenue protection roles on the railway. It’s interesting to learn that, despite the trend of recruiting individuals from the customer service sector, those entering revenue protection roles predominantly come from backgrounds as security guards or within the armed forces. Although success stories of those arriving from hotels, retail and hospitality were mentioned, this is a part of the industry where it was felt that the resilience and experience of working in hostile situations, and needing to be authoritative and at times imposing, was absolutely critical – and there were no apologies for this in the room. Having joined, there does need to be a clear career pathway for those in revenue protection. It’s still rare for those entrusted with tackling fraudulent travel to progress into executive director-level and beyond within organisations.
Back to our away day, and we were wrapping up with some good ideas, ranging from a regional planner to oversee the deployment of revenue protection and resources, as well as intelligence sharing on a cross-organisational basis, through to pan-operator blocks on shared corridors, as well as entire blocks of the region on specific days. We will also be examining a joined-up, regionally branded communication strategy aimed at addressing the psychology of fare evaders, and potentially developing a strapline as part of our stepped-up campaign to tackle the issue. Working with bus sector partners, alongside the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Travelsafe team, to create exercises across the city will also be a key tenet of our future strategy. A joint approach to training, covering all operators and Network Rail personnel who manage New Street station, is also under consideration. Collaboration is key, though; there’s a recognition that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is a bit simplistic. The nature of Avanti and CrossCountry’s long-distance proposition means that Penalty Fares aren’t the primary tool used by a community operator, and other deterrents are employed. Nonetheless, there was a view that collectively, issuing reports for prosecution (‘MG11s’ as they are known in the trade) was a tool that all companies increasingly needed to use to demonstrate that they had real conviction in tackling fraudulent travel.
When it comes to revenue protection, this is an issue that will benefit from a more regionalised approach under Great British Railways, allowing for the adoption of best practices far and wide. But, having seen the mix of cerebral and pragmatic attributes of those in the room last week, and their wealth of experience and passion to deal with an issue that threatens to erode the whole premise of which the railway’s business model is built, I’m more convinced than ever that we need to treat revenue protection as a specialism. During my career, I’ve seen it dumbed down on occasion – neglecting any analysis of the problem, implementing unsophisticated initiatives, and sometimes a desire by those in charge to push revenue protection departments’ managers who were never deemed good enough to become station managers.
Dilute the role of the revenue protection team and it can have a more corrosive impact on the business than any late or dirty train. This would be criminal, given the scale and complexity of the problem at present, and the talents of those I encountered in the West Midlands last week who are tasked with finding answers and delivering solutions in arguably one of the most challenging environments currently.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Powering up revenue protection
by Passenger Transport on Jul 25, 2025 • 11:40 am No CommentsFraudulent travel poses a huge and complex challenge to the rails sector. If we unite and show real commitment, we can tackle it
Last week, in my role as chair of the West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration, I co-hosted, with my colleague Lucy Wootton, an away day in Birmingham for frontline employees and managers from across the region’s railway to discuss the challenge of revenue protection.
As regular readers of this column will know, I’ve been both worried about fraud on the railway and undecided about the merits of nationalisation under one dominant entity. However, last week’s awayday gave me confidence that, certainly on the subject of revenue protection, a single, organisational approach has real merit. By the time we concluded in the afternoon with a customary team selfie to post on LinkedIn, there was a growing realisation that we are very much ‘better together’ in sharing data, intelligence, and best practices, and creating a ring of steel around the West Midlands through pooling resources and having a more consistent policy.
In the run-up to our away day, my brain had been muddled with preconceived views, some of which were founded on fact and reason, while the effects of social media had exaggerated others. Bored in the bath, as is my ilk, I scroll through my feed on my phone and see Birmingham and its environs having a greater proportion of Tik-Toks and other viral videos and images of lawlessness, be it street brawls, looting, general disorder and tension. Then, last week, I spoke with bus industry leaders in the West Midlands and learned, more than I have ever done before in the bus sector, that fraudulent travel is one of the top priorities right now. We’re not talking about travelling out of zone or adults posing as kids; we’re looking at brazen individuals steaming onto buses, refusing to pay, and drivers feeling somewhat powerless to intervene.
The evening before our away day, Lucy, who heads up the Grand Rail Collaboration on a day-to-day basis, witnessed three instances of blatant shoplifting in the Tesco around the corner from our venue. When trying to buy Blu-Tack for our flipcharts, it was locked away in a special cabinet to deter theft. I kid you not. Blu-Tack! As I wandered the streets before bedtime, I was shocked by the scale of homelessness, the aroma of wacky-backy and youths wandering around with balaclavas.
On to our away day, and it was thankfully reassuring. This isn’t a railway in despair but the collection of 50 folk focused on revenue protection in the region, and we sat through presentations from all the operators, from as far afield as Transport for Wales and heard from Network Rail and Travelsafe folk, listening to their unique and common challenges, but also a multitude of solutions.
There were learning points aplenty, and, without betraying confidence by revealing statistics and facts about ticketless travel or the ruses taken by fare evaders (just in case you lot get any ideas…), it’s fair to say that digital fraud is the biggest threat. It’s a constant battle to prevent forged barcodes or online tickets purchased for short hops just to gain access to the network to make longer journeys, as well as ‘Delay Repay’ and Railcard fraud. But it’s solvable. We heard good examples of some short flows being only redeemable by ‘Ticket Collection on Departure’ from machines, through to adhering to 100% scanning of barcodes (a simple fix that proves effective). We also recognised the value of increased online purchases – a fare evader with a dog assaulting a gateline employee being tracked down by a mix of CCTV and his ticket purchased by Trainline.
Meanwhile, Transport Focus presented the results of a survey that they had undertaken, soliciting customers’ views around fare evasion, and the findings were somewhat disconcerting. 64% said that the price of fares on the railway made it unsurprising that people evaded their fares, whilst 42% remarked that there was some justification for travelling without a ticket. Meanwhile, 57% thought that fare evasion was a significant problem.
The research suggested that customers perceived ticketless travel as a victimless crime, and in some respects, it was seen as payback for the railway’s inability to provide a decent service, while also creating complex fare structures that made it difficult to buy a ticket. These issues and the cost of travelling made fare evasion feel like ‘natural justice’ and ‘evening things up’, something that the delegates at our conference felt was a growing mindset among the customers they speak to while undertaking revenue protection activity. It’s undoubtedly a psychology that I have come across in discussions with a range of young and old in the communities in which I hang out.
Those at the conference also remarked that plummeting confidence in the government, along with a mix of welfare cuts and tax rises, among other perceived injustices, was also fueling mass disobedience when it came to buying a ticket.
Ticketless travel isn’t necessarily a new issue, though – Richard Thomas, one of the most experienced and arguably the definitive revenue protection expert in the industry, now at Chiltern and having spent four decades at London Underground, gave an insightful presentation that included a poster dating back to 1919 on the Tube threatening a crackdown on fare evasion!
There were gripes in the room, but not unreasonably so. The British Transport Police were deemed to be hugely effective in the main, but sometimes undermined revenue protection officers by being too lenient when fare evaders were referred to them on the gateline for support. Ticket gates are often unstaffed when they should be fully operational, and when disruption ensues, they are too regularly opened, when a better balance could be addressed. Data between operators could also be more fully shared.
At the beginning of the day, we gave everyone on the table a map of the West Midlands and asked them to mark where they thought revenue was most at risk. We then collated all the maps onto a large one at the front of the room, and the findings were instructive in that most of the network was seen as problematic, but particular flashpoints were identified throughout. Simplistic, though this might sound, the view was that if we could address these – and they tended to be towards the centre of Birmingham – we could prevent seepage at source. Batten down the hatches at the central stations, and there was less chance of it flowing in and out to the nether regions.
By the end of the day, I felt quietly more confident. I ventured to the Apple Store across the road to get a perspective from the retail sector. I was interested in Apple because my social media feed often gives the impression that they are a magnet for shoplifters and looters, given the attractiveness of the products. I’m also fascinated by Apple because they design their stores and set up their customer service in a way that instils a sense of trust and feels so welcoming that it can only foster good behaviour, friendliness, and warmth. After a lengthy discussion with one very helpful member of staff, he told me that it was a real issue just after Covid, but now no longer due to a mix of good security and also any expensive product, such as a phone, for instance, being trackable – the equivalent, I guess of a rail ticket bought online. He told me the Tik-Tok videos I see are fake to gain clicks, but also admitted that a lot of his mates work in retail across Birmingham and find the people there to be less polite, more demanding, and threatening than they are elsewhere – ‘edgy’ is the impression I got.
Recruitment remains a challenge with rising staff assaults making it more difficult to attract folk into revenue protection roles on the railway. It’s interesting to learn that, despite the trend of recruiting individuals from the customer service sector, those entering revenue protection roles predominantly come from backgrounds as security guards or within the armed forces. Although success stories of those arriving from hotels, retail and hospitality were mentioned, this is a part of the industry where it was felt that the resilience and experience of working in hostile situations, and needing to be authoritative and at times imposing, was absolutely critical – and there were no apologies for this in the room. Having joined, there does need to be a clear career pathway for those in revenue protection. It’s still rare for those entrusted with tackling fraudulent travel to progress into executive director-level and beyond within organisations.
Back to our away day, and we were wrapping up with some good ideas, ranging from a regional planner to oversee the deployment of revenue protection and resources, as well as intelligence sharing on a cross-organisational basis, through to pan-operator blocks on shared corridors, as well as entire blocks of the region on specific days. We will also be examining a joined-up, regionally branded communication strategy aimed at addressing the psychology of fare evaders, and potentially developing a strapline as part of our stepped-up campaign to tackle the issue. Working with bus sector partners, alongside the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Travelsafe team, to create exercises across the city will also be a key tenet of our future strategy. A joint approach to training, covering all operators and Network Rail personnel who manage New Street station, is also under consideration. Collaboration is key, though; there’s a recognition that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is a bit simplistic. The nature of Avanti and CrossCountry’s long-distance proposition means that Penalty Fares aren’t the primary tool used by a community operator, and other deterrents are employed. Nonetheless, there was a view that collectively, issuing reports for prosecution (‘MG11s’ as they are known in the trade) was a tool that all companies increasingly needed to use to demonstrate that they had real conviction in tackling fraudulent travel.
When it comes to revenue protection, this is an issue that will benefit from a more regionalised approach under Great British Railways, allowing for the adoption of best practices far and wide. But, having seen the mix of cerebral and pragmatic attributes of those in the room last week, and their wealth of experience and passion to deal with an issue that threatens to erode the whole premise of which the railway’s business model is built, I’m more convinced than ever that we need to treat revenue protection as a specialism. During my career, I’ve seen it dumbed down on occasion – neglecting any analysis of the problem, implementing unsophisticated initiatives, and sometimes a desire by those in charge to push revenue protection departments’ managers who were never deemed good enough to become station managers.
Dilute the role of the revenue protection team and it can have a more corrosive impact on the business than any late or dirty train. This would be criminal, given the scale and complexity of the problem at present, and the talents of those I encountered in the West Midlands last week who are tasked with finding answers and delivering solutions in arguably one of the most challenging environments currently.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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