Train Fare Dodger Receives £12,000 Fine And Nine Month Suspended Sentence

An IT expert recently put his skills to a different use by printing his own fake travel tickets to travel from East Sussex to London. Mr Moore, 27, from Hove, made his own tickets to travel from Brighton to London. It was only when a ticket inspector noticed that there were slight differences between his ticket and the official tickets that suspicions were aroused.

On further investigation 11 forged tickets were found on Mr Moore and over 70 fraudulent designs were found on his laptop at his Hove home.

Mr Moore pleaded guilty at Brighton Crown Court on 2nd October 2009 and was given a 9 month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £12,472 of unpaid railway fares to First Capital Connect.

Adrian O’Brien, Railway Fare Evasion expert at Gray Hooper Holt Solicitors says of the prosecution:

"We are seeing more and more cases where people are taking chances, either by not buying valid train tickets, or using other people’s season tickets to travel to and from work. The worst cases are those like Mr Moore’s where a person deliberately prepares a fraudulent travel ticket."

"I don’t really understand why people take the risk as the consequences of a succesful railway or bus fare evasion prosecution can be severe. In addition to a potential fine and even a prison sentence, a successful prosecution counts as a criminal conviction and can stop someone travelling to America. A dishonesty conviction will also have to be mentioned on all future job applications. Is it really worth the risk to save a few pounds?"

First Capital Connect customer services director Karen Boswell said of the fare evasion:

"Fare-dodgers like Moore are robbing the rail industry of £400 million a year, money that could otherwise be invested in better services for the vast majority of law-abiding passengers who do pay their rail tickets."

If, for whatever reason, you do get caught without a train or bus ticket, contact us urgently for legal advice. You can call Adrian O’Brien on 0808 178 9002.

Credit Card Payments Accepted

Legal Website Design - Samson Consulting © Gray Hooper Holt LLP.

This web site has been developed with valid XHTML / CSS / Site Map / Terms

Gray Hooper Holt LLP is a firm of solicitors and is Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Its registered office is at 6 Linkfield Corner, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1BB and its company number is OC318445.