Fare evasion: It’s not worth the gamble

c2c is committed to tackling fare evasion. Revenue from fares is crucial for investing in safe, clean and reliable public transport. Fare evasion is a criminal offence estimated to cost the rail industry around £240m+ a year, and c2c strives to ensure that wherever possible, fare evaders themselves, not fare or taxpayers, pay the cost of fare evasion.

What is fare evasion?

Fare or ticket evasion, is travelling on public transport without paying the correct fare for your journey, deliberately or inadvertently.

Fare evasion has become more complex than simply not buying a ticket or travelling on a discounted ticket in recent times. Repeat offenders attempt to outsmart the system through fraudulent refund requests, delay repay claims and a process known as ‘short faring’.

What are the consequences of fare evasion?

There is no excuse not to purchase a ticket before you travel. Tickets can be purchased via our app, website, ticket offices or one of more than 50 ticket machines across the network.

• Fare evasion can result in a Penalty Fare of £100 plus the price of the full single fare applicable for your intended journey.
• Fare evasion robs c2c’s community of vital investment in a safe, frequent and reliable transport. The lost revenue cannot be reinvested to improve our transport network.
• Persistent fare evaders, once identified, will be prosecuted for historic cases of fare evasion as well as the journey for which they were caught. This carries an uncapped fine resulting in one customer paying £10k back in avoided fares.
• Fare evasion can result in a criminal record which can affect your current or future employability.
• Perpetrators of ticket fraud are prosecuted under the Fraud Act 2006. Other types of fare evasion are prosecuted under the provisions of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 and the Railway Byelaws made pursuant to the Transport Act 2000.