Andrew Commons speaks about the number of fines issued for people dodging fares

Transcript

00:00 I think if you look at the figures, fundamentally, we've carried a lot more customers last year

00:04 compared to the year before, but the number of tickets issued went down.

00:08 I think if you look at that from a southeastern point of view, but actually right across the rail industry as well,

00:13 it seems as though it has worked as a deterrent.

00:16 We are fundamentally issuing fewer tickets.

00:18 We don't actually want to issue any penalty fares.

00:20 That would be the ideal, that all customers pay for their fares in the same way that all customers

00:24 should pay for their shopping at the supermarket.

00:27 We would obviously like to get to a place where it's not needed.

00:29 But I think if you compare last year to the year before,

00:32 it certainly appears as though the increased penalty fare has worked as a deterrent

00:37 with fewer fares issued, despite the number of customers continuing to increase.

00:41 I think it's really, really important to recognise that Southeastern doesn't make any money from penalty fares.

00:47 So Southeastern is a publicly owned, not for dividend rail operator.

00:52 We are very much under the guise of the government.

00:55 So all money that we receive, either through fares or through penalty fares,

00:59 still goes to the same place, still goes to government,

01:02 it still goes towards the overall upkeep of the railway.

01:05 Our people are not paid a commission for issuing more penalty fares.

01:09 It is really just there as a deterrent to people to not try and get away with it

01:14 and also to provide a level playing field between those people and the vast majority,

01:18 say 97% of our customers, who pay for their fare every time they travel.

01:22 So we don't make a penny out of this.

01:25 It's just the right thing to do to provide a level playing field.

01:28 And all of the money that we receive through penalty fares or through normal fares

01:31 goes to the government, as you would expect,

01:36 and is therefore used to invest in the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of the railway.