By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
A crackdown against fare evasion on Nottingham’s tram network led to almost 10,000 non-paying passengers being fined.
The zero tolerance campaign began at the end of last year, and more than 9,700 penalty fare notices have since been issued by inspectors between January and August.
Around 2,100 people have also been prosecuted through the courts over the same period.
Jo Bentley, head of customer experience for Nottingham Trams Ltd, says there has been a 33 per cent increase in the number of penalty fares issued so far this year.
“It’s the same really as going into a local shop and stealing a loaf of bread, it is theft,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It shows what we are doing in terms of detecting fare evasion is certainly successful.”
Despite more penalty fares being issued, Ms Bentley says the number of people not paying for a ticket has been falling.
At the start of the year it was estimated 10 per cent of all passengers were not paying for a ticket.
This has since fallen to between seven and eight per cent.
“Before the zero tolerance campaign came in, we were giving a lot of people the benefit of the doubt and we were issuing quite a lot of verbal warnings,” Ms Bentley said.
“We were probably, in a month, issuing about 1,000 verbal warnings.
“Now we are really trying to stamp down we are probably issuing between 30 and 40 per month. The message is out there; if you don’t have a valid ticket to travel, then you’ll be issued with a penalty fare.
“In terms of detection of fare evasion that has increased, but we are starting to see the fare evasion percentage decrease.”
Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council were both initially responsible for the network until the County Council pulled out in 2015.
The deal was subsequently transferred to Tramlink for 22 years.
Keolis and its subsidiary Nottingham Trams Ltd run the city’s network on behalf of Tramlink, under the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) name and branding.
Roughly £20m is brought in each year in revenue from ticket sales, however fare evasion had been losing the operator an estimated £2m.
Ms Bentley said there had been an improvement in losses through fare evasion, but declined to provide a figure to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“In terms of the penalty fares that are issued and the income that comes in from penalty fares, all of that money is reinvested in tackling fare evasion,” she added.
“Whether that is the staff that are out there protecting the revenue, whether it be the police support we pay for on top of our teams, whether it be training for the teams to be the best they can be in their roles, so it is not a revenue generating channel.
“It allows us to really reinvest in protecting our revenue. It is money well spent. We would not do it if we wasn’t providing us with resource in terms of revenue.”