Blitz on fare dodgers

A blitz on train fare dodgers could see fines on London commuter routes doubled to £20.

All train companies operating in and out of London will oversee the new penalty - which could rise even higher if it fails to bite.

The increase does not include London Underground but Tube chiefs will come under pressure to put up their fine from the present £10.

The rail proposal comes after the Department of Transport discovered that the £10 fine was having little impact.

The penalty was first introduced 10 years ago but has failed to keep up with huge fare rises, leading some passengers to think it is worth taking the risk of being caught.

Transport minister David Jamieson published a consultation paper on the plans today. The £20 fine could come into force around the end of the year.

Mr Jamieson said persistent fare dodging was costing millions of pounds "at a time when Government is investing huge amounts of money into the railways".

He added: "These proposals should help to reduce the number of fare dodgers and act as a more realistic deterrent for others." The penalty scheme will affect South Eastern Trains ( suburban routes), South Trains (most routes), South West Trains (suburban area).

Also affected will be Thameslink (most routes), One (most suburban routes) c2c (all routes) First Great Western Link (inner suburban area), Chiltern Railways (all routes) West Anglia Great Northern (all routes), Central Trains (Birmingham area) Nexus Tyne & Wear Metro.

Rail operators have been forced in recent years to step up their campaigns against fare dodgers.

South West Trains, which operates into Waterloo, says it is losing £20million a year because of fare evaders. The company extended its penalty scheme from the London region to Hampshire and Dorset.

SWT charges offenders £10 or twice the cost of a full single fare to the next station.

The Strategic Rail Authority has recently granted companies permission for a massive increase in the area covered by the fines scheme. But some firms had a "yellow card" system with a warning that passengers would be fined if they were caught again.

London Underground admits to an average of 22,000 cases of fare evasion each year where people have deliberately avoided trying to pay by using a stolen or an altered ticket. It costs LU £25 million a year.