Fare Dodging Couple Who Defrauded The Railway Ordered To Pay £6K

A man and woman from Bishops Stortford who travelled on the railway using ‘short tickets’ have been ordered to pay back more than £6,000 to National Express East Anglia (NXEA) following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

The couple, Stephanie Thorndycraft (23) and Liam Cox (26) of Clipped Hedge, Bishops Stortford, appeared at City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, 28 September 2011, after they pled guilty to fraud by false representation.

During proceedings, the court heard that Cox was stopped by a member of NXEA staff while sitting in a first class carriage at the beginning of July.

When asked for his ticket Cox said he didn’t have one because the ticket machines hadn’t been working, despite holding one in his hands. Cox continued to give feeble explanations, which the vigilant staff didn’t believe.

The train next arrived at Tottenham Hale station and soon after the member of staff cautioned Cox, he ran away.

BTP investigators worked with NXEA’s fraud unit and discovered that Cox had been travelling on ‘short tickets’ between Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street stations, despite logging down his home address as being in Sawbridgeworth

At the beginning of August, NXEA revenue protection officers covertly visited Cox’s home address, and saw a woman, later identified as Thorndycraft, walking out.

She then travelled on to Liverpool Street and when rail staff asked for her ticket they discovered that she had also been travelling on ‘short tickets’.

Constable Mandy Humphrey, the BTP investigating officer, said that during interview Cox admitted to travelling from Sawbridgeworth to London Liverpool Street five times a week since February 2010 in order to get to work:

“Cox went on to admit that he had been stopped before by rail staff on several occasions but would continue to travel fraudulently, despite being issued with fines.

“What’s worse is that Cox had freely told his girlfriend what he had been doing and Thorndycraft duly copied her boyfriend’s dishonest activities since the beginning of this year.”

BTP officers and National Express East Anglia calculated that in terms of compensation, Cox was responsible for £4,719.60 while Thorndycraft was responsible for £1,640.80

Constable Humphrey added: “Cox and Thorndycraft clearly enjoyed not paying their full rail fares, spending their excess money on expensive items.

“Although the couple made full and frank admissions, travel fraud is a serious crime and for this they thoroughly deserved to appear in front of the courts.

“Their sentence should serve as a warning to others that BTP, together with our railway colleagues, will continue to investigate and put a stop to prolific fraud offenders.”

Alan Perry,  National Express East Anglia’s Head of Revenue Protection said: “These successful prosecutions should act as a warning to those intent on defrauding the railway that their actions will not be tolerated.

“We will continue to work closely with the BTP to ensure that honest fare paying customers are not subsidising the rail travel of fare evaders.”

At court, both Cox and Thorndycraft also received 24-month conditional discharges and ordered to pay £85 in costs.

Stationmaster SACKED for leaping onto tracks and pulling trolley out of path of oncoming trains

Original Source: Daily Mail

A dedicated station master has been sacked after 27 years working for the same company – for pulling a shopping trolley off the track.

Ian Faletto jumped onto the line at Lymington Pier train station, Hants, and pulled the obstacle back onto the platform after it was chucked on by yobs.

He was dismissed for ‘a serious breach of safety’ by heartless South West Trains for his act of bravery, which prevented a crash with oncoming trains.

Ian, who managed Lymington Town, Lymington Pier, Ashurst and Beaulieu Road stations, spent hundreds of pounds a year of his own money on flowers for the four stations he looked after, went in on his days off to man them and provided free sweets and jigsaws for passengers.

And the 49-year-old – who wore a buttonhole to work and even spent his own money having carpets and heaters installed in his stations – was said to be furious at the decision.

‘What I did prevented an accident,’ he said.

‘I saw the trolley on the line at Lymington Pier, got power turned off and managed to remove it before the first train arrived that morning.

‘I can’t believe they have sacked me after all I have done for them.

‘I have gone in on days off and spent thousands of pounds of my own money making the stations the best they can be.

‘I don’t know how how I am going to get by now – because I was sacked I have lost my mortgage protection and my pension.

‘I will have to find a way, but the trains are all I know.’ Ian, who is taking South West Trains to a tribunal, has had a flood of support from passengers who are signing a petition to get him reinstated.

Petition organiser Reverend Alex Russell, 52, said, ‘He always went the extra mile for passengers.  “No one has ever had a bad word to say about him. People have been driving miles to come to the station just to sign my petition.

‘He has been sacked for breach of Health and Safety but there is an exception rule if it is an emergency.

‘I would have thought stopping an accident on a railway track is an emergency.

‘His life is ruined. He has worked for the railways for 27 years and has nothing else.’

Ian, from Southampton, worked at nearby Sway station for 15 years, where he won several awards, before moving to Lymington.

Just ten weeks after he transferred in 2006 Lymington was named the most improved station in the region.

But his perfect track record did not stop South West Trains giving him the sack.

A South West Trains spokesman said: “We can confirm that an employee has been dismissed for a serious breach of safety.

‘All our employees are aware of the importance of complying with the strict rules governing railway safety, which we have a duty to enforce.’

Comment: Unfortunately the media have done their usual fine job of rushing to get a story to print and therefore there is a lot of information missing from this article.  On the ‘facts’ presented it would seem that Southwest Trains have acted harshly in their treatment of Mr Faletto but there are questions that needed to be asked that obviously weren’t.

When you begin work on the railways, your job description falls under two distinct headings.  Safety Critical and Non Safety Critical.  Safety Critical staff (Train Drivers, Guards, Track Workers, Train Dispatchers) all undergo stringent training which leads to them being issued with a Personal Track Safety (PTS) Card.  This is basically to say that they have been trained to access the track safely and are aware of the way they are expected to act.

Non Safety Critical staff (Revenue Staff, Booking Office Staff, Customer Service Staff, Etc.) are not required to access the tracks or have any input into the operations side of the railway and therefore do not possess PTS cards.

Every time I have attended an induction course for a Train Operating Company (TOC), the message is hammered home that as Non Safety Critical staff, you do not access the track for ANY reason.  This is due to the fact that no training is given in track safety.  The correct procedure is for the member of staff to immediately contact the signalman using a post telephone or other means to inform of the blockage/casualty, this will allow the signalman to set signals to danger and arrange for power supply to the track to be switched off (where appropriate).  The procedure then calls for someone who is PTS trained to access the track and deal with the situation.

EVERY TOC I have worked for has been VERY explicit in the fact that they all declared that any non safety critical staff who access the tracks will face severe disciplinary action (normally dismissal) and some will even call for prosecution.

With this in mind, the original story now seems to have been vastly blown out of all proportion and, if Mr Faletto was indeed Non Safety Critical, then Southwest Trains have acted properly and the matter should be allowed to drop.  If, however Mr Faletto is a PTS card holder then there is obviously something else going on that needs further analysis.