The transport secretary has written to train operators, giving her full support to the conclusions of a recent Office of Rail and Road report on how TOCs deal with passengers who try to evade paying fares. It had called for improvements to revenue protection, so that it becomes more consistent and fairer, and also effective.

The RMT held a mass meeting in Manchester on Thursday as part of its national campaign to end outsourcing on the railways. The RMT argues that all rail jobs such as cleaning, catering, engineering and station services should be brought back in-house to reverse decades of outsourcing that have ‘driven down pay, eroded conditions and undermined safety’.