THE Government is taking a close look at the penalty fares system, which many operators use to discourage fraudulent travel.

It was introduced by British Rail on some commuter routes more than 20 years ago, but the system regularly sparks complaints that innocent passengers are sometimes persecuted for an honest mistake. Watchdog Passenger Focus has renewed its call to the rail industry to play fair with passengers who don’t have a valid ticket.

On the other hand, franchised operators are under pressure from the DfT to collect as much revenue as they can. The recent Govia Thameslink franchise includes improvements to revenue protection, both at stations and trains.

The DfT now says that it is considering an overhaul of the penalty fare appeals process, so that the procedure will become 'fairer and more open', and has launched a consultation.

The possible changes include:

- requiring train operators to remove the reference to criminal sanctions in letters chasing penalty fare payment. Government will provide new guidance to train operators to make clear that the threat of criminal sanctions for non-payment of a penalty fare, which is a civil offence, is not appropriate. Criminal sanctions will still apply in suspected cases of deliberate fare evasion.

- requiring all appeal bodies to adopt the “Stop the Clock” measure. This means that those appealing do not have to pay the penalty fare until a final ruling has been reached. The 21-day deadline for payment will be suspended when an appeal is received by the appeals body, and will only resume once a letter notifying the outcome has been issued. Only one of the two existing appeals bodies already uses “Stop the Clock”.

- requiring all appeals bodies to be independent of transport operators and owning groups. Currently, the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service (IPFAS) is owned by the Go-Ahead group, which runs Southeastern. IPFAS will need to be separated from its current owner to continue to hear appeals.

- creating an Independent Appeals Process to make final decisions. This will look at cases which have been considered twice by the appeals bodies and remain unresolved. This would give passengers further assurance their case has been fully and independently reviewed.

- regular ‘health checks’ of the system by government. We will ask train operators and appeals bodies to supply penalty fare and appeals information regularly to ensure that they are complying with the code of practice.

Rail minister Claire Perry said: "More people are using our railways than ever, and passengers rightly expect that we take strong action against fare dodgers. But passengers penalised through no fault of their own must be treated fairly.

“That’s why we have listened to passengers groups and are working with the rail industry to improve the system so it is clearer, fairer and easier to use.”

Colin Foxall, who chairs Passenger Focus, said: “It is right that train companies should take steps to stop those who try to evade paying fares. But those who have made an innocent mistake and been caught out by the many rules and restrictions should be treated with understanding and not immediately assumed to be guilty.

“We first highlighted this issue in our 2012 report Ticket to Ride and today’s update of that report shows that, while there have been some improvements, the outlook for being caught making a mistake can still be bleak. We call on the industry to apply penalties for ticketless travel with greater consistency and fairness.

“We are also looking for a change to the railway byelaws to stop the use of criminal sanctions where there isn’t any evidence that the passenger was attempting to commit fraud.”

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group, responded:: “We welcome the opportunity to work with the Government on the legislative changes needed to help modernise the penalty fare rules available to operators.

“While train companies need to be able to take a firm but fair approach to deal with the small minority who deliberately dodge fares and expect others to pick up the bill, the industry is already working hard to help ensure passengers feel they are being fairly treated.”

London Midland revealed a few days ago that it is changing its methods of revenue protection, and has recently reprimanded several hundred passengers on the Cross City line in Birmingham, issuing more than 100 penalty fares.

Darren Hanley, London Midland’s head of revenue protection said, “We recognise the need to separate the fare cheats from the honest mistakes and treat them differently. This idea is very much at the heart of our new approach to revenue protection, which has seen over 800 fare dodgers caught on the Cross City line in the last fortnight alone.

"The feedback on our new approach from genuine passengers has been very positive. We will continue to study the Passenger Focus findings and work with the DfT and industry colleagues to make further improvements in this area."

The public consultation runs until 27 April.