Rail group and residents frustrated with fare dodging claims

Castleton Station has no ticket machine

Members of the rail group STORM are frustrated by claims made by Northern Rail that states Rochdale is a fare dodging hotspot.

The group say they have campaigned over the years to help resolve the problem of fair evasion but, despite their work, members have noticed that guards on the trains are often reluctant to check for tickets or they are prevented from checking tickets.

In news last week, Northern Rail revealed that out of 10,046 train journeys made without a ticket, 867 of those started in Rochdale.

Frank Salt, a member of STORM, said: “As a group, we rarely criticise the train staff because we understand that they have a hard job but we don’t think it is inaccurate that Northern Rail are suggesting that it is always the passengers fault.”

The news about fare dodging came off of the back of a campaign launched by Northern Rail to crack down on fare dodging across Greater Manchester.

Frank added: “We don’t know exactly where the figures have come from either, which is frustrating.”

Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Northern Rail said at the time: ““We hear all sorts of excuses from passengers as to why they don’t have a ticket – they don’t have any money or a conductor did not come down the train and sell them one. It’s the passenger’s responsibility to buy a ticket, so they must seek out the conductor to get one or if that is not possible, then buy a ticket at their destination station.”

Members of STORM were keen to point this out as an issue. One member said: “It is alright blaming customers but in the evening Northern do not bother collecting fares. I have travelled to Todmorden every Friday for the last couple of years and have never (or perhaps once) had a ticket checked on the last train back.

“If Northern believes it is a fare evasion black spot then perhaps Northern should get their conductors issuing a ticket and not just blame the passenger.”

It has also been noted that some stations in the borough currently don’t have a ticket office or working ticket machine for those travelling to purchase a ticket. Castleton in particular is a station that currently does not have a working ticket machine.

Michelle Ashworth, a Castleton resident, said: “It is a nightmare at Castleton. We don’t have a ticket machine and we don’t have anything to tell us when the trains are coming. Castleton has never had a ticket machine. I don’t think it’s fair that Northern Rail are blaming everyone else.”

Frank added: “I don’t know how people are supposed to get a ticket when there is nowhere to buy one from. People won’t go out of their way to walk down a train to find the conductor and the conductor usually won’t do it on a busy train anyway.”

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/85117/northern-rail-reveals-rochdale-is-fare-dodging-hot-spot