Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion in each month since 4 July 2024.

Deliberate fare dodging undermines our railway. It drains much needed revenue and undercuts the trust of passengers who play by the rules. It has no place on our railways. Although we do not hold data for the revenue lost due to rail fare evasion per month, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has estimated annual revenue lost to fraud and ticketless travel is at least £350-£400 million.

The Office for Rail and Road have carried out a review of train operator revenue protection practices which was published in June. It set out five recommendations which include introducing greater consistency and fairness in the use of prosecutions as well as greater coordination, oversight and transparency of revenue protection. The Department has accepted all five recommendations and will publish its formal response to this review in due course.