Nexus to name and shame Metro fare dodgers on its website.

All those taken to court for failing to pay the £20 penalty fare have had their names added to a section of the Metro website marked ‘Who’s been caught this month?’.

This is on top of the Metro Loser Lists which displays the names of ticket cheats prominently on posters throughout the Metro system and is circulated to the local media.

Nexus is also publishing the results of its regular Metro ticket inspections on its website along with the number of people who have failed to pay the £20 penalty fare within 21 days. This page will be updated every two weeks and posters will still be regularly put up at all stations on the system.

All the results have been broken down into groups of stations to make it easy to view how many people have been caught without tickets in the different parts of Tyneside and Wearside.

Metro Director, Mick Carbro, said: “Naming and shaming ticket cheats on our website helps us to underline the message that fare evasion comes with rising financial penalties and the increasing certainty of getting caught.

“Although ticket fraud on the Metro system is low we are determined to keep the pressure on the small minority of people who think they can get away with a free ride.

“When we get our electronic ticket barriers at 13 key stations we’ll be able to target more suburban stations and reduce fraud even further.”

Nexus is getting electronic ticket barriers at 13 stations as part of Phase One of the Metro Re-invigoration project. The Government is funding the £13m development, which will also see all 249 Metro ticket machines replaced with machines that accept credit and debit cards and banknotes.

The Nexus anti-fraud strategy involves more frequent targeted ticket inspections at stations and on board trains.
Inspections are also aimed at stations outside the central areas of Newcastle and Sunderland as shorter journeys account for a high percentage of ticketless travel.

Metro employs a private contractor, St James Security, to provide revenue control staff.
Metro’s own Travel Support Officers, who patrol the system into the night, and Northumbria Police officers, also check tickets.