Some ticket inspectors on our trains are getting a 5% commission on fines they “impartially” impose on passengers, according to the Department for Transport.

The fines, dubbed “Penalty Fares” by the train operating companies are effective in raising their revenue from passengers who inadvertently travel without a ticket, or on an incorrect one, but ineffective against fare dodgers who play the numbers by never buying a ticket and then cheerfully paying the occasional fine.

The commissions paid to inspectors torpedo any trust the fare paying public might have in the train operating companies. In a similar vein one deservedly maligned firm ,First Capital Connect claims that their appeals procedure against penalty fares is run ” independently of the train operating companies” when in fact it is run by a director of a train operating company who is registered at Companies House as a director of the Association of Train Operating Companies.

They lie.