Two rail companies admit they wrongly prosecuted 75,000 fare evasion offences

8 comments

1. >Brian O’Neill KC, representing Northern Rail, said both his company and Greater Anglia “recognise there was no power” to pursue such prosecutions. 

   Why would the courts allow these cases to be brought to court when there are no powers to bring them?

2. What a suprise – greedy train companies privately prosecuted people in an unsafe manner, wrecking lives and destroying livelihoods over what? A £5 ticket? It’s honestly disgusting.

   Rail companies continue to prosecute children for fraud, accuse passengers of molestation for having a foot on a metal sheet and intimidate passengers with interviews under caution (without access to lawyers and falsely stating they can draw negative inference). We let them do this by allowing private prosecutions – the same thing that brought misery to postmasters.

   When are we going to end private prosecutions in England and Wales and have a justice system that isn’t abused by train companies drunk on power and profit?

3. ban them from operating trains in this country then

4. How many more companies have done this? There needs to be an urgent inquiry into all private prosecutions.

5. Sounds like something that should be highly illegal and require some people to be brutally and mercilessly destroyed on a professional basis.

6. I’m glad we are nationalising the rail network, that we are getting great British rail. I hope this puts a stop to the greedy and corrupt rail companies that have destroyed the rail network over the last decade. Fuck LNER, fuck Northern Rail, fuck Arriva, fuck the lot of them.

   [https://gbrtt.co.uk/](https://gbrtt.co.uk/)

   [https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/17/unions-hail-uks-rail-renationalisation-bills-as-a-return-to-public-service](https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/17/unions-hail-uks-rail-renationalisation-bills-as-a-return-to-public-service)

7. This is being talked about before the ITV drama about it has been made?

8. The only reason this Single Justice Procedure exists is because they know that if we (the accused) were given the oppotunity to mount defenses properly the system would collapse. That’s why they given “discounts” for accepting speeding tickets etc and not chalenging them.

   Stuff Just Stop Oils antics, if everyone accussed of anything just elected to go to Court the consequences would be immense; the legal system would collapse.