Two rail companies admit they wrongly prosecuted 75,000 fare evasion offences
Two train companies have admitted they wrongly prosecuted alleged fare evaders in a case that could lead to 75,000 convictions being quashed.
Lawyers for Northern Rail and Greater Anglia said in court that they agreed the way they had pursued prosecutions was legally void.
Since 2016, about 75,000 prosecutions have been brought by train companies under the controversial single justice procedure (SJP).
Under the SJP, cases are decided in private, often by a single magistrate without the defendant appearing in court.
Northern and Greater Anglia are accused of criminalising alleged fare evaders by bringing some ticket evasion prosecutions under the SJP system, which is not permitted.
The admissions come as The Telegraph reveals that Nicholas Donovan, Northern’s chief executive, and Jenny Henderson, the train company’s head of legal, were warned about the unlawful prosecutions last year.
A member of the public who believed he was being wrongly prosecuted wrote to the two officials warning them that what he believed they were doing was not legal.
Christian Waters from Leeds claims he did not hear back from either of them or from anyone else at Northern for six months, until after he contacted Rachel Reeves, his local MP.
At Westminster magistrates’ court on Friday, six test cases were heard, three from convictions secured by Northern and three from Greater Anglia.
Brian O’Neill KC, representing Northern Rail, said both his company and Greater Anglia “recognise there was no power” to pursue such prosecutions.
He told Paul Goldspring, the Chief Magistrate of England and Wales: “We are all in agreement that the proceedings which were brought by the single justice procedure were a nullity.”
‘A series of significant errors’
Greater Anglia said in written submissions that it acknowledged “a series of significant errors” had occurred and wanted to “apologise unreservedly” to those affected.
Mr Goldspring, who previously described the prosecutions as “probably unlawful”, said declaring them a nullity was the “correct legal way forward” and there was no danger of the defendants being prejudiced by that ruling.
Northern and Greater Anglia secured their convictions under the controversial SJP, where large numbers of court cases are ruled upon by a single magistrate behind closed doors.
The London Evening Standard has previously reported that such “hearings” last an average of 45 seconds each.
The single justice procedure was set up in 2015 to allow magistrates to decide on minor offences, such as using a television without a licence or driving without car insurance, without defendants going to court.
However, the Magistrates’ Association said in March “there are concerns” that cases are being brought before magistrates without prosecutors, such as the DVLA or TV Licensing, reading mitigations and that many of its members are “uncomfortable” with the system.
The chief magistrate adjourned the hearing to Aug 15 at the same court, when he is expected to hand down a judgment.
Northern said it was “unable to respond to individual enquiries” about rail ticket prosecutions, but that it was supporting the court ahead of the next hearing in the test cases, scheduled for August.
A spokesman said: “We welcome the views expressed by the Chief Magistrate in court today. We would like to apologise for the errors that have occurred and are co-operating fully with the court review.
“We will now support the court ahead of the next hearing.
“Northern remains committed to ensuring that all our customers are treated fairly, which means ensuring all passengers who board our trains have a valid ticket.”