Amendment 365 refers to a specific proposed change in the UK’s Crime and Policing Bill, aiming to significantly increase penalties for railway fare evasion by raising the maximum fine from £500 to £2,500, recognizing it as a serious crime linked to other offenses and a major financial drain on transport services.
Amendment 365 is another amendment from the Conservative Benches increasing penalties for fare dodging. As other speakers have said and I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, acknowledged this; the key to enforcement is consistency in how these regulations are applied and, currently, that is not the case. I hope that Great British Railways, when it takes over the franchises, will guarantee some common training and work in that area, which will stop the blindingly obvious things that we see. I have seen it at Westminster station here, where three people have just burst a barrier and there have been two staff members there with their arms folded almost waving them through: “It’s not my job, go”, and off they went.
I do not think the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, said it with any intention, but I have never found any staff on British railways to be sneering and offensive, but we have to understand that sometimes they are dealing with people who make a professional life of travelling on the railways without paying. I have been on a train down to London, and sitting across from me was a gentleman with a son who looked about 10 years of age with a little iPad. When we had got almost to Milton Keynes, about two miles out, a ticket collector came through and the man had a single off-peak ticket to Macclesfield, which is the next station from Stockport. He was not going buy another ticket—“I’m not buying a ticket. You can’t throw me off this train. I’ve got a child with me”.
That is the dilemma that the train manager faces. It is emotional blackmail, and how often does this happen? But the train manager was very polite. He dealt with him, and just asked him to either buy a ticket with his credit card, or he would have to get off at Milton Keynes and there would be a policeman waiting for him there. That seemed impossible to do, but he made a quick phone call, we pulled into Milton Keynes and the chap had to get off, because there was some peer pressure from other passengers, I must admit, and there was a policeman waiting for him. That sends a real message about the connectivity of what guards can do without having to get into a confrontation with passengers.
It is a double-edged sword. It is not always about putting up the fine; it is making sure that you can do it. I have been travelling on the Tube, which is slightly different, for 11 years and only once have I seen the crew that get on to get fare dodging on the Tube. About six get on at either entrance to a carriage and go right across, so between Tube stations they see everybody. Passengers cannot escape because they come at them from both sides. I have only ever seen that once in all the time I have travelled on the Tube. Catching them on the train rather than trying to stop them bursting through a barrier may be another option that Transport for London might want to consider.
Amendment 368A on freight crime is a very interesting probing amendment. Other Members have highlighted the level of crime that is logistics-centred, and the noble Lord, Lord Davies, told us the numbers and they are frightening. More frightening are the attacks on the drivers and the fact that motorway service stations are now being targeted by groups, and even organised crime, to deliberately target the operators. It is something the Government need to look at.
To be clear, this amendment does not change the law. It would not create a new offence. It would require the Home Secretary to establish a freight crime code and ensure that incidents are properly identified, recorded and investigated across all police forces. Recording these high-value crimes differently from a standard theft from a vehicle better reflects the seriousness and economic consequences of freight crime, which creates the groundwork for building a stronger deterrent to the organised and occasional criminals who are taking a huge amount of money out of our economy, threatening drivers and destabilising the logistics industry. I will be interested to hear what the Minister has to say, considering he is not looking to bring in a new Bill but is seeking to create a code. Surely, it is not beyond the wit of the Government to create a code to record and investigate, and ensure that people understand that these are high-value crimes and not just thefts from vehicles.