Legal challenge to railway blockon station access moves nearer

THE prospect of a legal challenge in the dispute over public access to Sheffield Midland railway station appears more likely after South Yorkshire’s public transport body decided to call in lawyers for advice.

They expect to spend around 2,000 on advice from counsel about whether East Midland Trains has the right to block access for pedestrians without tickets who simply want to pass through the station as part of their journey.

Pedestrians use the station bridge as a convenient and safe route from their homes into the city centre but East Midland Trains is concerned about commuters using trains without paying and wants to bar anyone without a ticket from that area.

Its long term aim is to install ticket barriers, but there have been occasions already where it has used staff to carry out physical checks for tickets and blocked the route to those not using trains.

Sheffield Council has objected strongly, with political parties uniting in their determination to keep the access open to those who need it.

Work has already started by the council to secure a right of way, either on a legal or voluntary basis, through the concourse.

However South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority, the political body responsible for the county’s public transport network, is now seeking its own legal opinion about how East Midland Trains is operating access to the station.

According to an authority’s report, the train company is relying on railway bylaws to prohibit members of the public with no ticket from using parts of the station.

The authority has formally opposed ticket barriers at the station since 2008, but its members – councillors from the county’s four district councils – have not debated the issue of ticket checks in the same way.

As a result, they have now agreed to seek legal advice on EMT’s legal position.

The report states: “EMT are undertaking manual ticket checks and they consider such checks are authorised using powers contained in bylaws.

“Sheffield station is subject to a Penalty Fares Scheme made under the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations 1994.

“In effect this allows the operator to levy a penalty for ticketless travel. Sheffield is not however a Compulsory Ticket Area. This would allow a penalty fare to be levied for being present in a defined area without a ticket even if no travel had been taken/proven.

“EMT argue that they are not looking at issuing penalty fares to persons using the bridge for access but rather to reduce the level of fraud/fare evasion.

“On days when they undertake barrier checks they need to prevent access to the station in order to be able to identify that a person who presents themselves at the barrier without a ticket must have arrived by train.”

That would allow the company to issue a penalty and EMT has argued that is an acceptable use of the bylaws and the authority accepts that the rail company has some legal rights to restrict access.

“The purpose of taking counsel’s opinion would be to test whether the use of the bylaws and/or the exercise of common law rights was a reasonable use by EMT of the powers granted having regard to the overall statutory regime and the purpose of the bylaws,” said the report.

If the legal opinion suggests that EMT has the right to check tickets in the way it has, the only remaining option for keeping the route open to pedestrians would rest with Sheffield Council and its ability to secure a right of way.

According to the ITA, the rail company has previously estimated the cost in lost revenue from fare dodgers at 2m a year.

No further comment was available from East Midland Trains.