Yorkshire secondary school headteachers urged by Northern to help tackle ‘persistent, calculated fare evasion’ by students

Headteachers of 11 secondary schools and academies across the North of England are being asked to help address what Northern calls ‘persistent, calculated fare evasion’ by students.

Nearing the end of the academic year, the train operator said it is time for headteachers to work with them to combat the issue.

The plea comes after a catalogue of incidents since September 2023, including students travelling without tickets, ticket fraud and anti-social behaviour as well as verbal and physical assaults on conductors and station staff.

The behaviour at some stations has been so severe that Northern has had to request support from British Transport Police to maintain order.

Commercial and customer director at Northern, Mark Powles, said: “What we’re seeing is persistent, calculated fare evasion.

“With secondary school students, fare evasion incidents tend to occur on relatively short journeys between rural and suburban stations which are not barrier-controlled.

“That, combined with the limited time conductors have to carry out ticket checks, emboldens students to travel without a ticket.”

However, in recent months, Northern said incidents have had an increasingly anti-social element to them, with reports of verbal and physical assaults on train crew and station staff.

Mr Powles said: “We’ve seen students climb on station canopies and assault station staff in order to avoid ticket checks - it’s completely unacceptable.

“That’s why we’re calling on headteachers to help us identify repeat offenders.”

The schools that Northern has written to are:

- Bingley Grammar, West Yorkshire

- Hazel Grove High School, Greater Manchester

- Highfields College, Greater Manchester

- Knutsford High School, Cheshire

- Nunthorpe Academy, North Yorkshire

- Rainhill High School, Merseyside

- Reddish Vale High School, Greater Manchester

- Sutton Academy, Merseyside

- Turton High School, Greater Manchester

- Ulverston Victoria High School, Cumbria

- Wilmslow High School, Cheshire

The train operator is already working with the headteacher of Honley High School in West Yorkshire and said a joined-up approach makes a significant difference.

Teachers have been deployed to the local station (Honley) to help identify students and ensure station staff are able to carry out ticket checks without a risk to their safety.

Assistant headteacher of Honley High School, James Meads, said: “As part of the school’s on-going work with Northern we have deployed members of teaching staff to the local railway station to help identify students that have attempted to fare evade on their commute to school.

“As well as raising the topic of fare evasion in school assemblies we have also contacted the parents of students to make them aware - and we will continue to support Northern on this issue when the new academic year gets underway in September.”

In January, Northern urged parents to secure a discount worth 75 per cent off the cost of their child’s commute to school via its Under 16 Education Season Ticket scheme.

Northern has also invested in the largest network of ticket infrastructure of any train operator in the country, with students able to buy their ticket from the Northern app, website, ticket offices or one of more than 600 ticket vending machines across the network.