A banking accountant and company director has a criminal record today after he admitted fare dodging between Skipton and York.

Brian Turner, 65, was travelling from Skipton to his home in Morpeth, Northumberland, with two tickets, one of them bought some days in advance, for his journey, York magistrates heard.

But, said Andy Ellis, prosecuting for CrossCountry Trains, they didn’t cover the entire journey and Turner knew that he didn’t have a valid ticket for the stretch between Leeds and York when he boarded a CrossCountry service at Leeds. Turner, who runs a banking consultancy and is a qualified accountant, of Wansdyke, Morpeth pleaded guilty to fare dodging between Skipton and York on June 20 with intent to avoid paying.

Magistrates gave him an absolute discharge, saying the court case and the criminal conviction was sufficient punishment. They ordered him to pay the £9.05 he hadn’t paid of his fare and £30 prosecution costs. The full fare between Skipton and Morpeth is £60.20.

Mr Ellis said Turner had an advance ticket bought before June 18 for York to Morpeth and a £6.35 ticket for Skipton to Leeds, bought at a ticket machine 20 minutes before he started his journey.

He had had a 10-minute connection at Leeds where there was an open ticket office. He had therefore had three chances to buy a ticket covering the Leeds to York stretch before boarding the train to York.

York Press:

Turner said he hadn’t seen “York” on the list of destinations on the Skipton ticket machine. He had offered to buy a ticket on the CrossCountry service when the guard asked to see one. But the guard had refused to take payment.

Mr Ellis said guards were allowed to refuse payment if they believed a passenger had deliberately not bought a ticket before getting on a train.