A TRAIN firm, which operates in York, has recovered over £2 million for taxpayers from fare evaders over the last year.

There were 90,000 reported instances of attempted fare evasion on Northern trains between April 1 2021 and March 31 2022, of which 53,000 were issued with a formal penalty fare.

Northern successfully prosecuted more than 11,000 of the worst offenders and, in total, was able to recover £2,077,559.

Mark Powles, customer and commercial director at Northern, said: “Customers have a duty to buy a ticket for travel before they board a train - and the overwhelming majority of them do.

“Unfortunately, a small number of people deliberately try to fare evade and we have a responsibility to pursue those so that fare paying passengers are not subsidising the cost of travel for those who do not pay their fare.

"The money recovered can now be reinvested in making the rail network better for all our customers, including improvements to trains, stations and other passenger facilities.”

Northern has made it easy for customers to buy tickets, with digital tickets available for all journeys. The firm operates nearly 2,000 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.