South Western Railway has launched a crackdown on passengers who buy a ticket covering part of a journey and then travel the whole way.
The operator, which runs Island Line and the Mainland services most Islanders use to get to London, calls the practice short-faring, and says it has found widespread misuse of barcode tickets and e-tickets.
Island Line passengers between Ryde Pier Head and Shanklin travel with the same operator, as do Islanders who pick up a London train at Portsmouth Harbour or Southampton Central.
Passengers make around 172 million journeys a year across the South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex network.
The £40 million gap
On around 6.5 million of those journeys nobody holds a valid ticket, which the operator says costs it close to £40 million a year.
The Rail Delivery Group puts the figure for the whole rail industry at close to £400 million a year.
South Western Railway says its revenue protection work has cut fare evasion by more than two thirds, or 67 per cent, since 2017.
The operator reports a further 11 per cent fall over the past year.
Barcode tickets between Vauxhall and Waterloo
South Western Railway estimates fraudulent use accounts for up to 95 per cent of barcode tickets bought between Vauxhall and London Waterloo, putting up to £1 million of revenue at risk.
In June 2026 it started a trial at London Waterloo, where its teams had recorded high numbers of persistent ticket misuse.
Since then, revenue protection staff have identified 153 short-faring offences, against seven in the same period last year.
Early data also suggests around one-third of the passengers previously caught short-faring on the route now buy the correct ticket for their journey.
The first four weeks of the trial protected £45,000, according to the operator.
Dodgers moving to other stations
However, some fare dodgers changed tactics quickly, buying barcode tickets at other South Western Railway stations in London instead.
One of those stations recorded an 89 per cent rise in barcode ticket sales compared with the same period last year.
One customer ended up owing more than £11,000 after repeatedly travelling from Hampshire to London without buying the correct ticket.
Over four years.
Another evaded £20,000 across three years of journeys between Surrey and London, and fraudulently used a 16-17 railcard on top of that.
Checking tickets around the clock
Matthew Winnie, South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex chief customer and commercial officer, says:
“The overwhelming majority of our customers pay the correct fare.
“However, there’s growing evidence of some people deliberately exploiting the system, a criminal offence that deprives the railway of hundreds of millions of pounds each year.
“We know our customers don’t like seeing blatant fare evasion, whether that’s tailgating through ticket gates or simply travelling without a ticket.
“But we’re also tackling the less visible forms of fare fraud, including short-faring and misuse of e-tickets.
“Every fare avoided is money that can’t be reinvested into improving the railway and delivering the best possible service.
“We have a responsibility to protect revenue and our specially trained teams work around the clock to check tickets on stations and trains to improve fairness for the millions of customers who do the right thing.”
Fare Dodgers on Channel 5
Channel 5 screened the first episode of Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law at 9pm on Monday 3rd August, following the operator’s revenue protection teams at work.
Episodes are available on demand through the 5 app.
