Crackdown to tackle Nottingham tram fare dodgers

Fare dodgers on Nottingham's trams have been warned they will face £70 fines in a crackdown, with some proceeds going towards the crisis in Ukraine.

Inspections on the network will be increased from Monday and people found without a valid ticket will receive on-the-spot fines, Tramlink and NET said.

They said a "proportion" of the fines would go to help Ukrainian refugees.

City and county councillors said they were concerned people were "abusing" the tram network by not paying.

Calls were made to increase inspection teams at peak times in the morning and evenings at a meeting of the city and county's light rapid transit advisory committee, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Andrew Conroy, chief operating officer of Tramlink, said the number of fare dodgers was roughly 6.8% of all travellers and the number was something "we need to bring down".

He said: "From March 21 we will be having zero tolerance, we're doubling the size of our revenue protection team and we've spent the last four or five months on an education programme for customers saying you still need to buy a ticket.

"For anybody who has to pay a penalty fare during this time, we're going to be giving a proportion of that money to Ukraine refugees and that starts next week."

Tram bosses have also confirmed fares will be increasing in the coming weeks, with single tickets to rise by 20p and 30p for day fares.

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