More than 28,000 rail fare evasion prosecutions have been declared null and void during a brief two-minute hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The cases, brought by Northern Rail and TransPennine Express, were thrown out after it emerged the companies had wrongly used a legal procedure to prosecute passengers.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled that the prosecutions were unlawful, paving the way for affected passengers to receive refunds.
Northern Rail brought 28,631 prosecutions against passengers between August 6, 2020 and May 21, 2024, covering a large part of northern England.
Northern Rail welcomed the outcome and apologised for the “errors”
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TransPennine Express, which operates across the North of England and Scotland, had 41 prosecutions from January 2024 thrown out.
The cases were among thousands of fare evasion prosecutions being reviewed, with more hearings set to take place for other train operators.
The cases were quashed because the rail companies used the single justice procedure (SJP), a system established in 2015 for magistrates to handle minor offences without defendants appearing in court.
While rail companies were permitted to use the SJP from 2016 to prosecute fare evaders, they brought cases under the Regulation of Railways Act 1889.
This Victorian-era legislation was not allowed under the SJP, making the prosecutions unlawful.
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TransPennine Express had 41 prosecutions from January 2024 thrown out
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In August, Mr Goldspring had ruled that six “test cases” of fare evasion prosecutions should be declared a “nullity”, indicating other cases would face the same outcome.
During Thursday’s hearing, the Chief Magistrate was clear in his judgement: “Parliament did not envisage these offences being prosecuted through the SJP.”
“They should never have been brought through that process,” he added. “This is, to my mind, a paradigm nullity.”
Northern Rail welcomed the outcome and apologised for the “errors”.
Several other train operators are affected by similar cases, including Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Merseyrail and C2C.
The Courts and Tribunals Service said most cases were prosecuted from 2020, under sections 5(1) or 5(3) of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889.
Passengers affected by the ruling will be contacted directly by the Courts and Tribunals Service about their cases, including information about financial penalty refunds.
A Northern Rail spokesman said: “We are unable to respond to individual queries at this time.”
