UK: Computer expert forges rail tickets

[John Ashworth]

Computer expert forged rail tickets worth £12,472 over two years

Commuter Jonathan Moore given suspended sentence and ordered to pay back fares

* Adam Gabbatt and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 October 2009 14.21 BST

An IT consultant who for more than two years used forged rail tickets on his daily commute into London was today given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay back the fares.

Jonathan Moore saved £12,472 by using his computer skills to produce replica tickets for his daily journey from East Sussex to London.

Moore, 27, was foiled when a ticket inspector suspected something was awry with his ticket during a routine inspection last year. The keen-eyed train worker spotted differences in the colour and material of Moore's counterfeit ticket, and on further investigation found 11 forged tickets in the plastic wallet where the passenger kept his travel documents.

A laptop seized at Moore's home in Hove revealed designs for more than 70 fraudulent tickets. The court heard that Moore designed and printed three- and six- monthly rail tickets from his laptop.

Judge Richard Hayward described it as a "skilful and sophisticated fraud." He told Moore: "You are a computer expert who had a good job … It's very sad that you should use your skills for a fraudulent purpose."

Moore, who left his job after being threatened with disciplinary action, pleaded guilty to fraud, making 74 forged travel tickets and possessing 11 forged tickets in August this year. He was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to repay the £12,472 of unpaid ticket charges at Brighton crown court. He was also handed a 240-hour unpaid work order, and told to pay £510 costs.

Karen Boswell, customer services director at First Capital Connect, paid tribute to the company's staff. "The audacity of this fraud beggars belief and it is a tribute to our quick-witted staff that this thief was caught out," she said.

"Fare-dodgers like Moore are robbing the rail industry of £400m a year, money that could otherwise be invested in better services for the vast majority of law-abiding passengers who do pay for their rail ticket."

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Southminster to London return - 22 pounds! Gulp! 440 pounds a month!

[John Ashworth]

Train fares in UK are ludicrously expensive.