Thousands of train fare evasion prosecutions to be declared void

Thousands of prosecutions for alleged fare evasion brought by train companies are set to be declared void.

A judge ruled that four train companies, including Northern Rail, brought prosecutions against thousands of passengers using the controversial single justice procedure (SJP), despite not being permitted to do so. This meant that the prosecutions were 'unlawful' and 'void'.

Thousands of Northern passengers who were prosecuted for fare evasion could now have their criminal convictions quashed. Greater Anglia was another of the operators who used the SJP.

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At a hearing in June, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring told Westminster Magistrates’ Court he believed the prosecutions were 'probably unlawful', with lawyers for rail companies telling a further hearing last month they were 'in agreement' the cases should be quashed. In a ruling at the same court on Thursday, Judge Goldspring said six 'test cases' should be declared a 'nullity', so it was 'as if as though the proceedings never existed'.

Giving a summary of his judgment, he said: “Parliament did not envisage these offences being prosecuted through the SJP. They should never have been brought through that process.

"This is, to my mind, a paradigm nullity.” He added: “I’m satisfied that the correct approach is to declare each of the prosecutions void and a nullity.”

More than 74,000 people are thought to have been prosecuted for fare evasion offences under the SJP. Thursday’s ruling only affects the six 'test cases', with the judge putting in motion plans for the thousands of other prosecutions to be declared void in the same way.

Following his ruling, he said attempts would be made by