Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to change the regulations on the appeals process against the imposition of penalty fares by rail operators.

The Government published its response on the rail fares penalty appeal process consultation in December 2016. The response set out plans to bring forward a new statutory instrument, strengthening passenger protections, and introducing provisions requiring train operators that operate a penalty fares scheme to introduce an independent third stage appeal with these changes to be in effect from April 2018. The industry has already taken steps towards this objective and the recruitment process, run by Transport Focus, for the independent panel commenced on 8 January 2018.