Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to make an assessment of the effectiveness of the use of prosecutions for low level offenses by rail operators.

I am aware of the recent coverage of a number of prosecutions undertaken by one rail operator. It would be inappropriate to comment on the details of individual cases, but we expect operators to ensure their policy on ticketing is clear and fair for passengers at all times and have instructed the operator to review the details of these cases urgently. Ticketing has become far too complicated which is why we plan to simplify it as part of the biggest overhaul of our railways in a generation.