LETTER: Money should be spent on catching train fare dodgers
Northern Rail has recently appointed someone whose job is to increase the number of people using their trains. It will be interesting to see how he is going to achieve this. I have visions of either a Pied Piper of Hamelin-type figure leading a procession towards the railway station or someone prowling the streets like the press gangs of old.
In a more serious vein, like me, the majority of those who use the Pacer trains are commuters and only do so because they have to, not because they want to, so short of letting people ride for free, I can see no other way of getting more passengers.
I know of many instances of fare-dodging, so if Northern Rail wants to increase revenue, which is really the object of the exercise, would it not make more sense if this person was employed to collect fares rather than waste thousands of pounds on an airy-fairy, pie-in-the-sky scheme?
G. METCALFE
Smith Street, Nelson