Fare evasion must be rife in the evenings

[grainne whale]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

Perhaps one sees very few that get caught. Seeing someone getting caught requires (a) the ticket to be checked (b) the ticket (if present) seen to be invalid (c) this to be within ear-shot / sight of observers and (d) it has to be obvious (which can be quite subjective) that there is a dispute between passenger and staff member that there is a ticket discrepancy.

I've used about 20 National Rail trains in Britain over the last few years and invariably have had my ticket checked - a mix of at stations and on-board, sometimes both.

Yes, I've travelled extensively in UK, Spain and Italy and tickets are checked as you say, however IR prefer not to use ticket checkers and use 'ambush tactics' instead. Surely it is more effective to employ ticket checkers.