Gardai gave out 12 fines to unsuspecting passengers when conducting random checks on train services in Kildare.
Leixlip officers accompanied Irish Rail officers to seek out travellers on board without a train ticket.
According to the Railway Safety Act, “a passenger who travels without a valid ticket faces a fine of up to €1,000 on conviction in the District Court as well as legal costs.”
However, it's more likely that passengers were asked to “pay a fine of €100 plus your unpaid fare,” as Iarnród Éireann explains its ‘Fixed Payment Notice’ is given to those who cannot produce a valid ticket.
According to data from last year, Irish Rail passengers without a ticket forked out a whopping €259,824 in fare evasion fines from March to September 2020.
As it turns out, passengers who pay their fine within two weeks only have to pay €45. Gardai and Irish Rail ticket officers could have handed out as many as 5,700 fare evasion fines between these months.
The Kildare Garda Division posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday: ”Leixlip Garda were today conducting random checks on train services in the locality with Irish Rail Revenue Protection officers. 12 tickets were issued to people who were travelling without a ticket.”
One Facebook commenter was frustrated at the decision of the Gardaí to accompany “the Revenue Protection officers whose job it is to catch people travelling with no ticket” and said the Gardaí “ did absolutely nothing other than waste taxpayers money?”
Another said: “That's it lads, catch them criminals, ignore the teenage thugs on the red luas line causing havoc, it's all about the revenue.”
