Fare cop

JUST the ticket . . . inspectors hunt ticket evaders at Oldham's King Street stop

A CRACKDOWN on unpaid Metrolink fines has resulted in nine Oldham arrests ­- with money owed totalling a staggering £15,000.

Warrants were carried out across the borough to target fare evaders who had failed to pay fines after being caught on trams without a ticket.

Seven were arrested in connection with £15,089 in unpaid fines and two more suspects surrendered themselves to court over £1,531 in unpaid fines.

A 48-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of two counts of burglary and a 20-year-old man on suspicion of breaching a suspended prison sentence order.

Further action is planned over the coming months with money recouped to be reinvested into the Metrolink network. Transport for Greater Manchester's customer operations director, Stephen Rhodes, said: "In its first 17 months of operation, the Travelsafe Unit has already delivered many successes, from school engagement programmes, drug seizures and addressing fare evasion such as this.

"The success of this operation shows that fare dodging is something we take extremely seriously and we will be taking further action to clampdown on it over the coming months.

"The message is clear ­- don't take the risk of travelling without a ticket, you will get caught and it's simply not worth it."

The Travelsafe Unit comprises a team of police constables, special constables and security personnel.

Led by Transport for Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Police, the scheme allows Metrolink, First Manchester and Stagecoach to share intelligence as well as crime and anti-social behaviour data.

The scheme has been funded for three years but will be subject to formal annual reviews and regular scrutiny by a strategy group made up of members from organisations involved.