Train Ticket Cheat Jailed For 22 Months

A man’s been jailed for 22 months for defrauding LNER out of thousands of pounds. 

Paul James King, who’s 35 and from Brown Hill Terrace in Leeds, bought digital tickets that he sold on to fellow football fans, he would then apply for refunds both before and after the tickets were used. 

King bought more than £4,000 worth of tickets between November 2021 and May 2022, of which £3,246 worth were refunded but used for travel. 

Staff at LNER’s Customer Contact Centre became suspicious of King’s level of refunds and the elaborate reasons provided, such as repeated family illnesses. This prompted them to refer the matter to LNER’s internal Fraud Investigations team. 

After an investigation by LNER and the British Transport Police, King was charged with a Section 7 Fraud offence – making or supplying articles for use in frauds. Following a full admission under caution, Mr King pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to this offence. 

King later altered a letter from the NHS to make it look as if he was fit to undertake unpaid work in an attempt to influence the judge’s sentencing options. When this was discovered, King was additionally charged with perverting the course of justice, to which he denied under caution and pleaded not guilty to at the Magistrates Court. King subsequently changed his plea to guilty when sent to York Crown Court, where it was also heard that Mr King had previous convictions for fraud which were deemed an aggravating factor. 

Paul Larder, Head of Risk and Assurance at LNER, said: “This case should be a warning to anyone thinking about defrauding the railway. This cheat was spotted by colleagues in our Customer Contact Centre, but on top of that we’re also now using AI to look for unusual patterns in our refunds. The defendant in this case was selling cheap tickets to fellow football fans – the clear advice is to only buy tickets from reputable outlets or direct from LNER.”

Sentencing took place at York Crown Court on Friday 5th April 2024.