TRAIN provider Northern has written to the headteachers of eleven secondary schools in North England – including two in St Helens - with a plea to help them tackle what they call ‘persistent, calculated fare evasion’ by students.

It follows a catalogue of incidents since September 2023, including students travelling without tickets, ticket fraud and anti-social behaviour as well as verbal and physical assaults on conductors and station staff.

Behaviour at some stations has been so bad that Northern has had to request support from British Transport Police to maintain order.

The schools that Northern has written to are (in alphabetical order): • Bingley Grammar in West Yorkshire • Hazel Grove High School in Greater Manchester • Highfields College in Greater Manchester • Knutsford High School in Cheshire • Nunthorpe Academy in North Yorkshire • Rainhill High School in Merseyside • Reddish Vale High School in Greater Manchester • Sutton Academy in Merseyside • Turton High School in Greater Manchester • Ulverston Victoria High School in Cumbria • Wilmslow High School in Cheshire Paul Willerton, principle of Sutton Academy said: “Several schools were contacted yesterday asking for support from the train companies in regard to students not paying for rail tickets when commuting to and from the academy.

“Unfortunately, the train companies have not informed us of these issues on a daily basis, and therefore the letter we received yesterday was the first time we had been informed that this is a re-occurring concern.

“Student safety is our main priority, and we have a large number of staff on duty at the start and end of the academy day supporting with the safe transition of students, this also includes duty staff around the train station area.

“The academy responded yesterday explaining we are keen to work with the train companies, and plan to meet with them to discuss what measures they are implementing; such as additional staffing, tickets barriers etc. in order to work alongside the support that we can provide as an academy, through parental engagement, assemblies and staff patrols. At this point we are awaiting a response.”

Rainhill High school also responded to the call. A spokesperson for the school said: “We are disappointed and surprised to read that Rainhill High School has been mentioned (amongst five other schools) in relation to this issue without receiving any direct communication from Northern Rail.

“Nevertheless, we are committed to ensuring our pupils maintain the high standards we expect at all times, whether that be inside or outside of our school grounds. We are fortunate to work in close partnership with our families, and so we will be discussing this matter with them in due course.

“As a school that prides itself on its excellent relationship with our community, we would welcome a representative from Northern Rail to meet with us and help find a solution together.

"We know that the vast majority of our pupils are excellent ambassadors for the school as we receive positive feedback from our community on a regular basis.”

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “What we’re seeing is persistent, calculated fare evasion.

“With secondary school students, fare evasion incidents tend to occur on relatively short journeys between rural and suburban stations which are not barrier-controlled.

“That, combined with the limited time conductors have to carry out ticket checks, emboldens students to travel without a ticket.”

However, in recent months, Northern says incidents have had an increasingly anti-social element to them, with reports of verbal and physical assaults on train crew and station staff.

Powles added: “We’ve seen students climb on station canopies and assault station staff in order to avoid ticket checks - it’s completely unacceptable.

“That’s why we’re calling on headteachers to help us identify repeat offenders.”

In January, Northern urged parents to ‘lock in’ a discount worth 75% off the cost of their child’s commute to school via its Under 16 Education Season Ticket scheme.