First class fakes: Three commuters charged over train ticket forgery

Solent

An architect and two friends have been charged over forging first class rail tickets and railway car park passes after a rail official spotted a fake.

Architect Neil Stantiall, construction firm boss John McInally, and building worker Mark Batt were all involved in a scam involving a first class monthly season ticket from Southampton to London Waterloo worth £849.50, ad a monthly railway car park ticket worth £130.

Old tickets had been scanned on to a computer and the date changed, according to the report on the Daily Mail.

All three men admitted to conspiring to commit fraud by false representation.

The court heard that Mr Stantiall was "responsible for supplying the tickets and had received at least some money for it".

Stantiall was given 16 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and 250 hours of unpaid work.

McInally got 12 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and 200 hours of unpaid work. Batt was given ten weeks in prison suspended for two years, and 180 hours of unpaid work.

McInally and his brother-in-law Batt were ordered to repay the £2,219 that was defrauded, while all three were told to share £1,500 court costs

Reasons given for the scam were that Mr Batt had been left with financial problems after his wife ran up £20,000 in credit card debts, and that Stantiall was struggling after his wife lost her job.

Judge Susan Evans QC told the men: "You were all confident you were too clever to get caught out and you had an arrogant disregard for the basic qualities of honesty and morality."

Read more at the Daily Mail.

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