A CITY bigwig banned from the finance industry for dodging his train fare over a five-year period says his misdemeanours were “vastly overstated”.

Jonathan Burrows was sacked from his job as managing director of fund-management firm BlackRock after it was revealed he consistently avoided buying the correct ticket while commuting from Stonegate, near Wadhurst, to London between 2008 and 2013.

Southeastern trains accused Mr Burrows, who earned an estimated £1 million a year, of failing to buy a ticket at rural Stonegate station and ‘tapping out’ with his Oyster card at Cannon Street.

It meant he paid a £7.20 maximum Oyster fare rather than paying for a £21.50 train ticket for the one hour 22 minute journey.

He was eventually caught in November last year by a ticket inspector standing next to the barriers at Cannon Street.

The Financial Conduct Authority banned Mr Burrows from the city for life and the finance man agreed to settle the dispute when he paid Southeastern £43,000.

But Burrows, who admitted his behaviour was “foolish,” said the ban came after an unblemished 20-year career. The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment recently described his punishment as harsh.

In a statement released through his solicitor yesterday, Mr Burrows said: “I have consistently denied that I travelled without paying for an entire five-year period and that I avoided £43,000 in fares, or anything near that figure.

“The origin of that latter figure would seem to be the confidential, out-of-court settlement reached between myself and Southeastern Trains – the terms of which I had little option but to accept.”

Mr Burrows said he was renting a property close to his work during the period in question and had produced evidence that the amount not paid was “in the hundreds, not thousands of pounds”.

In a statement, Southeastern said: “We believe that the actions that we took were in the best interests of our passengers and taxpayers by giving us the best opportunity to recover a substantial sum in respect of the allegation.”

Travellers are full of praise for man who swindled rail firm

Some people even praised Jonathan Burrows for managing to swindle reduced fares from train operators who continually announce price hikes.

After all, millions of commuters were hit with another round of fare increases as recently as January this year when the government revealed they’d be required to fork out an extra 2.5% in 2015 and beyond.

But although Burrows' actions may have left Southeastern temporarily out of pocket, rail unions say it is his fellow passengers up and down the country who ultimately end up footing the bill.

Dervish Mertcan, of rail campaign group Passenger Focus, said fare dodgers were, in effect, “being subsidised by the vast majority of honest passengers”.

He added: “It’s right that train companies catch and punish those who deliberately evade paying for their ticket. But in doing so they must make sure that they don’t scoop up those making an innocent mistake.”

Industry experts estimate fare dodgers cost Britain’s rail operators and network providers up to £240 million each year.

But one passenger told The Argus they were happy to ‘bunk’ a train as long as customer service, punctuality and rail fares all kept swinging in favour of train operators.

The Brighton man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “When they [rail operators] reduce ticket prices to something more feasible instead of hiking them up at every available opportunity and sort out their constant delays and cancellations then I might consider playing by the book on the occasion I do use the trains.

“I feel sorry for people commuting to London each day if they can’t even get just one train on time.”

The man was referring to exclusive Argus stories published earlier this year which revealed Brighton’s most popular commuter train – the 7.29am to London Victoria – was late every day last year.

In follow up investigations, this newspaper discovered 1,700 Brighton to London Victoria trains were late in January – but customers could only claim compensation through Southern Rail’s delay repay scheme on just 59 of those occasions.

The Argus called on rail operators to review their compensation schemes and consider giving commuters a fairer bite of the cherry.

Our calls were backed up by David Cameron this week, following a question from Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas during Prime Minister’s Questions.

But until any sort of compensation shake-up is seen through, are fare dodgers any way justified in their anarchist use of Britain’s railways?

Shelley Atlas, of Brighton Line Commuters, said: “I don’t think it’s a reasonable assumption at all.

“If you’re prepared to travel, be prepared to pay. If everyone adopted the same attitude of not paying because of this or that, then there’d be no money coming in to the network at all – and then everyone suffers.

“We hope rail operators keep working to establish who the fare dodgers are and that they must have good enough systems in place for prosecution. Our concern is on the behalf of fare paying passengers ultimately.”

She went on: “It is right though that passengers are concerned about the stories revealed by The Argus. The main issue is that although services to London from Brighton can only be a few minutes late, people who change trains for connecting services are being severely delayed when they miss them.

“The compensation is also something to look at. Service has been exceptionally bad in recent times – there is of course the London Bridge work – but even with that into consideration I don’t think there’s ever justification for not buying a ticket.”

Do you call that an excuse?

Staff have been given some surprising excuses for not having a valid ticket.
They include: “I just got out of jail, and the police said I could travel for free.”
“I’ve just been getting my nails done and I’m not going to get them broken by buying a ticket.”
"My mum’s got my ticket and we buried her this morning."
"I don't need a ticket as I'm getting a lift back."
“I only got on the train to use the toilet and it left while I was in there.”
“I thought it was free on a Sunday.”
"The guy at the station said you don't need tickets for these trains."

‘Like stealing someone’s morning coffee  or sharing a taxi without paying’

JONATHAN Burrows lost his high-powered job in the city over the issue.
National newspapers described Burrows as the owner of two mortgage-free, million-pound mansions and stated he was the owner of a Porsche. 
But David Innis, commercial director of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which operates Thameslink services in Sussex, has little sympathy.
Mr Innis, who is spearheading a new campaign in a bid to crackdown on fare dodgers, likened the act to stealing someone’s morning coffee.
He said: “Travelling without a ticket is as anti-social and unfair as taking someone’s morning coffee or sharing a taxi without paying. 
“The vast majority of our customers are honest and buy the appropriate fare. Fare dodgers cost the rail industry £240 million a year which could otherwise be invested in a better service.”
Figures from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and Thameslink reveal fare dodgers cost Britain’s railways up to £240 million each year. 
The ATOC said those who choose to travel without buying a ticket are estimated to be making more than 120,000 train journeys each and every day on the rail network. 
The amount of lost revenue is equivalent to the cost of providing 1,500 extra train carriages, 920 inter-city carriages, or paying for the upkeep of around 450 stations for the next five years.
The £240 million figure comes despite train companies spending more than £21 million on installing more ticket barriers and conducting more random ticket checks across the network last year.
Thameslink, Southern Rail and Southeastern Rail were not able to tell The Argus exactly how much fare dodging was estimated to have individually cost them last year. 
However all firms remain dedicated in their battle against passengers who don’t abide by the rules.