Fond memories of a trip to Penzance and a real pasty - thank you GBM.

Serial rail fare evader fined £3,600 over 112 unpaid tickets


Charles Brohiri continued to travel without a ticket after being banned from entering Thameslink stations as part of his bail conditions

A "brazen" rail fare dodger has been fined more than £3,600 after failing to pay for a ticket on over a hundred journeys.

Charles Brohiri, 29, travelled without buying a ticket on 112 Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) journeys over a period of nearly two years. He was ordered to pay the unpaid fares and handed a three‑month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Brohiri, originally from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, but who has been homeless for three years, pleaded guilty to 76 charges of failing to pay for a rail ticket, and was convicted in his absence in August 2024 of a further 36 charges.

District Judge Nina Tempia said Brohiri had behaved as though he were "invincible," and showed a sense of "self-entitlement" in believing he could evade the rules. The court heard he had continued to travel without a ticket despite being banned last April from entering Thameslink stations as part of his bail conditions.

Prosecutor Lyndon Harris told the court there had also been a further 16 alleged offences since his last appearance in court on 15 January, including the day before his sentencing.

Judge Tempia, who took the additional alleged offences into consideration, said his "deliberate and repeated" behaviour would ordinarily have justified a prison sentence, but she believed probation services could help him address underlying issues.

Eleanor Curzon, for the defence, told the court Brohiri "expressed remorse and regret" for having continued to travel on the railway, "particularly the period when he has been appearing before you judge". When asked why Brohiri had continued offending, Curzon said it was "a pattern he had gotten himself into".

The court heard he briefly attended university and had worked as a waiter before becoming homeless and moving to London.

Curzon said that Brohiri had been sleeping rough on trains, in hospitals and in libraries. She told the court he had tried to seek help from charities but struggled to engage because of a "combination of a lack of support, a negative mental health space and not knowing how to go about maintaining support from services". She added that Brohiri had never acted aggressively when challenged and said his decision to become sober three years ago "demonstrated his capacity to change".

"He reiterated to me this morning that if he is given the opportunity to work with probation they can assist him in securing accommodation and employment," Curzon continued. "It is really these two factors which will put an end to Mr Brohiri's offending."

Brohiri was ordered to pay back £3,629 in unpaid rail fares but he was not ordered to pay prosecution costs which the court heard amounted to £15,120. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, 12 months' prohibited activity requirement - which means he must not travel on any GTR trains - and to complete rehabilitation activity requirement.

"Be under no illusion if you commit any other offences and you do not comply with the requirement on this order you will be back in court," the judge warned him.

A spokesperson for Govia Thameslink Railway said fare evasion increased costs for passengers and "diverted public funding away from improving services for passengers".

"That is unfair both on taxpayers and on the vast majority of passengers who pay for their journeys."  The operator said stepped‑up enforcement in known trouble spots, along with improved reporting tools for staff, has reduced ticketless travel on its network to its lowest level since 2022.

Service will operate half-hourly throughout the day, hourly during the evenings and on Sundays. To provide additional capacity at busy times buses will no longer serve the Harbour and will terminate at the Coastguard Hotel.

Yeah, maximum linespeed is 40mph which you might just about reach down the hill between Castle Bar Park and South Greenford.

That’s why these 60mph units are a good fit for the branches.  None of the Thames valley ones are above 50mph and none of the Cornish branches go above 55mph.

Perhaps it’ll be a new unit design rather than this old D stock, but such speeds and distances are (mostly) suitable for battery trains using this technology.

A further week of disruption announced this morning.

Our vision is for a better-connected West of England.
• Better buses: reliable, affordable services with one ticket and one timetable
• More trains: new stations and more frequent services with low-emission trains
• Mass transit: a high-capacity system that links our key economic centres
• Active travel: better walking and cycling routes, with e-bikes/escooters there for short trips
• Improved streets: smoother roads and pavements, more electric vehicle chargers, Park & Rides and travel hubs

ANother forum is saying 5mph.... those timings certainly look painful!

I assume the '33' is some code in the timing load – looks like RTT can't match it against its list of timing load tokens, so it's misreading as a speed, perhaps. Similar to when the IET timings first appeared - IIRC the code for Class 800 DMU didn't make sense to RTT (or to whatever source it uses) so it parsed it as diesel loco with 800t trailing load.

Pathed as Diesel locomotive, trailing load 600 tonnes
Planned for 60mph max

Pathed as Class 150/153/155/156 DMU
Planned for 33mph max

Pathed as Diesel locomotive
Planned for 33mph max

Train Info
Operated By GWR
Timed For 75mph
Power Type DMU
Timing Load Sprinter

More frequent train services from Bristol Temple Meads to continue after government agreement

More frequent trains on a number of lines from Bristol Temple Meads station will continue following an agreement with the government. The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) said that since introducing half-hourly services on certain lines, there had been more than three million more train journeys on those routes.

The routes that will continue to offer more frequent services are:

Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury (part of the Heart of Wessex Line), also stopping at Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bath Spa, Freshford, Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, and Westbury;

Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester, via Yate, also stopping at Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Parkway – and will also serve every hour the new Charfield station currently under construction;

Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach (the Severn Beach Line), also stopping at Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Portway Park and Ride, Avonmouth, St Andrews Road (hourly), and Severn Beach (hourly).

Weca said its "longer-term ambition" is to have four trains per hour serving stations across the network, after the region secured £752m investment for transport infrastructure improvements from the government last year.

The announcement comes as Weca prepares to unveil a new 'Transport Vision for the West of England' this week, setting out more details about the authority’s goals for the future.

Helen Godwin, mayor of the West of England, said: "Half-hourly services between Westbury, Gloucester via Yate, Severn Beach, and Bristol Temple Meads are important for local commuters, giving people more options to travel on our growing regional rail network.

"Our new agreement to protect these regular services is welcome news for passengers across the West Country. As we build five new train stations, and look to increase the frequency of services across the board, this is another vote of confidence in the West of England."

Claire Young, MP for Thornbury and Yate, said she was "thrilled" with the news that train services in Yate would run on a half-hour frequency permanently.

"This is something I have campaigned hard for alongside local councillors and I raised the issue five times in Parliament," she said.

"It also means that the new Charfield station will be able to run hourly trains. The half-hour service will support jobs in Yate and also help students to access colleges in the area.”

GWR Wales and West of England commercial development manager Hannah Shackleford added: "These aren't just trains – they're vital economic lifelines connecting communities and businesses across the region. The decision validates our belief that reliable rail services are essential for local and national growth."

Two new railway stations have opened in the region in recent years: Portway Park and Ride, and Ashley Down.

Five more are being delivered as part of a wider £400m regional investment: Charfield, Henbury, North Filton, Pill, and Portishead.

Rail minister Lord Peter Hendy said: "I’m delighted the Government has been able to reach an agreement with the West of England Combined Authority to deliver more frequent train services to better connect passengers to jobs and their local communities.

"We're reforming our railways by bringing operators back into public ownership, and creating Great British Railways, which will be accountable to passengers and drive a relentless focus on responding to their needs. By boosting connectivity, we're driving economic growth, jobs and homes, and making public transport an accessible, reliable option for commuters across the UK."

Half-hourly rail services on some lines in the West are set to continue permanently, after agreement with the Department for Transport.

Since the regional authority, in partnership with Great Western Railway, introduced more frequent services on lines between Bristol Temple Meads and Westbury; Bristol Temple Meads and Gloucester, via Yate; and between Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach, there have been over 3 million more train journeys on those routes. This represents an 28% increase in people benefitting from the services, including Jayden from Yate (video on click to open in a new window Facebook | click to open in a new window Instagram | click to open in a new window Bluesky | click to open in a new window LinkedIn | click to open in a new window X (Twitter) ).

The half-hourly trains have boosted rail connections along the following routes and stations:

Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury (part of the Heart of Wessex Line), also stopping at Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bath Spa, Freshford, Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, and Westbury
Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester, via Yate, also stopping at Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Parkway – and will also serve every hour the new Charfield station currently under construction
Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach (the Severn Beach Line), also stopping at Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Portway Park & Ride, Avonmouth, St Andrews Road (hourly), and Severn Beach (hourly)
The Mayor of the West of England, Helen Godwin, has repeatedly spoken of the need to further increase the frequency of train services across the West. A longer-term ambition is there for four trains per hour to serve stations across the network,  click to open in a new window after the region secured a record £752 million investment for transport infrastructure improvements to enable those increases over the coming years.

ANother forum is saying 5mph.... those timings certainly look painful!

My understanding is that one can do this in your own vehicle on any other open day at Imber other than the Imber Bus day