TICKET dodgers are being targeted by ScotRail after it was revealed around 900,000 train journeys are made in Scotland each year by someone who has not paid their fare.

A new Buy Before You Board campaign has been launched by the train operators to crack down on 'fare fraud' which they say leaves the majority of their honest

paying customers frustrated.

However the firm conceded that customer surveys had also revealed passengers are fed-up with long queues at stations, with people waiting to buy tickets during the morning peak and said it had introduced Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) at 26 new sites taking the number of TVMs to 260 across its network.

A recent meeting between ScotRail boss Phil Verster and representatives of Rail Action Group East of Scotland (RAGES) in Prestonpans saw, among other things, concerns raised about TVMs in East Lothian stations being out of order or refusing cash payments.

At the meeting at the end of July Mr Verster told those attending that ScotRail simply did not have any more trains to ease the congestion which is being experienced daily on the North Berwick to Edinburgh week-day peak services.

Campaigners told him it was not uncommon for commuters waiting at Musselburgh station for the train into Edinburgh to be left on the platform and have to run back to their cars to drive into work instead.

ScotRail said it was looking into the rollout of SMART ticketing across all routes to give customers the option to load season tickets onto the card and widen the variety of tickets available.

It said more than 80 per cent of customers walked past booking offices and TVMs at their local station creating longer queues at automatic gates at end of journeys.

Plans to increase ticket monitoring and take action against those who skip fares are expected to be carried out throughout the campaign.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s Head of Revenue Protection, said: "We provide a service and it’s only fair that everyone pays the correct fare for the service they use. "We’ve invested heavily in facilities to make it much easier for our customers to buy tickets in advance. This means that staff on trains have more time to help customers with travel or other queries.

"Buying before boarding will result in much shorter queues to get through the gates at busy destination stations."