A HIGH school in Cheshire has been placed ‘on report’ by a train operator due to students repeatedly dodging fares.

Wilmslow High School is one of five secondary schools in the north west to be named and shamed by Northern for failing to buy tickets.

The Holly Road school is on the rail firm’s ‘top five’ list for pupils caught travelling on trains without having a valid ticket.

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Northern is now working with the schools to urge parents to buy existing, widely popular and heavily discounted educational season tickets.

This saving offers up to 75 per cent off when schools return in September, rather than parents giving children money for the fare, which some students decide to pocket and risk travelling without a ticket.

An annual education season ticket from Alderley Edge to Wilmslow is £78, cutting the daily return fare of £3.30 to 40p.

Many fare evasion incidents took place when students were travelling relatively short distances between rural and suburban stations which are not barrier-controlled.

Given the high number of students on-board and the limited journey time, conductors cannot always carry out a full ticket inspection, which emboldens students to ‘risk it’.

Northern is now deploying revenue protection teams to undertake random ticket checks to tackle the problem.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “Everyone has a responsibility to buy a ticket before they travel.

“Unfortunately, some students think that rule does not apply to them, and they routinely fare evade on our services.

“It is important they know that fare evading is a criminal act, and in the future they could end up with a criminal record for the sake of paying the heavily discounted student fare.

“With the end of the school year almost upon us, we are urging parents from September not to give their child money with the hope they will buy a ticket, but to save money by ensuring their child has a ticket by buying it for a cheaper rate in advance.”

Other schools listed as top fare evaders are Wade Deacon High School in Widnes, Rainhill High School in Merseyside, Honley High School in West Yorkshire, Turton School in Bolton.

The Guardian has approached Wilmslow High School for comment. 

For more information about educational season tickets and to buy one for the new academic year in September visit northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/educational-season