No ticket, no excuse - train guards will show zero tolerance

A leaked memo from reveals it is introducing a system under which guards are judged by how many £20 penalties they hand out.

They are instructed to fine passengers, even children, if they have been unable to buy a ticket due to long queues at the station or if the ticket office is closed.

It comes as the company is under investigation over excessive queuing times - and has admitted it does not have enough automatic ticket machines.

The memo says that on the train, guards must also sell the dearest peak ticket without railcard discounts. A person travelling between London and Weymouth would pay £82 for a ticket which would cost £35 at the station.

The memo, headed "commercially sensitive, please do not circulate", states: "Do not use discretion just because that's the easy option.

"From now on, your commercial duties will be measured in three areas: the amount of revenue you collect; the type of tickets you sell; and the number of penalty fare warnings issued." The Department for Transport said it was investigating queuing times at stations and would take action if the operator was breaching regulations.

Eight hundred guards have already been sent on a course on the new policy and how to deal with angry customers.

Last month South West Trains raised off-peak fares by 20 per cent.