Laura Swindells

Said the following about Revenue Protection & Security, West Midlands:

“The West Midlands Revenue Protection and Security team are first and foremost a family. Throughout the past year, the team have undergone extensive changes, including a new Strategy, rostering system and expectations within the role, (which had not previously been experienced by any members of the team). Instead of working in large groups, they were asked to work in multiple, smaller numbers. Instead of concentrating on revenue and selling tickets, they were tasked to focus on education through enforcement and customer service. Instead of being tasked to singular locations, they were empowered with the companies data and intelligence to self-task their own line of routes hot-spots.

Throughout this change, the team of 21 have remained open with their line manager, passionate about their work and committed to each other as a team.

In the past year, the teams YTD comparison is as follows:

29% increase of Penalty Fares issued on the Network

5600% increase of MG11s issued on the Network

70% increase of ticket sales on the Network

42% increase of evaders found on the Network

928% increase of passengers counted on the Network

On top of this, the team have self-taught themselves how to write Strategies including Senior Conductor Engagement, Charity Engagement, Young Person Engagement, Special Events and Smart Ticketing. This has produced a training course which will be delivered to every senior conductor in the business to promote consistent Revenue Protection across the Network, a tiered processed approach to school engagement for issues involving ticketless travel and ASB and strong connections to the Birmingham Children's Hospital and all local football teams to ensure a smooth, safe travel home for all football fans using our services.

The team have also saved five lives, chased across the Network to reunite passengers with lost phones and inhalers, assisted in a train evacuation and stood in the pouring rain during disruption to make sure everyone gets home safe.

Lastly, through consistent engagement, the team created strong relationships with fellow TOC revenue protection, in line with the single network vision. This has produced regular cross TOC workings including the first cross-TOC block at Birmingham New Street where 206 Penalty Fares were issued, 39 MG11s and 6 Travel irregularity Reports were issued to ticketless passengers, working with Transport for Wales, Virgin Trains, Cross Country and London North Western Railway.“