Britons can spot an unfair deal instinctively. A sense of fair play – in sport, in politics or in the market place – has been developed in this country over many years, and with it a loathing of those who exploit and cheat. The outrage provoked by the disclosure in The Times that one of Britain’s biggest rail companies is attempting, surreptitiously and systematically, to fleece its passengers is an indication that, despite the reluctance of most people to make a fuss, the behaviour of South West Trains is utterly unacceptable. Not only are the company’s new guidelines on penalty fares grotesquely unfair, but by stigmatising huge numbers of honest commuters as fare dodgers, they have also insulted the very people on whom their business stands or falls: the travelling public.

As The Times revealed, a confidential memo to guards has ordered them, on pain of dismissal, to ignore any excuse offered by passengers travelling without a ticket and charge them the highest possible fare. No discretion is allowed, even if the queue at the ticket counter or at ticket machines was 15 minutes long, as often happens at peak hours. SWT knows full well that there are not enough machines and has promised to install another 194 by September – next year. Clearly, it is in no hurry to help passengers – sorry, “customers” – to comply with the law and buy cheaper tickets. It will make no distinction between those who seek out a guard to buy a ticket on the train and those who attempt to travel free in the hope of not being caught: all are to be treated as fare dodgers.

The memo, said to be “commercially sensitive”, appears to be encouraging what could at best be called sharp practice and what most people see as profit-eering. SWT has countered the accusations by insisting, in weasel-worded statements, that the company is simply enforcing existing regulations and that it will still give guards discretion. What it does not say is that such discretion is allowable only if guards are told by pager that a booking office is shut or that all the ticket machines are out of order.

SWT is clearly in a hurry to raise a lot more cash from its “customers”. It has recently raised ticket prices by up to 20 per cent on most routes, though not at stations where another company offers an alternative service. Clearly it is happy to exploit its monopoly position as the only route available. Like all train operators, its booking clerks must offer people the cheapest tickets available; but SWT has conveniently failed to programme these offers into its ticket machines, which may charge up to twice the cheapest fare. It is no secret why SWT needs the extra cash: it rashly bid so much to retain its franchise that it must now pay the Government £1.2 billion over ten years. Commercially ambitious, its parent company has also just won the franchise for Midland Mainline, a prospect that must now fill those passengers with dread.

Brian Souter, the head of SWT, is fast making his company the unacceptable face of rail privatisation. Where is the regulator? These sharp practices should be investigated immediately. Travellers on Britain’s biggest franchise have no choice. It should not mean they have no redress.