Britain’s biggest train company has told its guards that they will be disciplined and possibly dismissed if they show discretion to passengers who are unable to buy tickets before boarding because of long queues at stations.

It is the latest example of the lengths to which operators are going in order to pay the billion-pound premiums demanded by the Government for rail franchises.

A confidential memo, obtained by The Times, reveals that South West Trains is introducing a system under which guards are judged according to the amount they collect in penalties. The memo, headed “commercially sensitive, please do not circulate”, instructs guards to treat passengers as fare dodgers even if they come up to the guard on the train and ask to buy a ticket.

The guards must sell the most expensive peak ticket and give no railcard discounts, meaning that passengers will usually pay more than double the normal price. Those travelling between London and Weymouth are being charged £82 on board for a ticket which would have cost £35 at the station.

Another company, First Group, has also made controversial changes to pay the high premiums, including withdrawing carriages in the West Country and doubling fares on some routes in London.

South West Trains is telling guards that they will be held accountable if they accept any explanations, even if passengers had to queue for more than 15 minutes to buy a ticket and were about to miss their train. The warning comes even though the company is obliged to make a “reasonable endeavour” to ensure no passenger waits more than five minutes at peak times to buy a ticket, or three minutes outside the peak.

Passenger groups have accused the company of profiting from its failure to provide enough ticket facilities. It has admitted that it does not have enough ticket machines and has said that it will install another 194 by September next year. But many passengers are confused by the growing variety of fares on offer and want to buy them from members of staff, who are obliged legally to sell the cheapest option.

The memo also says that children must be penalised in the same circumstances, even at weekends and on Bank Holidays, when cheaper fares are available but ticket offices are often closed because of staff shortages.

A child travelling between London and Poole would have to pay £37.70 for a journey that should have cost £22.70.

The memo adds: “Once on the train, even if they approach you, they are only entitled to buy a full fare ticket . . . do not use discretion just because it’s the easy option.”

Guards must also tell passengers that they could be liable for an additional £20 on-the-spot fine or penalty fare, and could be prosecuted for fare evasion. “From now, your commercial duties will be measured in three main areas: the amount of revenue that you collect; the type of tickets that you sell; and the number of penalty fare warnings issued.”

All 800 of the company’s guards have been sent on a training course to teach them the new policy and how to deal with angry passengers. One told The Times: “We are in the horrible position of having to enforce a policy we know to be unfair, or risk losing our jobs.”

Other companies are more understanding. Keith Ludeman, chief executive of Go-Ahead, which operates Southern and South Eastern and yesterday won the new West Midlands franchise, said: “I wouldn’t expect somebody to pay extra when they weren’t able to buy a ticket because the queues were too long.”

The Department for Transport said it was investigating queuing times at South West Trains’ stations and would take action if the company was breaching the regulation.

South West Trains, which agreed last year to pay the Government £1.2 billion over ten years, caused outrage last month by raising some off-peak fares by 20 per cent.

Brian Souter, chief executive of the parent company, Stagecoach, saw his family’s estimated wealth double to £770 million this year, partly because of profits of more than £1 million a week at South West Trains.

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