ABOUT 5,000 people travel on the Tyne and Wear Metro system without a ticket each day and most are not caught.
Despite operator Nexus cracking down on fare-dodgers, 1.8m out of the 36 million to 36.5 million journeys on the system annually are made without payment.
Councillor John Shipley, deputy leader of Newcastle City Council and a member of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Authority, said: "It is a little short of a scandal. Nexus needs to recruit more staff to stop people travelling free and avoid this loss of income."
However, Mike Parker, director-general of Nexus, disputed claims that evasion was costing the system £1.7m in lost revenue. He said £200,000 was recovered from cheats in penalty fares and £140,000 in fines and costs from those prosecuted.
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