A national charity for autistic children and young people has benefitted from a £10,000 donation thanks to the investigation skills and industry-leading technical expertise of staff at London North Eastern Railway.

The charity, Ambitious about Autism, received the generous donation as a result of the staff’s expertise in identifying unusual patterns in people buying tickets and spotting potential fraudsters.

According to the Rail Delivery Group representing the train companies, about £240 million of revenue is lost each year through fare evasion. Because it is the train operators, rail passengers, and ultimately the taxpayers, who subsidise journeys made by fare dodgers, it makes sound financial sense to detect and deter anyone who tries to cheat the system.

Fraudulent tickets are already being successfully detected by the LNER Risk and Assurance team, but by harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and working with LNER’s first-ever Machine Learning team they are now able to spot fraudsters even quicker.

In early 2023 an initial project was run as a pilot, and that immediately identified a customer who had previously been compliant, but by systematically abusing the ticketing system they had failed to pay for £10,000 worth of travel. Using the new technology, the system obtained sufficient information to build a case against the customer resulting in repayment to London North Eastern Railway of the full amount lost.

After the lost fares had been recovered, the company decided to donate the money to Ambitious about Autism, which champions the rights of autistic young people and children.

The charity provides specialist education services and an award-winning employment programme, and as it had previously received grants from LNER’s Customer and Community Investment Fund, it seemed the perfect fit. The money from the latest donation will go towards the charity’s learner and family services team, which provides vital support to the families of hundreds of autistic children and young people.

Paul Larder, Head of Risk and Assurance at LNER, said: “Applying machine learning has been a real game changer for us. Previously, we’ve relied on the talent of our Revenue Protection Team to identify customers who deliberately purchase incorrect tickets for travelling on our services. By using AI, we can accurately analyse large amounts of information quickly and identify patterns that our skilled team can investigate further. In essence, it’s helped us make even more of our own luck!”

Danae Leaman-Hill, Director of External Affairs and Development at Ambitious about Autism, said: “We are hugely grateful to LNER for this generous donation which will help us support vulnerable families of autistic children and young people before they reach crisis point. Our dedicated team supports those families, often from low-income households, who are particularly impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

“From housing to transport issues, our team helps them overcome challenges so that their children can feel secure, go to school, and reach their potential.”