Hundreds of ticket dodgers in Essex have been fined a total of more than £85,000.

Greater Anglia announced that ticket inspectors for the provider have caught a total of 284 fare dodgers on the lines in Essex and Suffolk.

Among those, 236 passengers were caught using the Greater Anglia line between Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street.

All of the offenders were presented at Basildon Magistrates Court between Monday January 22 and Monday February 5.

On Monday January 22, Basildon Magistrates Court heard 144 cases and imposed fines of £22,715 and costs of £21,600.

On Monday February 5, a further 92 cases were heard by the court, resulting in more fines of £15,920 and costs of £11,770.

The offenders were all caught using the train without any money or rail cards on them, to pay for their tickets.

Another 48 cases were heard for ticket dodgers in Suffolk.

Ipswich Magistrates Court imposed fines of around £10,500 and costs totalling £5,000.

Following the success of the almost 300 prosecutions, Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia's customer service director, said: “Money from tickets is invested in the railway.

"People refusing to pay for tickets could result in ticket prices going up for everyone.

“Our ticket inspectors regularly patrol our trains, some in uniform and some in plain clothes.

"At the end of the day, it’s much cheaper to buy a ticket than to end up in court with a fine and order to pay costs.”