Ex-banker banned from railway after dodging £5,900 of train fares

[Egg Centric]

Arrogance, the thrill, and an over-inflated ego?

Well yeah, he was a banker.

But I suspect the motive is closer to a that of a hacker than someone breaking the law for a thrill - instead it was about finding inefficiencies in the system. IE the legality was irrelevant one way or the other. Or to the extent it was relevant, if you'd asked him about it at work he'd probably have called it "regulatory arbitrage" with a wink and smirk. But he wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Like I said, a banker.

I'm still interested in the ban. Have we seen one before for non-abusive behaviour? It feels like there's a story there. I can't understand why Southeastern would even want one otherwise, surely they'd rather have the fare income as he actually does visit the job centre this time (even though the money is immaterial to him, I 100% guarantee he'll sign on to get NI stamps).

 

[Puffing Devil]

I can't find any article specifying the mechanism used to ban him, but two possibilities that came to mind were

1. The ban is a condition of his suspended sentence, like the unpaid work. Breaching this is not an offence in and of itself, but would enable HM Probation Service to initiate breach proceedings which could lead to additional conditions, the suspended sentence being extended, or the custodial period activated.
2. The ban was applied by way of a Criminal Behaviour Order, the order which replaced ASBOs. Breaching a CBO is a standalone offence with a theoretical maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment.

Either would have allowed him to be banned from other, or all, TOCs had the prosecution applied and the learned judge seen fit.

So he's banned from Southeastern, but can still pop to Orpington station and hop on a Thameslink train? Hmmm.

I thought this was someone trying to dodge the big fares from deepest Kent, but all he was doing was trying to dodge the price of a z1-6 Travelcard while still (presumably) paying for the London Bridge to Canary Wharf bit. Must have been something deeper lying behind this than a desire to save big money.

Agree that a CBO is the most likely tool in this case. 5 years max length and a max prison sentence of 5 years for the breach, plus he's on a suspended sentence, which would most likely be activated.

Depending on the wording of the CBO, he could be excluded from all Southeastern property, which would include Orpington station, as they manage it.

 

[Adam Williams]

As someone who deals with the DWP on a day to day basis I'd be very wary of anything that requires them to do more administration! I reckon @RPI had the right idea. Restrict the available sales channels so tickets can only be sold by staff either on trains, at gatelines or ticket offices.

Restricting sales channels isn't the answer.

Just give retailers a way to properly verify it (e.g. entering the JCP discount card ID at point-of-purchase - or even better, signing in via a DWP service using something like OpenID Connect or SAML which can prove entitlement to the discount without divulging personal information) and we'll happily implement it. I know the railway likes to act like it is, but it isn't 2002 anymore; the technical capabilities exist to do things like this securely without screwing over claimants by taking away their ability to take part in modern app-based ticketing like almost everyone else does.

This stuff really isn't hard.

 

[wokspotter]

and not a great advert for bankers

Sounds like he could have been a merchant banker.

 

[ainsworth74]

Restricting sales channels isn't the answer.

Just give retailers a way to properly verify it (e.g. entering the JCP discount card ID at point-of-purchase - or even better, signing in via a DWP service using something like OpenID Connect or SAML which can prove entitlement to the discount without divulging personal information) and we'll happily implement it. I know the railway likes to act like it is, but it isn't 2002 anymore; the technical capabilities exist to do things like this securely without screwing over claimants by taking away their ability to take part in modern app-based ticketing like almost everyone else does.

This stuff really isn't hard.

I will quite happily defer to your much greater knowledge on the possibility of technical solutions!

 

[Killingworth]

Sounds like he could have been a merchant banker.

Not a merchant banker as far as I can see - they deal with complex corporate deals like takeovers.

He was head of passive equity at HSBC Global Asset Management, a type of investment banking. From Barclays website

What are passive funds?
Passive funds track the performance of a particular market or index, such as the FTSE 100. As well as unit trusts or open-ended investment companies (OEICs), passive funds can also be stock market listed exchange traded funds (ETFs). What they all have in common is that they typically hold all the assets in the index they’re tracking, or a representative sample.
Crucially, most passive funds are operated automatically rather than by a fund manager, which dramatically reduces their running costs.
Much of the debate between active and passive strategies comes down to this issue. Essentially, whether it’s worth paying the higher costs levied by active fund managers or whether you’re more likely to enjoy greater rewards in the long run by sticking to cheaper passive vehicles.
One of our principles of investing is that you should only move away from passive investments if you have good reason and fully understand the total cost incurred.

Both a very long way from your traditional Captain Mainwaring high street bank manager who mixed with relatively ordinary business owners and private customers and who could arrange loans and get advice and help with much simpler investments.

Both Merchant and investment bankers receive much bigger salaries than old branch bankers and potentially massive bonuses that come indirectly from all of us! I can see no grounds for any sympathy with this man.

 

[wokspotter]

Not a merchant banker as far as I can see - they deal with complex corporate deals like takeovers.

He was head of passive equity at HSBC Global Asset Management, a type of investment banking. From Barclays website


Both a very long way from your traditional Captain Mainwaring high street bank manager who mixed with relatively ordinary business owners and private customers and who could arrange loans and get advice and help with much simpler investments.

Both Merchant and investment bankers receive much bigger salaries than old branch bankers and potentially massive bonuses that come indirectly from all of us! I can see no grounds for any sympathy with this man.

You're obviously not familiar with Cockney rhyming slang!

 

[Killingworth]

You're obviously not familiar with Cockney rhyming slang!

Wheelie?

 

[35B]

Both Merchant and investment bankers receive much bigger salaries than old branch bankers and potentially massive bonuses that come indirectly from all of us! I can see no grounds for any sympathy with this man.

If he had pled financial issues, I would completely agree. That wasn't the basis of his defence, and the judge's reported comments suggest that he looked very carefully at the mitigations put forward.

Reading between the lines, I suspect that the pre-sentence reports suggested that the trigger for the behaviour was specific, and that the circumstances had changed enough that the non-custodial penalty would suffice.

In the meantime, he has lost his career, and he has lost his good name - significant penalties in their own right, especially given his likely earnings and the impact that a conviction for fraud will have on any kind of clearance form. On the other hand, he can also probably count himself lucky that his punishment wasn't more severe.

I don't feel sympathy for him, because he is being punished for what he has done and less severely than may have been the case. But I do and hope that when he has stopped being supervised by the Probation Service, this is the end of his experience with the criminal justice system.

He has an opportunity for redemption, and it is to be hoped that he has the character to take it.

 

[contrex]

His future income prospects must be somewhat tarnished.

He'll probably still arrive at my retirement age considerably better off than I did as an HEO in the Civil Service.

 

[Greyman1]

I read a news report last night saying he retired last year... does that actually mean he was "asked to leave" after being caught?

100% this Case went to BTP in 2024. It has taken this long to get to sentencing. I imagine when he had to 'advise' the company of his interaction with the police, he would have been urged to resign/retire.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Feb 2026 ==

He was likely issued with a WIP notice, SE are keen with these and rightly so. It will probably cover both SE and GTR services operated from Orpington.

• Implied Permission/Consent: Railway stations are private property, but the public is granted "implied consent" to enter. A WIP notice acts as a formal revocation of this consent.
• Railway Regulation Act 1840 (Section 16): This act permits staff or agents of a railway company to remove individuals who refuse to leave the premises, and it is used to prosecute those who breach a WIP notice by re-entering.
• Railway Byelaws (2005/2025): Byelaw 13 (Loitering) is commonly used to remove individuals. If a person subject to a WIP notice returns, they are considered trespassers and can be arrested under these byelaws.
  
  He is a silly man

 

[island]

He was likely issued with a WIP notice, SE are keen with these and rightly so. It will probably cover both SE and GTR services operated from Orpington.

• Implied Permission/Consent: Railway stations are private property, but the public is granted "implied consent" to enter. A WIP notice acts as a formal revocation of this consent.
• Railway Regulation Act 1840 (Section 16): This act permits staff or agents of a railway company to remove individuals who refuse to leave the premises, and it is used to prosecute those who breach a WIP notice by re-entering.
• Railway Byelaws (2005/2025): Byelaw 13 (Loitering) is commonly used to remove individuals. If a person subject to a WIP notice returns, they are considered trespassers and can be arrested under these byelaws.

Did you get that from AI? It’s inaccurate in several respects.

 

[soccermad]

If it had an 'S' postcode it would be in (or near) Sheffield.

I have an S postcode, a Nottinghamshire Post Town / Dialling Code and live in Derbyshire !!
Work that out ?

 

[SuspectUsual]

I have an S postcode, a Nottinghamshire Post Town / Dialling Code and live in Derbyshire !!
Work that out ?

When I lived in Todmorden I had a West Yorkshire address, an Oldham postcode and a Rochdale phone number.

Accidents of history

 

[Greyman1]

Did you get that from AI? It’s inaccurate in several respects.

I might have been lazy and replied on Goggle AI over view
However, the WIP notice is what is being used here.

 

[35B]

I might have been lazy and replied on Goggle AI over view
However, the WIP notice is what is being used here.

The news reports are very specific that the requirement is part of the sentence. I'm not sure where a WIP notice fits in to that?

 

[island]

The news reports are very specific that the requirement is part of the sentence. I'm not sure where a WIP notice fits in to that?

It doesn't. A WIP notice would be issued by Network Rail or Southeastern. It's just AI making stuff up, as it habitually does.

 

[z444z]

However, the WIP notice is what is being used here.

What’s your basis for asserting this so confidently? How do you know?

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @NeilCr to update

 

[Gonzoiku]

If I may butt in, anticipating @NeilCr somewhat, the miscreant's FCA lifetime ban cropped up in the news yesterday - so maybe he will be entitled at last to the JCP Railcard?

==================================
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday it was banning Molloy from working in any regulated financial services activity for “a clear and serious lack of honesty and integrity”.

“It appears to the Authority that Mr Molloy is not a fit and proper person to perform any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an authorised person, exempt person or exempt professional firm,” the watchdog said.

“Mr Molloy’s conviction demonstrates a clear and serious lack of honesty and integrity such that he is not fit and proper to perform regulated activities.”

He was given a lifetime prohibition order.

==================================

Extracted (omitting details of the conviction covered comprehensively above) from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hsbc-banker-banned-fca-train-fare-evasion-b3060226.html

GZ

 

[NeilCr]

If only @NeilCr hadn’t been with his partner in the (huge) local Spoons all afternoon he could have updated earlier!

Thanks to @Gonzoiku for their comprehensive post

 

[Gonzoiku]

If only @NeilCr hadn’t been with his partner in the (huge) local Spoons all afternoon he could have updated earlier!

Thanks to @Gonzoiku for their comprehensive post

Hey, I was hoping you would copy out the whole of the Independent article!

GZ

 

[_toommm_]

Hey, I was hoping you would copy out the whole of the Independent article!

GZ

A former HSBC executive has been banned from working in financial services after dodging nearly £6,000 in train fares.

Joseph Molloy, 53, used a train fare evasion tactic known as “doughnutting” to reduce ticket prices across at least 740 journeys over 11 months while travelling on Southeastern Railway.

The fraudster, who was head of passive equity at HSBC Asset Management but has now retired, would use fake names and email addresses to purchase tickets between stations at the beginning and end of his journey, but not all of those in between, when he would go from his home in Orpington, south London, to Canary Wharf.

He also obtained a Jobcentre Plus discount for unemployed people, allowing him to apply a 50 per cent discount to ticket prices.

Molloy pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Inner London Crown Court in January and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also banned from travelling on Southeastern Railway for a year.

He was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, undertake 10 rehabilitation activity days, and pay costs of £150, a victim surcharge of £187, and compensation of £5,000 to Southeastern.

The Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday it was banning Molloy from working in any regulated financial services activity for “a clear and serious lack of honesty and integrity”.

“It appears to the Authority that Mr Molloy is not a fit and proper person to perform any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an authorised person, exempt person or exempt professional firm,” the watchdog said.

“Mr Molloy’s conviction demonstrates a clear and serious lack of honesty and integrity such that he is not fit and proper to perform regulated activities.”

He was given a lifetime prohibition order.

At the time of sentencing, the judge described the offending as a “sophisticated and determined fraud” and said Molloy was “clearly in a financial position to pay the fares”.

“You decided to evade them and that causes a loss to the whole of society,” he added.

However, the judge also took into account several mitigating factors, including that he was experiencing difficult personal circumstances at the time of his offending, that he ceased the activity of his own volition, and he had shown genuine remorse.

The Independent has approached HSBC for comment.

 

[Rescars]

For the record, here is the Financial Conduct Authority's Final Notice regarding this case: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/joseph-molloy-2026.pdf