Michala’s Story- Avanti West Coast

When any learner looks at continuous improvement as part of their apprenticeship, you hope they will find something that can really have an impact on the business and bring a clear return on investment. That is what Michala Whitehead-Phillips has done with a project that has grown even bigger than she could have anticipated.

Michala initiated her continuous improvement project by focusing on a challenging route within Avanti’s network—the EBW route (Euston, Birmingham, Wolverhampton). This route is widely recognised for persistent issues, including anti-social behaviour, fare evasion, staff assaults, and operational inefficiencies, making it increasingly difficult for train managers to manage effectively. Michala conducted research into the root causes, including data on staff assaults, service delays, and ticketing challenges, with the aim of developing a strategic solution to address these concerns.

Following extensive discussions with key stakeholders, Michala coordinated a five-day blockade at London Euston, aimed at conducting revenue checks on all arrivals from Birmingham. With the support of the British Transport Police, every passenger disembarking from Birmingham services was stopped and scanned to verify possession of a valid ticket. The initial blockade proved highly successful, with data collection far exceeding expectations. All tickets and railcards were thoroughly verified, and instances of fraudulent or ticketless travel were prosecuted using MG11 statements, resulting in significant recovery of lost revenue.

Due to the success of the first blockade, a second one was implemented the following month over a three-day period, capturing more important data and evidence. The effectiveness of these initiatives captured the attention of senior leadership at Avanti, including the Managing Director.

Some of the data collected has been reported to the Department for Transport (DfT) and has also played a key role in building a business case to support the need for additional Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPIs). This proposal has since received senior management approval and has progressed to the recruitment phase. Additionally, evidence gathered during the operation has contributed to a government report highlighting passenger volumes travelling through Euston station, reinforcing the case that the current infrastructure at Euston is no longer adequate to support the growing number of passengers.

The next blockade took place in March, prompted by evidence indicating the need for further improvements and support for Avanti staff along this route. This proved to be highly successful; at that stage, it was estimated that approximately £500,000 in revenue had been protected through comprehensive ticket scanning, effectively preventing fraudulent refunds and reuse. Up to that point, around 290 prosecutions had been initiated, with over £13,000 already recovered through out-of-court settlements.

A further three-day blockade was scheduled for April, to which I was kindly invited by Michala. Upon arrival at Euston, I was welcomed by Michala and British Transport Police officers and escorted to a briefing room. There, Michala provided clear instructions and ensured that all team members were fully briefed on their responsibilities for the day.

What stood out immediately was the high level of respect the team had for Michala, as well as the strong sense of camaraderie among colleagues who had travelled from the North and Midlands to support the blockade at Euston. When I asked the team for their feedback, they unanimously described the initiative as a success. Both Train Managers and On-Board Managers had provided positive feedback, noting visible improvements and recognising the positive impact of the operation.

During my time on site, I was able to observe the immediate and visible impact of the blockade. Issues were being addressed promptly and efficiently, with British Transport Police (BTP) involvement limited to incidents involving runners or aggressive behaviour from passengers. A significant number of individuals were found to have ticket irregularities, including travelling during peak hours with off-peak tickets, using expired travel cards, or presenting otherwise invalid tickets. Over the course of the day, an additional 90 prosecutions were completed, and I was informed that one arrest occurred on the final day of the operation.

I spoke with Michala’s line manager Andy, to learn about the impact of this on the business.

“The impact has been massive. We do have a small RPI (Revenue Protection Inspector) team so Michala, having been one of the RPI team previously, took this project on to help drive focus. This was not just about revenue but a change in customer behaviour as well and to stop these fraudulent behaviours. This is phase 4 now and each one gets more successful with more and more people volunteering to provide support on the day which is amazing. The results of the first 3 provided the business case to employ additional heads as part of the revenue protection team, so overall Michala has affected customer behaviour, revenue, visibility of staff and staff engagement from various departments so I wanted to get involved. It couldn’t have been any more successful. It ticks a lot of the company objectives, growing our revenue year on year, being more visible, supporting colleagues and customers. This is now in a place where Michala could hand it over to the revenue protection team to roll this out further.”

I also spoke to Ben, one of the BTP officers to discuss where he felt this was having an impact and his involvement with this.

“There has definitely been a decrease in the amount of fare evasion calls we have had to attend. Fare evasion is a big problem for Avanti and Michala has come up with a way to help sort that. This is a big problem with west midlands trains and there has been a huge increase lately with the amount of ticket issues. It feels like over 80% of ticket issues come from these west midlands’ trains so the fact that Michala is specifically tackling these shows a real commitment to cracking down on prosecutions. If Michala wasn’t doing these it would mean the BTP would be called to trains to deal with these ticketing issues which holds up the police from dealing with other things. This is something the revenue inspectors can deal with, and we are on hand to support where needed. It is also helping us crime wise as we get to see the reasons why people are evading buying tickets, so it gives us a bigger picture. Overall, it has been very successful.”

This week, twelve new Revenue Protection Inspector (RPI) positions were advertised—directly resulting from the success of this project. The expansion of the team will allow for greater flexibility in deploying RPIs to other areas experiencing similar challenges.

Overall, Michala is extremely pleased with the outcomes and regards the initiative as a significant success—one she is proud to have initiated.