Latest news with #fareDodging
The Sun
05-07-2025
- The Sun
Urgent hunt for fare dodgers who beat up off-duty policewoman & threw drink over her head as CCTV released
POLICE launch manhunt for yobs that battered an off duty female cop at a tube station after she confronted them for dodging fares. The British Transport Police released CCTV images of a group of people who they believe may have information about the assault. 4 4 On June 12 an off duty officer confronted a mob of individuals after seeing them attempt to barge through barriers at a tube station without paying. A harrowing assault followed with the mob punching and kicking the female copper. Detectives have since launched an investigation into the violent assault at Wood Green Underground Station. CCTV footage of four men and two women has been released with cops looking to trace them. Detectives believe the people pictured could have information that can help their investigation. In April Transport for London announced new measures to clamp down on fare dodgers. The British Transport Police said: "At around 4.20pm on Thursday 12 June the victim, an off duty police officer, challenged a group of people who attempted to barge through the barrier without tickets. "She was then set upon by the group who punched and kicked her and threw a drink over her head. "Officers would like to speak to the people pictured as they believe they could have information which could help their investigation." 4 4
BBC News
05-07-2025
- BBC News
Policewoman attacked tackling Wood Green Tube 'fare dodgers'
An off-duty policewoman was punched and kicked after she tried to tackle suspected fare dodgers at a north London London Underground Transport Police (BTP) said the officer also had a drink thrown over her when she challenged a group who "attempted to barge through the barrier without tickets", at Wood Green Tube station on 12 June at around 16:20 force has released images of four women and two men, and said detectives "would like to speak to the people pictured as they believe they could have information which could help their investigation".Earlier this year, Transport for London (TfL) launched its latest effort to reduce fare evasion across the network by employing a team of investigators to target frequent offenders.
The Independent
24-06-2025
- The Independent
I've found Robert Jenrick's next crusade… helping Joan Collins clear away discarded Lime bikes
Hey, Robert Jenrick! After your Superman act as you tried to prevent London's Tube travellers from dodging fares, your super-powers are needed again! And this time, you've got a super-sexy sidekick! The shadow justice secretary has become something of a suburban superhero since he was filmed chasing fare-dodgers on the Underground, he could be the man to help Dame Joan Collins in her campaign against other transport terrors. This week, the ninetysomething Dynasty actress posted a photo of herself on Instagram, surrounded by a mass of Lime bikes in Kensington. She captioned the image of her obstructed path: '#shocked about the #loutish behavior [sic] of @lime #bicycle users #pavementsareforpedestrians #limebike.' And she has a point (liberal use of hashtags aside). These bikes have become a menace – or rather, their riders have. Being able to hire an e-bike to get around our cities is a brilliant innovation, but the way they are dumped on the streets makes them a total hazard. Because these cycles don't have to be parked in a dock, they can be left anywhere; Lime recommends parking spots and reminds users: 'Your vehicle must be upright and with the kickstand down, not blocking pedestrian pathways, building entrances or driveways'. Chance would be a fine thing! So many bike parking spaces, designated or not, are so jammed with vehicles that it becomes difficult for pedestrians to pass – and the ones that are strewn across the pavements are an even worse hazard. I live in a London suburb, and almost every day there's a rental e-bike parked in the middle of a pavement, particularly near the bus station, where there are usually two or three of them lying on the floor, causing a massive issue for anyone with a disability and a huge inconvenience for those who don't. If you try to pick them up and move them, they're really heavy – and I should know, because that's what I do if I see one that's a hazard. Many of these cycles have also been hacked, using a trick that involves breaking the lock (which I won't detail here). When the bike is then ridden, it makes a horrible click-clack noise, and because the bike is now broken, it's just casually discarded. Lime says they are working on a solution to this, but they clearly have a bit of work to do on this given how commonplace the sound is in central London. Last year, Brent Council threatened to ban Lime bikes from their streets due to so many being badly parked; the parties came to an agreement after Lime conceded to remove them within two hours of being reported. But you can trip up over a lot of pavement bikes in two hours. In new research last year, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) reported that 70 per cent of blind or partially sighted people surveyed noticed an increase in pavement obstructions due to e-scooters, and almost half of them said that dockless bikes and e-scooters stop them from getting out and about. Earlier this week, I was visiting Guy's Hospital in London, and a Lime bike had been left on the pavement between the main building and the cancer centre. Thoughtfully, the rider had parked it on its kickstand, but that oh-so-considerate touch wouldn't make much difference to anyone trying to negotiate it in a wheelchair, or who was wobbly on their feet. That moment really summed up for me how thoughtless and selfish so many of the cyclists who use Lime bikes and any other e-bikes in London are. So come on, Mr Jenrick. I fancy seeing you and Dame Joan riding a paid-for pair of Lime bikes, chasing down the selfish idiots who are making life difficult for so many people. This is a job for Jenrickman!
Telegraph
23-06-2025
- Telegraph
I stood up to a fare-dodger on the Tube while TfL just shrugs
At 8.30pm on an evening last week, I walked into St James's Park underground station. A group of four or five young people were loitering. As I touched my card on the reader to open the barriers, one of the group tried to push past me. I am the size of an average 11-year-old girl, standing 5ft tall on a good day. I may talk tough on The Telegraph, but I know better than to engage in confrontations which have the potential to escalate. Yet in that fleeting moment, I surprised myself by making a stand. Perhaps Robert Jenrick's crusade on fare dodging had emboldened me, or I had finally had enough of witnessing malefactors pushing past paying customers on the Tube multiple times a week. I put my hand up and said, 'No thank you. You can use your own ticket.' The barrier closed behind me and I headed towards my platform, watched on by Transport for London (TfL) staff. The next afternoon, at Victoria station, I watched a man following a fare-paying passenger through the gates, cool as a cucumber. It was in broad daylight, and the station was teeming with TfL staff, all simply hanging around. Why wouldn't you do anything about it, I asked a staff member. It isn't our job, came the answer. 'What is your job?' I probed. The response seemed so absurd that I made a note of it: 'Our job is to assist paying customers, we can't assist customers who don't pay.' If you can make any sense of this statement, please let me know. It is understandable that the staff themselves may feel intimidated by these brazen offenders or even fear for their own safety. But their total indifference towards these offences being committed day in and day out on their watch betrays a contempt for those of us who do pay for the service. TfL's apparent corporate policy, which is reflected in the culture of its staff on the ground, has allowed fare dodging to reach such a stage of late that we appeared to have accepted the offence as a part of London life, until Jenrick decided to confront some of the offenders himself. For a week or two following Jenrick's video becoming viral on social media, there did appear to be an increased police presence in some stations, while TfL claimed to 'take fare evasion extremely seriously'. But as the news cycle moved on, so – it seems – did the authorities' interest in the matter. The vast majority of TfL's income (around 60pc) is generated by fares, followed by government grants and tax intake. Commercial activities, including advertising, make up the rest. Even this revenue stream is dependent on the fares and public funding keeping the train and underground networks commercially viable. According to TfL, fare evasion costs an estimated £130m each year, with passengers abiding by the law having to shoulder any rises in fares needed to plug the shortfalls. For those of us who pay for our tickets, Tube and rail fares in London rose by an average of 4.6pc in 2025. This follows what was reported as the biggest rise in transport cost in a decade when fares increased by an average of 5.9pc just two years ago. An increase in fare dodging therefore has a very real impact on the pockets of the law-abiding commuters who cough up the correct fare for their journey.
The Sun
21-06-2025
- The Sun
Moment fare dodger tells rail inspectors ‘don't touch me' in tense clash after ‘falling £1.30 short for his ticket'
THIS is the tense moment a fare dodger told ticket inspectors to not touch him after falling short of being able to afford to travel. The passenger was confronted by revenue protection inspectors at Weybridge station in Surrey after using a discounted ticket for under 15-year-olds, despite being older. 9 9 9 South Western Railway inspectors were alerted after the ticket - which provides half-price travel for children aged five to 15 compared to a full adult fare - pinged at the gateline. The incredible moment was captured by film crews for the latest episode of Channel 5's Fare Evaders: At War with the Law. Shocking footage shows how the young fare dodger refuses to present his ticket after being asked to do so by inspectors. When asked if his ticket was a child ticket by revenue protection officers Sharon and Carlos, the fare dodger brazenly admits to having a ticket but rejects multiple requests to show it. As the tense moment begins to boil over, the young fare dodger exclaims: "You can't actually physically touch me." Then, he begins to make his way along the walkway over the tracks at the station, heading towards one of the platforms. Despite other officers stepping in to try and help stop the cheat, he appears insistent to make it to his train without showing a valid ticket. Finally, officers manage to block him at the top of the staircase of one platform, confronting him continuously to present his ticket. At one point, an exasperated ticket checker asks: "Why don't you just show us your ticket?", to which the fare dodger replies: "Because I don't need to." Despite his continued protest, the young fare dodger eventually gives in, admitting he had bought a child's ticket, despite being over the age of 15. Top Tory Robert Jenrick becomes 'bobby on the beat' as he confronts fare-dodgers on the Tube Sharon explained that the traveller had been short of buying the adult fare by around £1.30 and had therefore opted to buy the cheaper child ticket instead. As a result, the fare dodger was issued with an "unpaid fare notice", which is the lowest penalty enforced in these situations. It means the young passenger was able to travel without a ticket on the day but he would need to pay the fine within 21 days. Sharon explained: "A colleague's been really fair with him. "He's issued an unpaid fare notice, which is the lowest penalty we can give and it's just the price of the ticket that he should have bought." However, if he failed to pay it within the time frame, he would have faced the risk of prosecution. 9 9 9 The show explained that there had been a "huge rise in passengers trying to get away with using half-price tickets they're not entitled to". Another inspector filmed for the show said how sometimes he and other staff are abused verbally by travellers. He said: "Sometimes we get bad language towards us, they will just push through and then we've got to stop them. "We do get that level of abuse from them. And these are kids that are between 14 and 16 and they're effing and jeffing at us. "And I'm like, well, hang on." He added: "You do get people who are unhappy about being spoken to. "No one wants trouble. You hope that everyone is going to be nice, but not everyone is the same, are they? "But then you get customers who do actually appreciate it as well." Just last month, South Western Railway revealed it had recovered a total of £3.4 million from revenue protection work last year. Unpaid fares cost the railway nearly £240 million each year - with South Western Railway estimating roughly 4.6 per cent of users of its network travel without a valid ticket. A recent poll by YouGov found 68 per cent disapproved of deliberate fare evasion, adding they believed it was a serious problem that should be penalised. 9 9 9
