Tube fare evasion prosecutions highest since 2019

The number of prosecutions for fare evasion on London Underground has risen to its highest level for six years, figures seen by the BBC show.

Transport for London (TfL) prosecuted 3,691 people on the Tube in 2024-25, and also issued 13,118 penalty fare notices (PFNs) and 850 written warnings.

In the same period, there was a record number of PFNs (12,527) handed out on London Overground but the number of prosecutions (3,044) fell by a third on the previous year. Some 440 warnings were issued.

TfL says fare evasion is "not a victimless crime" and "robs Londoners of vital investment", adding that it was "committed to reducing the current rate of fare evasion to 1.5% by 2030".

The figures were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request by BBC London made after a video was released in May of shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick confronting fare evaders.

Penalty fares are set at £100, reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days.

Tube fare-dodging prosecutions peaked in 2018-19 when there were 4,919, with the number dropping to 3,279 the following year.

During the pandemic, prosecutions fell steeply as a result of the much lower passenger numbers across the network.

No London Overground passengers were issued PFNs in 2020-21 and just 134 were prosecuted in 2021-22, which TfL said was due to "revenue teams [instead] carrying out the enforcement of government Covid regulations".

The number of warnings issued has been steadily rising, with 2023-24 a record year on both the Underground (948) and Overground (887).

TfL said it spent nearly £14.2m cracking down on fare dodging across the Tube and £7.7m on the bus network in 2023-24, collecting £1.3m in penalty charges.

The level of such spending on the London Overground, Tram network and on the Elizabeth line is unknown because these services are operated by franchisees that outsource their enforcement teams.

An estimated 3.4% of passengers evaded fares across all services between April and December 2024, a drop of 0.4% on 2023-24, according to TfL.

Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of security, policing, and enforcement, said "the overwhelming majority of our customers pay the correct fare" and that "evasion is unacceptable".

She said: "That is why we are strengthening our capability to deter and detect fare evaders, including expanding our team of professional investigators to target the most prolific fare evaders across the network.

"This builds on the work of our team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to deal with fare evasion and other antisocial behaviour, keeping staff and customers safe."

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