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Plain-clothes police snare Tube fare dodgers in a London crackdown that stopped 467 and arrested 24 in its first month

Seven Kings station in east London, where a fare dodger who avoided paying across 530 journeys was caught by Transport for London investigators, as Operation Vector targets evasion costing TfL an estimated £190m a year.
Seven Kings station in east London, where a fare dodger who avoided paying across 530 journeys was caught by Transport for London investigators, as Operation Vector targets evasion costing TfL an estimated £190m a year.

Operation Vector, a joint effort between TfL and British Transport Police, costs fare evaders more than a penalty notice — plain-clothes officers check records for drugs, weapons and sexual offences once a fare dodger is pulled aside. TfL estimates fare evasion costs it £190m a year, with its current 3.5% evasion rate more than double its 2030 target of 1.5%.

Weapons and drugs were seized in the first month, with BTP confirming some fare dodgers were linked to more serious crime.

TfL says gate-pushing drives roughly half of all violence and aggression against its staff, with over 33,000 penalty fares issued since April.

'You've made our jobs so much easier,' a TfL worker told officers after a man was caught barging through barriers at North Greenwich station.

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