The Newshound

Plain-clothes police stop 467 fare dodgers on London's Tube in a month as weapons and drugs are seized

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 launched on 5 October, placing plain-clothes British Transport Police officers alongside TfL revenue teams at the busiest fare-dodging hotspots — North Greenwich alone yielded 50 offenders in a single day. TfL stands to lose as much as £210 million a year to fare evasion, and its current evasion rate of 3.5% is more than twice the 1.5% it is aiming for by 2030. Across the network as a whole, the operation is averaging fewer than one arrest per day.

TfL's Siwan Hayward says gate-pushers are 'also wanted for carrying knives, weapons, robbery and sexual offences.'

Rather than standing at the gates, officers position themselves beyond the barriers, using body-language cues to identify evaders before they can flee.

Deputy Mayor Seb Dance warned that fare evasion is a criminal offence that strips cash from network improvements.

MoreEvening StandardPolice snare Tube fare dodgers in major new crackdownBBC News - LondonPlain-clothes police target repeat fare dodgersMyLondonInside TfL's fare evasion crackdown as 50 people stopped in their tracks at one Tube station - MyLondonRail Business DailyTfL launches new targeted operation to combat persistent fare evasion - Rail Business DailyGlobal Rail NewsTfL reports first results from new fare evasion crackdown - Global Rail NewsThe TimesFare dodger crackdown nets fewer than one arrest a day
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