Prosecutions for Tube fare evasion jump to highest level in six years
Penalty fares levied on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) are set to double this year as the number of prosecutions for fare evasion on the London Underground rises to a six-year high.
Between April and November 2026, a total of 4,472 fines were issued for avoiding payment on the DLR; In the year before March 2025, 2,571 penalties were given.
It comes as Transport for London cracks down on ticket evasion, issuing 13,118 penalty charge notices and 850 written warnings for those dodging barriers at tube stations across the capital in 2024-2025.
TfL said it takes fare evasion “extremely seriously” and its new multi-pronged strategy ensures vital revenue is reinvested into the transport network.
Penalty fees were set at £100 and reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days.
The issue gained further attention last year when Conservative MP Robert Jenrick filmed himself catching ticket smugglers. TfL said it was spending around £14.2 million to fix the problem on the tube and investing £7.7 million in the bus network in 2023-4.
The level of spending on the Elizabeth line, London Overground and Tram network is unknown as they are operated by franchisees who outsource their implementation teams.
Independent As part of a crackdown on criminals, an operation with BTP from Stratford station to Ilford in east London saw a number of ticket dodges.
Attacks on TfL staff as a result of trying to catch criminals are not uncommon. More than 10,490 reports of work-related violence and aggression were made by workers in 2023-24; This means a 5 percent increase compared to the previous year.
About half of these incidents occurred after approaching ticket smugglers.
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security, policing and enforcement, said the “vast majority of our customers pay the correct price” and “evasion is unacceptable”.
He said: “That’s why we’re strengthening our ability to deter and detect fare evaders, including expanding our team of professional investigators to target the most prolific fare evaders on the network.
“This builds on the work of our team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to tackle fare evasion and other antisocial behaviour, keeping staff and customers safe.”
