TfL anti fare evasion effort intensifies

[fandroid]

The BBC is reporting that TfL's fare inspection effort has intensified fairly seriously over the last year.

The information has come to light after an FOI request.

BBC News - DLR penalty fares issued set to double this year - BBC News

DLR penalty fares issued set to double this year

A total of 4,472 penalty fares were issued on the DLR between April and 26 November, figures show.

www.bbc.co.uk

A total of 4,472 DLR penalty fares were handed out between April and 26 November, compared with 2,571 in the year to March 2025, according to Transport for London (TfL) which said revenue protection exercises had increased by 50% in 2025.

It follows Tube prosecutions for fare evasion jumping to the highest level in six years in 2024-25 when 13,118 penalty fare notices and 850 written warnings were handed out.

Here's the id of the FOI request:
Request ID: FOI-3297-2526
Date published: 17 December 2025
(My phone doesn't seem to be capable of displaying the complete TfL response)

This intensification might explain why we are seeing a few more TfL related incidents than previously.
It would seem to be overdue, given the impact that obvious gate-crashing and jumping has on the travelling public's perception of TfL's "lax" attitude to fare evasion. In my view that's mainly due to an exaggerated notion of its extent and a misunderstanding of why Tube gateline staff don't physically apprehend gate-crashers and jumpers.

Edit: stray word deleted

 

[Harpo]

4472 (a very familiar number) penalty fares in 8 months is about 18 per day. Still a flea bite.

 

[jfollows]

FOI request detail

FOI request detail

tfl.gov.uk

Request ID: FOI-3297-2526
Date published: 17 December 2025

You asked​

Hi, as a frequent user of DLR services over the past three months, I have noticed that the frequency of ticket inspections being carried out on these services has increased in recent times, and fare enforcement is becoming more commonplace. I would like to know the frequency of ticket inspections on DLR services across the past two years and whether ticket inspections are being carried out more often this year compared to last year, as well as the effectiveness of any fare enforcement action which has stemmed from the increased frequency of ticket inspection exercises.

---

We answered​

Our ref: FOI-3297-2526

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 November 2025.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.

I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. You asked:

I would like to know the frequency of ticket inspections on DLR services across the past two years and whether ticket inspections are being carried out more often this year compared to last year, as well as the effectiveness of any fare enforcement action which has stemmed from the increased frequency of ticket inspection exercises.

We take fare evasion extremely seriously. It takes away vital revenue from us that should be invested in a safe, reliable transport network to keep London moving. We have a multi-pronged strategy in place to reduce the risk of fare evasion and have set a target to half the level of fare evasion by 2030. Our team of over 500 revenue inspectors operate across our entire transport network day and night, checking tickets, penalising fare evaders and using new technology and intelligence to identify anyone travelling without the correct ticket or payment for the journey they are making.

Since the start of the new franchise in April 2025, inspections are being carried out more frequently which increased the number of revenue protection exercises per year from 360 to 540 and increased the target of contactless cards checked from 10% to 15%. This information is publicly available in the franchise agreement.

The following table demonstrates the increased number of penalty fares issued since the start of the new franchise as well as the increased number of contactless cards checked.

Mode	Year	Penalty Fares Issued	Contactless Cards Checked
DLR	2023/24	2954	4145090
DLR	2024/25	2571	2849265
DLR	2025/26 to present	4472	3140453

If you are not satisfied with this response, please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.


Yours sincerely,



Tahsin Prima
FOI Case Officer
General Counsel
Transport for London

 

[fandroid]

4472 (a very familiar number) penalty fares in 8 months is about 18 per day. Still a flea bite.

One hopes that they're very visible. Perhaps ushering the "offender" off the train and doing the business in front of the crowds arriving and departing.

Just publishing a few stats annually will not achieve much. To have any impact on potential fare dodgers TfL needs to demonstrate publicly what might happen.

 

[Mawkie]

As frustrating it is for passengers, I know from working for TfL that staff are incredibly frustrated by fare evaders too! It is absolutely, patently, glaringly, obvious that fare evasion is far, far, far, higher than the 3% TfL like to suggest.

If I remember correctly, TfL recently recruited a load of new revenue staff (they may be called TSEOs, but not sure if that's correct, or what it stands for).

From my own point of view, having not seen any kind of staff with revenue protection responsibilities on trains for years, I have seen teams of them boarding trains 4 times in the last 2 months.

Staff are delighted.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Given the lack of barriers on DLR, it must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

In that context, it doesn't seem a particularly high number of Penalty Fares. I’ve lost track of how TfL do things, if you present a Contactless card and it hasn’t been touched in do you actually get a Penalty Fare, or is it still a failed revenue charge?

 

[Mawkie]

Given the lack of barriers on DLR, it must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

They've always had the train captains (Customer Service Agents now?) who definitely used to check tickets and passes, so there was a disincentive to potential evaders.

 

[jfollows]

Touching in and out

Always touch in and touch out on yellow card readers to pay the right fare

tfl.gov.uk

What happens if you don't touch in and out​

If you don't touch in and out, we cannot tell where you've travelled from or to, so your journey will be incomplete.

As we cannot work out the right fare for your journey, we'll charge you a maximum fare.

Maximum fares​

Area	Peak	Off-peak
All stations in Zones 1-9 (except Heathrow Express)	Up to £10.40	Up to £7.00
Broxbourne, Rye House, St Margarets, Ware and Hertford East	£10.60	£8.00
Chafford Hundred, Grays, Ockenden and Purfleet	£10.60	£9.40
Dartford and Swanley	£10.40	£7.00
Epsom	£11.20	£8.30
Shenfield	£12.10	£9.10
Watford Junction	£11.90	£8.00
Merstham	£15.30	£10.30
Cuffley	£12.30	£9.20
Bayford and Hertford North	£13.40	£10.30
Redhill, Earlswood	£16.80	£10.90
Salfords, Horley	£17.10	£11.10
Gatwick Airport	£22.10	£13.50
Heathrow Express (from Paddington to Heathrow)	£25	£25
St Pancras International (East Midlands platforms)	£16.60	£12.30
London Victoria (Gatwick Express platforms)	£24.00	£24.00
Brookmans Park and Welham Green	£12.40	£9.00
Welwyn Garden City	£14.50	£11.20
Luton Airport Parkway	£19.50	£15.10
Reading	£30.40	£13.60

 

[Titfield]

As frustrating it is for passengers, I know from working for TfL that staff are incredibly frustrated by fare evaders too! It is absolutely, patently, glaringly, obvious that fare evasion is far, far, far, higher than the 3% TfL like to suggest.

If I remember correctly, TfL recently recruited a load of new revenue staff (they may be called TSEOs, but not sure if that's correct, or what it stands for).

From my own point of view, having not seen any kind of staff with revenue protection responsibilities on trains for years, I have seen teams of them boarding trains 4 times in the last 2 months.

Staff are delighted.

What figure would you like to suggest (for the sake of sensible discussion)?

 

[AlterEgo]

What figure would you like to suggest (for the sake of sensible discussion)?

On the DLR I would reckon 10% don't have a ticket. Will vary by the time of day. I used to live by Pontoon Dock and the numbers of people who would just leave whenever staff were checking was pretty high.

 

[Adam Williams]

The following table demonstrates the increased number of penalty fares issued since the start of the new franchise as well as the increased number of contactless cards checked.

Unless I'm missing something they still have no capability to actually check contactless cards, do they?

So this is nonsense and doesn't act as an effective deterrent at all. Presumably anyone who does this often is just using a virtual card or one that they can leisurely freeze after a failed revenue inspection to get off scot-free. When TfL's creaking legacy systems eventually get around to actually checking to see if that card was tapped anywhere it'll be far too late.

Why is RID2 incapable of checking this in real-time in 2025?

 

[jfollows]

I didn’t say this, I posted what TfL said because @fandroid couldn’t.

 

[Mattplans]

I recently observed DLR inspectors at Woolwich Arsenal, standing right before the gate line “checking contactless cards” right before people tap out. This is one of the only stations on the network with gatelines. Is this the most efficient use of resources? I would say people are much more likely to pay at this station than some others on the network

 

[fandroid]

One of my colleagues described being subject to a contactless ticket inspection on a bus in Wroclaw, Poland. They were a bit puzzled by the experience so I checked on the Wroclaw public transport website. Apparently the inspectors all have real-time links to a server which can immediately tell them if the card has tapped in. The TfL system seems to have been an inspiration for others and they have developed it to be rather less vulnerable than the one we know.

 

[Mattplans]

So this is nonsense and doesn't act as an effective deterrent at all. Presumably anyone who does this often is just using a virtual card or one that they can leisurely freeze after a failed revenue inspection to get off scot-free. When TfL's creaking legacy systems eventually get around to actually checking to see if that card was tapped anywhere it'll be far too late.

Sure, it’s not fool-proof, but most people don’t know the details you’re talking about

 

[bramling]

On the DLR I would reckon 10% don't have a ticket. Will vary by the time of day. I used to live by Pontoon Dock and the numbers of people who would just leave whenever staff were checking was pretty high.

I’ve certainly noticed an increase on LU in people pushing through gates or double gating over the last few years, once again to some extent coinciding with Covid.

I guess it’s easier on something like the DLR as there generally aren’t gatelines to worry about. However it’s not massively different on something like the Edgware branch of the Northern Line. Half the time Edgware gateline is open (especially in the evening), when it isn’t a proportion of people will just push through in full view of staff, and at Hendon Central you’ll always see people exiting using the fire escape presumably to avoid the gateline. This is what really needs to be tackled, but is presumably in the “too difficult” box.

It’s very easy to catch a student who has applied a railcard discount they don’t have, much harder to deal with someone who will just not engage with staff in any way and just mumble gibberish when challenged.

 

[Adam Williams]

I didn’t say this, I posted what TfL said because @fandroid couldn’t.

I just selected the text and hit reply. I'm (obviously) not suggesting you're to blame!

Sure, it’s not fool-proof, but most people don’t know the details you’re talking about

Ace, security through obscurity

 

[fandroid]

As frustrating it is for passengers, I know from working for TfL that staff are incredibly frustrated by fare evaders too! It is absolutely, patently, glaringly, obvious that fare evasion is far, far, far, higher than the 3% TfL like to suggest.

3% is 1 in 33.

I'm not sure that it's the underestimate that most people would assume. On the Tube, anyway.

Offenders are very easy to spot even if you aren't especially on the lookout. However, fare-paying tappers are just part of the normal background flow of people and easy to both ignore and underestimate.

As a dip of the toe in the water, I watched the LUL gateline for a minute or so at Walthamstow Central at about 14.15 today. To my amazement I saw a tailgater almost immediately, but then no more after him. 40 had easily tapped through before I gave up, and for most of that time there were no gateline staff!

 

[Mawkie]

What figure would you like to suggest (for the sake of sensible discussion)?

It utterly depends where and when I suppose, but TfL used to quote a 1.5% figure (that coincidentally aligned with other major transport undertakings) but that seems to have been updated to 3% in more recent figures I've seen. I would suggest it could easily be doubled. I'm sure in sunny Amersham it is low, but in some of the more urban stations it's much higher. I've stood at Colindale in the evening peak and been astonished at how many of the tradies simply have no intention of paying as hundreds of them stream through, often holding the wide gates open for others to follow through. Likewise at Euston Sq prior to the barriers being manned properly - the amount of doctors that revenue inspectors caught every time they did a revenue block was incredible. Of course, ultimately nobody will have the actual figures here except anecdotally.

To my amazement I saw a tailgater almost immediately, but then no more after him. 40 had easily tapped through before I gave up,

There are many ways to evade a fare - tailgating is just one of the most visible and obvious.

How many were using child tickets as adults, how many were using someone else's freedom pass, how many using a discount of some other sort they're not entitled to, and so on...

I'm fortunate to have insider knowledge (by means of the updates the revenue teams give on internal communications) and the various devious ways that people evade are often discussed - but as an example, the percentage of contactless "No touch-in, touch outs" increases dramatically when people see a full-on revenue block happening at their destination station.

 

[rebmcr]

4472 (a very familiar number)

Why?

 

[Titfield]

Why?

Flying Scotsman LNER period

 

[ChilliSauce]

On the occasions I have seen Thameslink RPI desend in 1st class accommodation it has always delivered a result for the tax payer...

It's a pity but Thameslink just don't seem to have the resource to cover every service.

 

[Kilopylae]

On the occasions I have seen Thameslink RPI desend in 1st class accommodation it has always delivered a result for the tax payer...

It's a pity but Thameslink just don't seem to have the resource to cover every service.

I was quite surprised to have my card checked on Great Northern between Old Street and Essex Road the other day. There were about 10 of us on the train and I saw that two people seemed to be upset at the inspector's presence and jumped straight off at Essex Road.

 

[ChilliSauce]

I was quite surprised to have my card checked on Great Northern between Old Street and Essex Road the other day. There were about 10 of us on the train and I saw that two people seemed to be upset at the inspector's presence and jumped straight off at Essex Road.

Well that is the problem with trying to enforce on services with short running times between stops. On the longer times between stops once those doors are closed no escape for anyone on fare evasion.

 

[Starmill]

Why is RID2 incapable of checking this in real-time in 2025?

I thought it was? I'm sure I've seen them show the journey history.

The perceived hole is of course if the tap hasn't arrived by the time the ticket check is carried out. In this case it just comes up with the OK message and that's that. However given CPAY doesn't do immediate validation by design then surely that's the expected behaviour. I would argue that the system wasn't designed with immediate validation in mind so this isn't actually a hole.

As it happens I have a large number of dropped touches in TfGM's system which uses the vix / ticketer validators. Around 0.5% of my touches do not show up by the time the debit hits my credit card account, which results in a monthly or more email to request a refund. I don't check what portion show up later so I don't know but I suspect it's close to none. On one occasion, this coincided with my origin tap being the lost one and also a revenue check onboard, that meant that my credit card was debited a Penalty Fare plus a maximum fare for an "unfinished journey". The appeal was a nightmare and it took weeks and weeks to get my £64.60 back (the fare due was £0.00 as the cap had already been hit). Accordingly I now refuse to use pay as you go without the benefit of Google wallet to be able to evidence my tap later.

It scares me more that TfGM want to roll their system out to national rail services and that they believe that immediate validation is possible with this setup.

 

[enyoueffsea]

Only 6% of people getting a written warning as opposed to 94% being prosecuted seems fairly representative of what is seen on here.

 

[Horizon22]

3% is 1 in 33.

For a busy station that 33 people could be throughput in 30s. This is why 3% seems high to me, because I could watch somewhere like Liverpool Street for 1 minute and not see this.

 

[bramling]

I was quite surprised to have my card checked on Great Northern between Old Street and Essex Road the other day. There were about 10 of us on the train and I saw that two people seemed to be upset at the inspector's presence and jumped straight off at Essex Road.

There seems to have been a purge on TL/GN over the last week or two. After not having seen revenue for months to the point where I was wondering if they still had any, this week virtually every train I’ve been on has been checked between Stevenage and London.

 

[Mattplans]

There seems to have been a purge on TL/GN over the last week or two. After not having seen revenue for months to the point where I was wondering if they still had any, this week virtually every train I’ve been on has been checked between Stevenage and London.

I’ve had a similar experience on Southeastern metro services in the last 2 months.

 

[Sonic1234]

On the occasions I have seen Thameslink RPI desend in 1st class accommodation it has always delivered a result for the tax payer...

Assuming those apprehended are cooperative and give correct information.

The big problem for any kind of revenue activity is identifying who is travelling.