Ticketless travel on DLR

[TheJester]

Was on the DLR recently travelling from Westferry. The train guard (unsure if this is the correct terminology - sorry), after the train had cleared a station proceeded to do a ticket inspection.

One gent just said to him, “I don‘t have a ticket” and had no comeback and the guard moved onto the next person.
This annoyed me slightly - seems there is no incentive to tap in on the DLR!

TJ

 

[frankmoh]

Was on the DLR recently travelling from Westferry. The train guard (unsure if this is the correct terminology - sorry), after the train had cleared a station proceeded to do a ticket inspection.

One gent just said to him, “I don‘t have a ticket” and had no comeback and the guard moved onto the next person.
This annoyed me slightly - seems there is no incentive to tap in on the DLR!

TJ

Once did not tap in on the DLR, and yet when it came time for the PSA to check, he said absolutely nothing and moved on. I got off at the next station and tapped in because the whole encounter was very odd. Perhaps this is some psychological mind trick!

And to answer your question, the term TfL uses now is "passenger service agent", but it used to be "train captain"

 

[81A]

Was on the DLR recently travelling from Westferry. The train guard (unsure if this is the correct terminology - sorry), after the train had cleared a station proceeded to do a ticket inspection.

One gent just said to him, “I don‘t have a ticket” and had no comeback and the guard moved onto the next person.
This annoyed me slightly - seems there is no incentive to tap in on the DLR!

TJ

The official name of the DLR on train crew is Passenger Service Agents (PSAs). Their primary purpose is safety related (they can drive the train if the automation fails and just generally keep an eye on things-they may have other rolls as well that I don’t know).

They also check tickets (if not doing anything more pressing), but are not authorised to issue penalty fares/reports for prosecution as far as I know. It is still useful to build data (and if someone touches a card on their reader that has not been tapped in, they will get a maximum fare and possibly blocked card). Occasionally, there are RPI (revenue protection inspector) station blocks/on train checks. RPIs can issue penalty fares/reports for prosecution and often have British Transport Police back up. Also, there are teams of undercover inspectors who track high level/repeat offenders (using data gathered from on the ground staff, dodgy card usage and CCTV) based on their regular travel patterns to catch them in the act. Basically, you are likely to get away with casual evasion for a while, but if you keep it up for too long are likely to come to grief some way or another.

Channel 5 made a series about TFL (and other) revenue protection-Fare dodgers at war with law. It is an interesting watch for those interested in the revenue side of things (though a bit over dramatised and full of recaps and “previews” rather than new content).

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Channel 5 made a series about TFL (and other) revenue protection-Fare dodgers at war with law. It is an interesting watch for those interested in the revenue side of things (though a bit over dramatised and full of recaps and “previews” rather than new content).

It's a difficult watch because there are many unbearable people on both sides, is my perception of that show. So many brutish louts trying to cheat the system. But then some absolutely, absolutely torturously condescending and conceited revenue staff feature too.

Many of the SWR ones in particular (Series 2) are unbearably smug, though I will always remember it was the appropriately named "Karen" (complete with the haircut) of the TfL series that particularly infuriated me.

You expect to hope the no-good evaders will get caught and brought down. But watching the series it becomes increasingly hard to cheer on people who present themselves in quite a dislikable way. I can't explain it. It's all my personal opinion though, nothing objective.

 

[TheJester]

The official name of the DLR on train crew is Passenger Service Agents (PSAs). Their primary purpose is safety related (they can drive the train if the automation fails and just generally keep an eye on things-they may have other rolls as well that I don’t know).

They also check tickets (if not doing anything more pressing), but are not authorised to issue penalty fares/reports for prosecution as far as I know. It is still useful to build data (and if someone touches a card on their reader that has not been tapped in, they will get a maximum fare and possibly blocked card). Occasionally, there are RPI (revenue protection inspector) station blocks/on train checks. RPIs can issue penalty fares/reports for prosecution and often have British Transport Police back up. Also, there are teams of undercover inspectors who track high level/repeat offenders (using data gathered from on the ground staff, dodgy card usage and CCTV) based on their regular travel patterns to catch them in the act. Basically, you are likely to get away with casual evasion for a while, but if you keep it up for too long are likely to come to grief some way or another.

Channel 5 made a series about TFL (and other) revenue protection-Fare dodgers at war with law. It is an interesting watch for those interested in the revenue side of things (though a bit over dramatised and full of recaps and “previews” rather than new content).

Thank you for that. Sadly the passenger did not even present a card to be scanned, just said “I don’t have a ticket”. Suspect he’s doing this regularly

 

[81A]

Sadly the passenger did not even present a card to be scanned, just said “I don’t have a ticket”. Suspect he’s doing this regularly

These types of brazen offenders are often the hardest to catch (since they don’t leave a digital trail as much as other types of evaders). There are ways of catching them though; staff will often report repeat offenders, and CCTV combined with the staff reports can be enough to catch them in the act (I think in one of the series of the channel 5 program a frequent “gate pusher“ was eventually caught thanks to staff reports allowing undercover inspectors to determine his regular travel pattern). Alternatively, they can be picked up by RPI+BTP random station blocks/on train checks.

Basically, I think even brazen offenders are decently likely to be caught eventually if they carry on long enough (though I don’t have stats to back it up sadly).

 

[alex397]

I was at Woolwich Arsenal DLR at the weekend. I had about 15 minutes to wait there for a friend. It seems to be an unstaffed station but with the barriers closed (I know it possibly isn’t unstaffed but it certainly felt like it). 5 different people avoided the barriers and just went through the open wide accessible barrier. This is ‘hidden’ behind the little cabin (?) but people walked to it as if they knew it very well!

(By the way, I wouldn’t advise hanging around waiting outside this station, I attracted far too much unwanted attention!)

 

[Sonic1234]

Basically, I think even brazen offenders are decently likely to be caught eventually if they carry on long enough (though I don’t have stats to back it up sadly).

But then won't hand over details, or give fake details, or correct details of a "friend" and in some cases may not even have an address to give. Or will run away or even result to violence to get away. That's what makes these types of fare dodgers so hard to catch.

 

[Mattplans]

Many of the SWR ones in particular (Series 2) are unbearably smug, though I will always remember it was the appropriately named "Karen" (complete with the haircut) of the TfL series that particularly infuriated me.

Agreed. Very unlikable person.

 

[81A]

But then won't hand over details, or give fake details, or correct details of a "friend" and in some cases may not even have an address to give. Or will run away or even result to violence to get away. That's what makes these types of fare dodgers so hard to catch.

Yes, this is a key issue (and why catching these sorts seems to usually need BTP support in order to have a decent chance of success).

 

[Russel]

It's a difficult watch because there are many unbearable people on both sides, is my perception of that show. So many brutish louts trying to cheat the system. But then some absolutely, absolutely torturously condescending and conceited revenue staff feature too.

Many of the SWR ones in particular (Series 2) are unbearably smug, though I will always remember it was the appropriately named "Karen" (complete with the haircut) of the TfL series that particularly infuriated me.

You expect to hope the no-good evaders will get caught and brought down. But watching the series it becomes increasingly hard to cheer on people who present themselves in quite a dislikable way. I can't explain it. It's all my personal opinion though, nothing objective.

I get where you're coming from here, these kind of jobs do seem to attract the wrong type of people.

 

[Sonic1234]

Yes, this is a key issue (and why catching these sorts seems to usually need BTP support in order to have a decent chance of success).

Even then, I wouldn't put it past some people to give fake details or run away. It's generally seen as a low priority issue for police, and with no compulsory ID not much can be done if someone has the confidence to lie and double down on it. I do agree, BTP will reduce the instances of this.

You also have the issue of London having a very transient population, so correct details at the time of being caught aren't necessarily correct by the time the case is processed - students and foreign nationals not leaving much of a paper trail. Half of TfL's penalty fares go unpaid mainly due to this.

Any form of revenue block requires a lot of manpower - there's the question then of is it (economically) worth it?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Jul 2026 ==

I get where you're coming from here, these kind of jobs do seem to attract the wrong type of people.

It must be a miserable job, traversing the network hoping to catch people out. People with valid tickets don't like you: you cause delays and look threatening. Power users of the railway don't like you: they're scared that they'll be accused because of poor training. People who have made honest mistakes are really in the firing line and those who are determined not to pay see you as a target for abuse.

 

[Russel]

It must be a miserable job, traversing the network hoping to catch people out. People with valid tickets don't like you: you cause delays and look threatening. Power users of the railway don't like you: they're scared that they'll be accused because of poor training. People who have made honest mistakes are really in the firing line and those who are determined not to pay see you as a target for abuse.

You're right, I agree.

It's the people who do make honest mistakes that I really feel for, the railways approach to revenue protection really can be heavy handed and some of the stories we here could easily put someone off using the train.

 

[DLRnotDave]

DLR PSAs are expected to scan at least 150 contactless payment cards every day (Oyster does not count)

PSAs have no remit to issue penalty fares and are instructed not to hold trains at stations for revenue issues, the phrase "educate, not escalate" has been banded around by the company.

The result is a majority PSAs don't actually care if you have a ticket or not. They just want to get their minimum reads done as quickly (and with as little friction as possible.)

There was recently an RMT dispute about the pointless target:

Keolis Amey Docklands 'Personal Development Review' could lead to dispute

TICKET SCANNING - KEOLIS AMEY DOCKLANDS The Lead Officer has advised that KAD has imposed a Personal Development Review (PDR) target of 600 'reads' per week for Passenger Service Agent members while conducting revenue protection roles. No consultation has taken place over this matter and the...

rmtlondoncalling.org.uk

As far as I'm concerned, no one should be doing ticket inspections while lone working, it's just asking for trouble. On National rail guards have a driver to fall back on and cabs to use as a place of safety on the train, DLR PSAs are uniquely exposed.

 

[Russel]

As far as I'm concerned, no one should be doing ticket inspections while lone working, it's just asking for trouble. On National rail guards have a driver to fall back on and cabs to use as a place of safety on the train, DLR PSAs are uniquely exposed.

Yes, they do seem particularly vulnerable, especially with some of the areas served.

Yet the DLR has always felt safe, which is really surprising, all things considered.

 

[DGP]

PSAs on the DLR wear portable digital recording equipment so they *SHOULD* capture an image of any and every fare evader and make them less vulnerable to assault. I would like to think that these captures would be used for identifying and prosecuting persistent fare dodgers.

And I guess that there must also be some calculation that the higher cost of add gate lines to the DLR (if that is possible at all stations) would not generate sufficient revenue to compensate for the current lower revenue received because of fair evasion.

 

[sprunt]

Apart from the cost of installing them, barriers would mean all the stations had to be staffed wouldn't they?

 

[DGP]

Apart from the cost of installing them, barriers would mean all the stations had to be staffed wouldn't they?

Yes. And the design of most above-ground DLR stations makes that a bit of a challenge. My local station, Mudchute, for instance, has 3 distinct entrances, each of which would have to be staffed or the barriers just left open. That's just a non-starter.

 

[sprunt]

Yes. And the design of most above-ground DLR stations makes that a bit of a challenge. My local station, Mudchute, for instance, has 3 distinct entrances, each of which would have to be staffed or the barriers just left open. That's just a non-starter.

Yes - the multiple entrances are common, I was looking at Elverson Road and I think you'd have to have four gatelines there which is way over the top. There are a few stations that you could get away with a single gateline but not many.