More than 1,000 fare dodgers could face prosecution after being spotted pushing through Tube barriers.
This is thought to be the first time that Transport for London has published figures on the extent of “gate pushing”, a practice that has become a common sight on the London Underground.
TfL commissioner Andy Lord revealed that, between June 22 and September 13, more than 1,000 people had been referred to TfL’s investigations, appeals and prosecutions team for prosecution after being reported for pushing through gates.
He said: “Fare evasion is a criminal offence which deprives us of thousands of pounds of vital revenue every year that could otherwise be reinvested in London’s transport network.
“People who avoid paying fares by deliberately pushing through gates create an intimidating atmosphere for our colleagues and customers.”
It has also emerged that TfL has almost 10,000 fare-dodging cases open and being considered for prosecution, involving one-off and persistent offenders.
Of these, 181 people have run up unpaid fares in excess of £1,000, London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan revealed to London Assembly member Alex Wilson.
Fare evasion costs TfL an estimated £190m a year in lost income. However, the challenge for TfL will be in identifying those people spotted pushing through the ticket barriers.
It is not the responsibility of customer service assistants - the station staff who work at the barriers - to try to detain fare evaders.
TfL does employ hundreds of enforcement staff who will apprehend fare dodgers but they are unable to provide universal coverage across the network.
It says it targets “hotspot” areas but does not make public these locations.
According to London Assembly member Krupesh Hirani, there is a particular problem at the northern end of the Jubilee line, with fare evasion “regularly occurring” at Willesden Green, Dollis Hill and Queensbury stations.
Sir Sadiq told Mr Hirani that enforcement teams are deployed to these stations and ticket-checking is carried out on-board Jubilee line trains.
Responding to Mr Wilson’s written question about the number of fare dodgers who were currently under investigation, Sir Sadiq said: “On 30 September 2025, 181 cases were being investigated for fare evasion through Transport for London’s Irregular Travel Analysis Platform where the values of fares evaded exceeds £1,000.
“This relates to habitual and high-value offenders on the London Underground, London Overground and Elizabeth Line.
“As of the start of Period 7 in financial year 2025/26, Transport for London had 9,934 open cases under consideration for prosecution for fare evasion, including both one-off and habitual offenders.”
TfL recently said fare evasion across its services – the London Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR, Croydon tram and bus network – had fallen year on year from 3.8 per cent of journeys in 2023/24 to 3.5 per cent in 2024/25.
But it has also admitted that fare dodging on the Tube is about twice as common as on the bus network.
Mr Lord, in an update to the TfL board, said enforcement teams had issued more than 14,800 penalty fares and reported more than 4,200 individuals for fare evasion over the three-month period.
He said there was a particular focus on Contactless payment card fare evasion – namely, passengers using fake cards to get through the ticket barriers.
More than 1.5 million contactless payment checks were made between June and September across services and stations, resulting in the recovery of more than £1.2m.
Over the same period, targeted operations resulted in the issuing of more than 820 penalty fares, 142 high-value travel passes being confiscated and more than 300 people reported for prosecution. In addition, British Transport Police made 34 arrests.
TfL chiefs have pointed to recent TV documentaries that have highlighted their efforts in catching prolific fare dodgers.
Claire Mann, TfL’s chief operating officer, said: “In the last quarter, more than 1,000 individuals were referred for investigations, due to the fact that they were fare-dodging.
“We have more than 700 people out there on the network that are trying to tackle this and be in the right places at the right time.”
Ms Mann added: “There is lots more to do, but… we will not stand back and put up with this.
“The behaviour of some of these people we see [in]other areas of crime, which means the British Transport Police can help us deal with other issues as well a fare evasion, which is often at the root of our workplace violence issues.”
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