This is the moment a suspected fare dodger “using a card his friend gave him” finds out he owes TfL over £3,000 in unpaid ticket costs racked up over a year.
The offender was found to be using a bank card with no money on it when he was stopped by a TfL investigator at Surrey Quays station in London’s docklands.
While the card had been accepted by the ticket reader, causing the gates to open, it had later resulted in a payment failure.
The man was snared by investigators who were able to trace his usual journey to work and identify him through CCTV.
It was later revealed the suspect had dodged paying his fare on more than 500 journeys, racking up over £3,500 in unpaid Tfl charges.
He is just one individual who features in the latest episode of the Channel 5 documentary Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law, which chronicles the efforts of frontline enforcement teams to catch fare evaders.
When initially asked by TfL investigator Lisa if the card belongs to him, the suspected fare dodger says “yes”, before backtracking to say, “no it’s not mine, I found it.”
She responds by saying “oh that’s a whole different ball game now,” before checking her scanner to confirm her suspicions that the card is faulty.
“You see there it's failed? So me and you need to have a conversation. So I am going to ask you in for an interview,” she says, to which the man responds “is it going to take a long time? I'm working”.
During the interview, the man tells Lisa the bank card did not belong to him but a friend who allegedly told him “you can use this card for travelling.”
Lisa then asks the man “does your friend also use a card like this?” to which he says “no, I don’t know, I don’t think so.”
She then goes on to inform him he has racked up £3,573 in unpaid TfL charges, which seems to come as a shock to the man who quickly apologises.
“I’m so sorry about this one. My friend give it me this card,” he says, before going on to sign the document accepting he has dodged paying his fare on more than 500 journeys.
It was then revealed the matter would go to TfL’s prosecution team who would decide on the next steps.
“I don’t think I can see this guy reoffending again,” Lisa says, “I think he was quite surprised with the amount that it had risen to. I think he’s learned his lesson.”
In 2022 to 2023, TfL estimated that 3.9% of all journeys on their network were made without a valid ticket, costing them an estimated £130 million.
While there has been a recent drop to 3.4% between April and December 2024, TfL aims to further reduce this rate and has spent nearly £22 million cracking down on fare dodgers.
* ‘Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law’ is on Channel 5 on Monday, June 2 at 9pm
