Penalty fares issued on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) are set to double this year, as the number of prosecutions for fare evasion on the London Underground has risen to its highest level in six years.
Between April and November 2026, a total of 4,472 penalties were handed out for avoiding paying on the DLR, compared with 2,571 in the year leading to March 2025.
It comes as Transport for London cracks down on fare evasion, with 13,118 penalty fare notices and 850 written warnings handed out in 2024-2025 for those dodging the barriers at underground stations across the capital.
TfL said it takes fare evasion “extremely seriously” and that it’s new multi-pronged strategy ensures that vital revenue is reinvested into the transport network.
Penalty fares are set at £100 and reduced to £50 if paid within 21 days.
The issue gained increased attention over the last year, with Tory MP Robert Jenrick filming himself catching fare evaders, TfL said it spent nearly £14.2m cracking down on the issue on the Tube, as well as investing £7.7m on the bus network in 2023-4.
The level of spending on the Elizabeth line, the London Overground and the Tram network is unknown as they are operated by franchises which outsource their enforcement teams.
The Independent witnessed several fare-dodging incidents while on an operation with the BTP, from Stratford station in east London to Ilford, as part of their crackdown on offenders.
Attacks on TfL staff are not uncommon as a result of trying to catch offenders. In 2023-24, more than 10,490 reports of work-related violence and aggression were made by workers – a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.
About half of these incidents came after they approached fare evaders.
Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of security, policing, and enforcement, said "the overwhelming majority of our customers pay the correct fare" and that "evasion is unacceptable".
She said: "That is why we are strengthening our capability to deter and detect fare evaders, including expanding our team of professional investigators to target the most prolific fare evaders across the network.
"This builds on the work of our team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to deal with fare evasion and other antisocial behaviour, keeping staff and customers safe."
