No such thing as a free ride? Fare dodgers are costing London over £61m

Tube fare dodgers are costing Londoners over £61m a year, new figures have revealed.

Commuters are able to dodge fares by making a quick exit through Tube station ticket barriers that left open for long periods.

That stations where fare evasions are rife include Bromley-by-Bow station where barriers are open more than 60% of the time.

The figures, obtained by London Labour, point out that Transport for London’s plan to lay off 950 station staff could aggravate the problem.

Steve Burton, TfL’s director of enforcement, said: “Fare evasion on our rail and bus networks has fallen to around just two per cent of all journeys, at the same time as overall passenger numbers have risen massively due to London’s growth.

“This shows that the overwhelming majority of our customers simply want to pay the correct fare and we now have more staff than ever before in ticket halls to assist them.

“We take fare evasion of any kind extremely seriously and communicate the consequences of being caught without a valid ticket.”

Here are the top stations which saw the most fares dodged:

Bromley-by-Bow

High Barnet

Harrow Wealdstone

Kew Gardens

Harlesden

North Wembley

Kenton

Chalfont & Latimer

Sudbury Town