Inside the crackdown on London’s brazen Tube fare dodgers | EUROtoday

In a determined try to keep away from the uniformed police guarding the exit to the Tube station, a younger man and not using a ticket sprints again down the platform steps.

But earlier than he can leap again onto the practice, officers circle him and have him restrained in opposition to a wall inside minutes.

A search of his bag reveals he’s carrying a lockable knife, and he’s swiftly arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and put in handcuffs.

The weapon is positioned in an proof bag, and he’s marched via the station and right into a ready police automotive to be charged and remanded to seem at court docket the following day.

The knife seems to be small, however officers insist it may do severe injury, they usually stress they have no idea the person’s intentions for travelling with the weapon.

It is only one instance of greater than 480 situations the place folks carrying a bladed article, corresponding to a knife, have been stopped by British Transport Police (BTP) up to now 12 months.

The Independent witnessed a number of fare-dodging incidents whereas on an operation with the BTP, from Stratford station in east London to Ilford on the Elizabeth line, as a part of their crackdown on offenders.

The newest figures present virtually one in 20 Tube passengers are dodging fares – at a price to Transport for London (TfL) of £130m – throughout a surge in violence in opposition to employees who attempt to cease them.

Ilford is certainly one of many stations within the capital that has witnessed violence in direction of employees, with employees telling how they’ve been hit, spat at and subjected to racial abuse – all within the line of labor.

This explicit station was chosen for the operation as a result of in December 2024, a railway employee died after sustaining a severe head harm after being assaulted.

Attacks on TfL employees will not be unusual. In 2023-24, greater than 10,490 studies of work-related violence and aggression have been made by employees – a 5 per cent improve on the earlier 12 months.

About half of those incidents got here after they approached fare evaders.

“Frontline staff deal with members of the public on a regular basis, and we know that they do face a disproportionate level, on occasions, of verbal abuse, and at its worst, that can escalate to physical violence,” Superintendent John Loveless from the BTP tells The Independent.

“There’s always a sense of fear or concern that you just don’t know who you’re dealing with, what they’ve got on their persons, whether that be a knife or something else, or just how they’re going to behave and react to you,” he provides.

The busy transport hub of Stratford – the fifth busiest station within the UK in 2023-24 – has an enormous footfall, and earlier than officers even begin their operation, they rush off to cope with drunk and disorderly passengers and a number of other situations of anti-social behaviour.

As we interview a employee, a gaggle of youngsters causes a disruption by working round and vaping on the platform. When they refuse to cooperate with police, one is bodily restrained, pinned to the concrete flooring of the platform and might be heard yelling as police converse to them.

As we transfer onto the platform, a person guzzling a beer as he carries a bag filled with extra alcohol is stopped for carrying an open container of alcohol – however he escapes a positive.

Fare dodging is described as a “gateway level offence” by officers on the operation, who say that whereas not all fare evaders are criminals, most criminals will keep away from paying.

Within 20 minutes of getting off the Elizabeth line practice to Ilford, police cease the younger man with a knife.

Soon after, one other man approaching the barrier sees the officers and confesses he doesn’t have his Oyster card with him. He is taken to at least one aspect, questioned and handed a £100 positive – the usual fee beneath TfL guidelines, which might be halved if paid inside 21 days.

Another man who tries to exit the barrier is fined on the spot for utilizing a toddler’s journey card.

A gaggle of 5 girls travelling with youngsters in buggies try to circle again down the steps onto the platform once they realise police are lining the exit.

Their suspicious behaviour is clocked by plain-clothed cops who cease them for questioning. The girls, who converse Romanian, can’t converse English fluently, and a member of the station employees steps in to translate. It is quickly revealed that they don’t have any method to pay for his or her tickets and they’re fined.

During the operation, officers situation 47 penalty fares of £100 and conduct seven cease and searches – discovering the lock knife and two folks in possession of hashish.

Supt Loveless says: “London does have its challenges in terms of weapon-enabled crime, but while there might still be that sense of fear and concern, do be reassured that it’s still a really safe way to travel.”

“We like to use the phrase that ‘while you may not always see us, it doesn’t mean that police are not always there’.

“Talking to the knife carriers out there, the risk of you becoming a victim yourself if you are choosing to carry a knife is high. You put yourself and others at significant risk, and ultimately it can result in a life-changing injury or death.”

More than 55,000 knife crime offences have been recorded in England and Wales within the 12 months to September 2024, based on the Office for National Statistics.

British Transport Police recorded the most important share improve of knife crime offences logged out of all UK forces final 12 months, rising by 33.6 per cent.