Charles Brohiri pictured exterior Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Image: PA)
A prolific prepare fare dodger who racked up greater than £30,000 in unpaid fines has been spared jail regardless of being convicted of 112 offences associated to journeys over a two-year interval. Charles Brohiri, 29, didn’t pay fares valued at greater than £3,000 for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) prepare journeys between February 2024 and November final yr.
In whole, the court docket was advised, Brohiri owes £31,742 in excellent monetary orders, representing pre-existing debt from a mountain of unpaid court docket fines and monetary orders accrued by way of separate prosecutions introduced towards him between August 2019 and April 2025. The defendant, who’s initially from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, however who has been homeless for years, admitted 76 expenses of failing to pay for a ticket, and was convicted of an extra 36 expenses in his absence in August 2024.
Read extra: Britain’s most persistent fare evader faces jail time period after 112 convictions
Read extra: ‘UK’s worst fare dodger ignored station ban and final broke the legislation 2 days in the past’
Charles Brohiri was convicted of 112 offences (Image: PA)
At Brohiri’s sentencing listening to at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, district choose Nina Tempia additionally took into consideration an extra 16 offences – with three of that quantity stated to have been dedicated on Tuesday.
The choose advised him: “My view is, as is set out in the pre-sentence report (PSR), that you feel that you are invincible by committing these offences and that you see it as some sort of self-entitlement that you can get away with it.”
She additionally known as his offending “brazen and persistent” – while acknowledging that the report indicated that he has some insight into his crimes and that probation could help him.
The judge sentenced him to three months in jail, suspended for a year.
Brohiri was also ordered to pay back £3,629.60 in unpaid rail fares but he was not ordered to pay prosecution costs which the court heard amounted to £15,120.
He was further ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, 12 months’ prohibited activity requirement – which means he must not travel on any GTR trains – and to complete the rehabilitation activity requirement.
Judge Tempia warned him: “Be underneath no phantasm in case you commit some other offences and you don’t adjust to the requirement on this order you may be again in court docket.”
The court was told Brohiri—widely reported to be Britain’s most prolific fare dodger—continued his campaign of fare dodging despite being banned last April from entering Thameslink stations as part of his bail conditions.
Fare evasions cost £400million annually, said a Govia Thameslink Railway spokesman (Image: Getty)
His offending is said to have continued unabated, with the last allegation of fare dodging recorded one day ago – on February 10 this year.
Prosecutor Lyndon Harris said: “With the exception of the interval of October, November (and) December 2024, there have been offences in each month since February 2024 to the current day.”
Eleanor Curzon, defending, told the court: “He has expressed regret and remorse for having continued to journey on the trains throughout the entire interval and significantly the interval when he has been showing earlier than you choose.”
She said the pre-sentence report found Brohiri has been facing personal troubles but “understood the severity of the fees”.
She continued: “He reiterated to me this morning that if he’s given the chance to work with probation they’ll help him in securing lodging and employment.
“It is really these two factors which will put an end to Mr Brohiri’s offending.”
She advised the court docket that he went to college however needed to drop out and has labored as a waiter and in bars.
Asked what he has been doing in his three years of being homeless in London, Ms Curzon stated Brohiri has tried to get assist from charities “but none of it has been consistent enough”.
The defendant will seem on the identical court docket on March 29 for a method inquiry to evaluate whether or not he pays additional prices.
A GTR spokesperson stated: “Fare evasion costs the railway an estimated £400 million a year, directly increasing the cost to the taxpayer and diverting vital public funding away from improving services for passengers.
“That is unfair each on taxpayers and on the overwhelming majority of passengers who pay for his or her journeys.
“We therefore take our responsibility to protect ticket revenue very seriously.
“Through the cautious use of prosecutions, focused ticket checks, centered motion at identified hotspots and higher reporting instruments for employees, we’ve got minimize ticketless journey on our community to its lowest degree since 2022.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2169787/britain-prolific-fare-dodger-tickets-london