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Prosecutions for fare evasion on London Underground have reached a six-year high, as seen in figures obtained by the BBC. Transport for London (TfL) prosecuted 3,691 individuals on the Tube in 2024-25, along with issuing 13,118 penalty fare notices (PFNs) and 850 written warnings. While there was a surge in PFNs (12,527) on London Overground during the same period, the number of prosecutions decreased by a third from the previous year to 3,044, with 440 warnings issued.
TfL has emphasized that fare evasion is not a victimless crime and that it deprives Londoners of essential investment, stating its commitment to reducing the fare evasion rate to 1.5% by 2030. The figures were disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request by BBC London, following the release of a video in May featuring shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick confronting fare evaders.
Prosecutions for Tube fare evasion peaked in 2018-19 at 4,919, dropping to 3,279 the following year. The pandemic caused a steep decline in prosecutions due to reduced passenger numbers across the network. Additionally, no London Overground passengers received PFNs in 2020-21, and only 134 were prosecuted in 2021-22 as revenue teams focused on enforcing government Covid regulations.
Warnings issued have been steadily increasing, reaching record levels for both the Underground (948) and Overground (887) in 2023-24. TfL reported spending nearly £14.2m on combating fare evasion on the Tube and £7.7m on the bus network in 2023-24, collecting £1.3m in penalty charges. However, the level of spending on the London Overground, Tram network, and Elizabeth line remains unknown as they are operated by franchisees that outsource enforcement teams. TfL estimates that 3.4% of passengers evaded fares across all services between April and December 2024, a 0.4% decrease from 2023-24
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