A prolific fare dodger was caught red-handed after racking up a £1,650 bill on the Elizabeth line.
The man had avoided paying for almost 250 journeys by using a trick known as short-faring over eight months.
He had been using his Oyster Card to travel from Harold Wood or Romford to Stratford in east London, but he had only bought the fare in Zones 2 to 3, instead of the full fare from Zone 6 to 2.
A monthly Travelcard between Zones 2 to 3 costs £128.7, while a Zones 2 to 6 pass sets you back by £214.7.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
Thinking he had gamed the system, the unassuming passenger travelled regularly between the zones by shortening his fare, but the detection system picked up his journeys.
The TfL investigators set up a sting operation at 5.30am to catch the man on his morning commute to Stratford from Harold Wood.
The heated encounter is featured in an upcoming episode of the Channel 5 series Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law, which airs on Monday.
His fare dodging had created a 35-page dossier of evidence for the investigators Rich and Greg to trawl through to understand his movements – and to set up the best time to catch him in action.
He had avoided paying £1,651 worth of Tube tickets over around 245 journeys.
How are fare dodgers caught on the Tube?
Irregular payments and travel patterns can be picked up by the TfL’s Irregular Travel Analysis Platform (ITAP), which also detects short-faring.
It combs through ticketing and journey data, passengers’ information, CCTV and travel patterns to spot fare evaders racking up the biggest bills.
The transport authority spent almost £22 million on a fare dodging crackdown last year.
Around 3.4% of passengers avoided paying for travel between April and December last year.
TfL recovered £400,000 through the courts after the prosecution of 360 worst evaders.
Dressed in normal clothing to stay undercover, the pair waited for the man to walk into their arms.
When asking for a ticket check on his Oyster card, the man says he didn’t have one.
‘You do, so what did you use to come here,’ the investigator asks.
The man continues to insist he has used a bank card.
While he agrees to provide his name and address, but he refuses to show his Oyster card, saying he has lost it.
He eventually hands over the Oyster card after being taken to a back room for questioning when the investigators said they will call the police if he continues to be ‘obstructive.’
After the chat, he continued his journey while the case will be passed onto the TfL prosecution team.
Another short-farer was caught at Waterloo station previously, who evaded paying £20,000 on his regular commute from Surrey to central London.
The next episode of Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law is on Channel 5 airs at 9pm on Monday, June 23 on TV and on the streaming platform.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
