A fare-dodging student pleaded with ticket inspectors after being caught red-handed in London.
Almost £200 million was lost to fare evasion in the capital last year.
The sneaky practice is also causing a rift among Londoners as many spend a chunk of their wages on travel, while others avoid paying for tickets or push through barriers even in front of staff.
Another fare evader was caught in action at Clapham Junction.
The sting operation targeting freeriding passengers was captured on the upcoming episode of the Channel 5 series Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law.
Enforcement officers came across a young man at the south London station, where more than 4,000 notices for ticketless travel were issued last year, making it the top fare evasion hotspot on the South Western Railways network.
The man was stopped by enforcement officer Sam on the busy footbridge teeming with commuters, who claimed he had paid for a ticket.
He attempts to play time by saying his ‘phone’s a bit slow, bear with me.’
But when Sam checks the ticket, it appears to have been bought after his trip.
While fiddling with his phone, he had quickly bought a ticket for his travel after the journey.
When Sam asks the man ‘did you buy this one now,’ he says he ‘forgot to tap in’ before a back-and-forth exchange, with the man insisting he did ‘get on the train with it’ despite Sam showing him the ticket was bought at 4.13 – a minute before their conversation.
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The man admits: ‘I just panicked. Is there another way to do this?’
While his address is being checked, the student tells Sam to ‘hurry up,’ and that he is ‘nervous, I can’t lie.’
He is asked to show something to verify his address or the ‘police will have to take over and they’ll have to verify you.’
Tube fare dodging at six-year high
Fare evasion cost TfL around £188 million in 2024/25, and £190 million the previous financial year.
This has gone up from around £130 million in 2022/23.
A total of 15,930 penalty fares were issued to passengers travelling on the Elizabeth line in 2024/25.
On the Elizabeth line, 3,751 fare dodgers were taken to court in 2024/25,while 4,063 people on the Tube and 3,044 people on the Overground were prosecuted.
Fare dodging prosecutions are at its highest since 2018/19.
The student says he will speak to the police before attempting to walk away, prompting Sam to tell him to ‘just wait here, buddy. Excuse me, excuse me, where are we going? No, no, just wait.’
In a last-ditch attempt to avoid the consequences, the man continues to insist to the police officer that he bought the ticket on the train.
Eventually, he says the address was for his parents, and that he didn’t want to cooperate for fear of a criminal record.
Becoming more panicked by every second, he says: ‘I’m so nervous, please. I don’t want to get a criminal record, genuinely. I study law at uni. Are you reporting me?’
Sam says: ‘You don’t need to panic. As I said, I’ve just got to do those steps. So just give me two seconds, I’ll finish off, and then we’ll work out what we’re going to do.’
‘I don’t fare evade, I do actually pay for trains,’ the man says.
After being told his case would be referred to the revenue team, he says: ‘I know what it means. It happened to my cousin, he got a criminal record, they took him to court. It’s going to happen to me. My life is finished.’
His case was closed in the end without going to court after he paid the fine, and he had no previous record of fare evasion.
Jack, another train enforcement officer, said after issuing a notice to a mum-of-three at Clapham: ‘There are offenders out there, but some people just can’t afford it, and I completely understand.’
The next episode of Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law is on Channel 5 on Monday, September 1 at 9pm
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