FARE DODGING FINES TO RISE FROM £20 TO £50 IN LONDON

12.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 25th Oct 2005

Commenting on the decision by Transport for London to seek Parliamentary legislation to raise fare dodging fines from £20 to £50 for those who don't pay within 21 days, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, Geoff Pope, said:-

"It is certainly welcome that the Mayor has adopted another Lib Dem policy which will start to crack down on fare dodging.

"However, with just one in six hundred people caught fare dodging, the number of people who avoid paying increasing and the ever growing number of bendy buses coming on to London's roads, there may still be people who think that it will be easier to avoid paying.

"Millions of pounds is lost each year to people who are breaking the law. The failure to tackle fare-dodging hits the pockets of law-abiding commuters who pay extra fare increases to make up for those who get something for nothing. Cracking down on fare evasion could crack down on fare rises.

"It is vital that the Mayor and Transport for London use the extra powers to target persistent offenders and dramatically cut fare dodging."

Ends

Notes to editor

In November 2004, the London Assembly Liberal Democrats proposed that the penalty for fare dodging should be increased form £10 to £20 on Tubes and buses.

In May 2005, Transport for London increased the fare dodging fine from £10 to £20.

The new legislation will introduce a two tiered penalty fares system for TfL services. Under the new legislation, it is intended that this be set initially at £50 reduced to £25 if paid within 21 days.

Fare dodging on buses is estimated to be running at 2.2% in early 2004 rising to 3% in early 2005. With almost 7billion bus journeys having been taken between April 2000 and September 2004, up to 152million could have been evaded. In that same period, Revenue Protection Inspectors have caught just 246,000 people who had not paid the appropriate fare.

Tube fare dodging is estimated to be running at 3.6%. With around 4.3billion tube journeys having been taken between April 2000 and November 2004, up to 157million could have been evaded. With around 144million seconds in the last four and a half years, this means around 1.08 Tube fares are dodged every second of every day.