Sadiq Khan accused of ‘dark blizzard of disinformation’ over TfL fare evasion crackdown

The Mayor of London has been accused of unleashing a “dark blizzard of disinformation” around fare evasion on the capital’s transport network.

Last week Transport for London (TfL) boasted of increased checks and penalty fares issued to passengers who preferred not to pay their way on trains, buses and trams around the city. However, the overall evasion rate of 3.5 per cent is unchanged from last year, despite TfL’s plans to reduce it to 1.5 per cent or less by 2031. The network failed to hit their previous one per cent target by 2025.

Conservative Assembly Member Neil Garratt has now accused Sir Sadiq Khan of “hiding behind misleading announcements” in the hopes that Londoners don’t notice.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Fare evasion robs London of £190 million a year. It punishes everyone who does pay, makes public transport feel disorderly and unsafe, and leaves frontline staff to face aggression and abuse.

“Meanwhile, the Mayor sets targets, promises action and announces crackdowns, but a year of his ‘bold new plan’ has made no difference.

“Instead of being honest about that, he hides behind misleading announcements and hopes nobody notices. People have noticed.

“And the fact he’s just spent £7million warning Londoners about a ‘dark blizzard of disinformation’ would be funny, if it weren’t so serious.”

In a subsequent analysis, Mr Garratt noted that while successful prosecutions by TfL officers were up on last year, they are less than half the figure in 2019, despite passenger numbers largely recovering since the pandemic.

He also noted that less than half of penalty fares were paid last year, despite TfL increasing the sum from £80 to £100 to act as a stronger deterrent.

During an exchange with Sir Sadiq at Mayor’s Question Time last week, Mr Garratt challenged the Mayor to admit that his plan wasn’t working as intended.

“According to the member’s own figures, prosecutions have increased and revenues raised have increased and indeed the numbers not paying have gone down – so one would expect from those numbers that it seems to be working,” Sir Sadiq said.

“We’re seeking to reduce fare evasion from what it was to a target of 1.5 per cent within five years. I’m also aware that’s far less than it is in other parts of the country and other parts of the globe.

“TfL said it spent nearly 22 million pounds cracking down on fare dodging across the network and they’ll continue to do so.”

Last year the City Hall Conservatives drew up a 10-step plan to crack down on fare evasion further, including taller barriers and specialist enforcement staff.

It also recommended AI-enabled ticket barriers and a city-wide awareness campaign promoting civic responsibility.

At the time, a TfL spokesperson said they were confident in their efforts to bring down fare evasion with the current strategy.

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