Fare dodgers cost Tube £3 million

in News by admin — November 10, 2009 at 2:36 pm | 0 comments

Fare-dodgers have cost London Underground £3 million in lost revenue in the past year, according to a new survey.

Security company G4S say their research shows 3% of passengers on the Tube admitted deliberately evading buying a ticket.

G4S say many cheats are taking advantage of automatic gate readers, to travel on other people’s Oyster cards.

Director Steven Taylor said: “While criminal gangs use sophisticated techniques to clone tickets and try to circumvent card readers, thousands of Britons persist in sneaking through barriers to avoid paying.”

“These travellers are taking advantage of legitimate fare paying passengers and depriving network operators of revenue that is vital to improve the travel network.”

2,004 adults were questioned, with 6% admitting to failing to pay for tickets on the Tube and buses in the last five years. 

9% of adults travelling on mainline trains also admitted dodging fares at least once, with the cheating rate as high as 18% among  18 to 34-year-olds.

London Underground has rubbished the findings of the G4S survey.

A spokesman told the BBC: “We don’t recognise these claims nor the basis on which they are made.

“We take fare evasion extremely seriously and have a number of measures in place to ensure that it is kept to an absolute minimum.”

British Transport Police have also reminded passengers that fare-dodging is a crime, and that anyone caught without a correct ticket can end up being prosecuted.