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Transport boss: Why we have to prosecute over evasion
Steve Burton, Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing at Transport for London11.08.08
Our aim is not to hand out criminal records. Prosecuting fare evaders is not about 90p - it's about more than £30million of taxpayers' money lost every year through fare evasion.
If you walked into a shop, picked up a newspaper and did not pay on your way out, you would expect to find yourself before a magistrate. It is no different on a bus. It is the passenger's responsibility to ensure they have paid the correct fare for their journey as soon as they board.
Fare evasion on bendy buses has always been higher than on other routes but it is coming down. It now stands at around eight per cent, which is still too high. That is why 300 revenue protection inspectors target bendy buses, meaning you are up to 10 times more likely to come across one of our inspectors on these routes.
Ninety-seven per cent of our passengers pay the correct fare and support a tough stance against those who don't. We aim to be firm but fair in our prosecutions policy and we encourage individuals to let us know of any mitigating circumstances. Where appropriate, we will try to reach an out-of-court settlement which avoids a criminal record. In court we are successful in more than 99 per cent of cases.
This article reinforces the message that it is not worth risking a criminal record for the sake of 90p.
Reader views (6)
Yes this has just happened to me. I am a chartered architect I have signed a code of conduct but I have been unemployed for 7 months and cannot afford the fine. I topped up my card and pressed it to the reader as I boarded but apparently the reader did not "read" my card. I carried blithely on on my journey until an inspection point where I was informed that my mistake meant that I am a criminal. I was bullied and threatened with arrest despite trying to explain the truth, refusing to accept my guilt and trying to avoid giving my name & address (and age for some reason). I am now accused of fare evasion and on my 3rd appeal. Maybe I should have held out and let the Police become involved on the roadside, as my appeals are falling on deaf ears. As I cannot afford the fine it appears that I will need to go to court.
- Cp, London
Perhaps Mr Burton would like to explain why nearly four months on Transport for London have still not answered my freedom of information request on the expenses of senior staff at TfL. Not answering FoI requests is also an offence. I therefore wonder what TfL staff are hiding in their expenses.
300 ticket inspectors for bendy buses? What a waste of public money.
- Josh, London
No authority exsits in TFL. I have never ever read such a senseless, mindless, brainless and self-defensive comment.
- Km, London
She stated that she tried to swipe her card when she realized but the inspector stopped her. TFL made comparisons with trying to leave a shop with a newspaper without paying. Surely if you don't leave the shop then you will not get arrested? She had the correct fare and tried to swipe the card but the inspector stopped her so this should not be a criminal offence. The inspector is obviously trying to fill her quota. Why was Maja not given a £20 fine?
- Mike, London
What a load of rubbish. Mr Burton, if you really wanted to ensure that passengers pay the correct fares on bendy buses, you would put the card readers nearer to the doors, so that they are easy to reach. You would also put a big sign on each door, saying "Don't forget to swipe your Oyster card when you get on the bus".
With the current system, where the Oyster card readers are located in the middle of the buses, so that often there are passengers standing in front of them, it must be easy for Oyster pay as you go customers to make genuine mistakes.
- Liz, London
"Ninety-seven per cent of our passengers pay the correct fare and support a tough stance against those who don't"
Have you asked them?? Are they all suggesting giving criminal records to those who forget to pay a 90p fare?
Mr Burton makes no allowance for anyone who makes a genuine error. There are people who pick up a paper and mistakenly or accidentally leave a shop without paying after being distracted. It may not happen in Mr Burton's perfect world, but clearly we're not as perfect as him. The opportunity to put forward your defence is effectively neutered by the threat of a criminal record - not for the offence but, rather, for having the temerity to see the world differently from smug Mr Burton and his ilk. Pay a £102 fine for a genuine mistake costing 90p or debate it and risk a criminal record? That seems like blatant bullying from the usual rule-book wavers.
- Gc, London
