HEADLINES:

KEN LIVINGSTONE has been caught travelling on a train without a ticket despite declaring "freeloaders will not be tolerated" when he was mayor.

He fell foul of his own law by failing to pay the £7.50 single fare from Paddington to Slough on a First Great Western service. After admitting his error when he arrived at the barrier, Mr Livingstone, 63, was simply waved through by staff and escaped the £20 fine.

The rail firm has fined tens of thousands of passengers for travelling without paying in recent years. But it defended its decision not to fine Mr Livingstone.

"The station manager has the power to waive a fine if a valid excuse has been proffered," a spokesman said. "Our staff were happy that Mr Livingstone's mistake was genuine. He said he was late and had to run for the train. It was decided not to impose a fine as it was a first occasion and Mr Livingstone was warned not to do this again."

Mr Livingstone has a Freedom Pass which entitles him to free travel in London, but did not cover the journey to Slough. He said today: "I went up to the barrier and told them the ticket inspector had not made it up to my point in the train. They said that's fine and sold me a ticket."

A spokesman for First Great Western said: "Ken Livingstone, like any other passenger, would be given the opportunity to pay as he arrived at Slough station and he may have been able to board the train at a non-gated platform at Paddington station. Not every platform at Paddington station, due to its layout, has a gateline.

"At Slough station Mr Livingstone approached our member of staff, apologised and offered to pay before being asked. Like a number of other customers who were not charged a penalty fare on Monday, our gateline staff were happy that Mr Livingstone's mistake was genuine.

"First Great Western operates to railway industry regulations, however our approach is to give our customers the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to pay for a ticket before we take their name and address or issue a penalty fare.

"Nonetheless, the only way to be sure you won't be charged a penalty fare is to buy a ticket before you travel. We also have revenue protection teams who target known fare evasion hotspots and carry out adhoc checks to ensure we protect revenue and fare paying passengers don't lose out. "

While in office, Mr Livingstone declared a "zero tolerance" policy against fare dodgers. After a high-profile operation in which ticket evaders were arrested, he said: "This operation shows our commitment to crack down on criminals and fare dodgers on the transport system."