A university law student cried and declared ‘my life is finished’ after being caught travelling without a rail ticket by an inspector on a station footbridge.
The young man was stopped by a South Western Railway revenue protection officer at Clapham Junction station in London and initially claimed he had a valid ticket.
But while claiming his phone was being slow, he secretly bought a ticket in front of the inspector before displaying it and claiming it was purchased on the train.
The officer however could see after scanning the man’s ticket that it was purchased during their conversation – and therefore reported him to colleagues for prosecution.
The man protested his innocence to the inspector and initially refused to provide his full details, even to British Transport Police officers when they arrived on scene.
He eventually gave his information and revealed why he did not want to co-operate, moving away from the officers and starting to cry because he feared the incident would leave him with a criminal record and therefore ruin a potential career in law.
The dramatic stand-off was revealed by the Mail today in an exclusive clip from the next episode of Channel 5’s hit second series of Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law.
It begins with the inspector, Sam, carrying out a ‘revenue block’ on the overbridge between platforms at Clapham Junction which is one of Britain’s busiest stations.
The passenger is stopped by revenue protection officer Sam at Clapham Junction in London
Sam tells the passenger that his ticket was bought at 4.13pm but the current time was 4.14pm
The team hold a ‘revenue block’ on the overbridge between platforms at Clapham Junction
He says: ‘Hello there mate, revenue and protection. Have you got your ticket there please? If you’ve got a valid ticket, there’s nothing to worry about is there?’
The man says his ‘phone’s a bit slow, so bear with me’, before eventually showing a ticket – but Sam asks him: ‘OK, have you just bought this one now?’
The man replies: ‘No, I forgot to tap in.’ Sam then continues: ‘OK, when I stopped you and asked for a ticket and you said “yep, give me a sec, my phone’s a little bit slow”, OK, implying you’ve got a ticket. You’ve just purchased this one now.’
The man claims this is false, but Sam shows him the ticket was bought at 4.13pm and the time is now 4.14pm – and says it is not valid because it was not purchased before boarding the train.
The man insists that he ‘did get on the train with it’, but Sam replies: ‘Look at this, this was bought at 16:13. It’s now 16:14. Our trains are quick, but you haven’t come to Clapham in less than a minute.’
Passengers must buy a ticket before boarding any train in most circumstances – and if not, they can be reported to a rail operator’s prosecutions team and could end up in court.
When unable to provide a valid ticket, passengers must provide their details to an inspector – and failure to do so is a criminal offence.
In another clip, a fare evading passenger (left) is confronted by investigators at Harold Wood station in East London after avoiding paying £1,650 in ticket costs over nearly 250 journeys
A passenger tries to push past a revenue protection officer at Weybridge station in Surrey
The man says: ‘I just panicked. Is there another way to do this?’ Sam replies that ‘there isn’t unfortunately’ and asks the man for his name, address and date of birth.
He adds: ‘They’ll verify your ticket and then we can work out a plan of action what we’re going to do going forward. I’m just going to find this address.’
The man asks him to ‘hurry up please’, but Sam responds: ‘You can tell me to hurry up but you travelled on a train without a valid ticket, yeah?’
Sam asks the man for something with his name on, but the man cannot provide anything and says: ‘I don’t have anything on my phone. Can I just go? I’m so nervous, I can’t lie.’
Sam continues: ‘No, I understand, but I need to see something with your name on please, because I can’t verify you at this point. Something on your phone that’s got your name on. If not, the police will have to take over and they’ll have to verify you.’
The man says he will speak to police, but then starts walking away as Sam tells him: ‘Just wait here, buddy. Excuse me, excuse me, where are we going? No, no, just wait.’
When police arrive, the man asks to speak with them away from Sam. The BTP officer then tells Sam: ‘He said to me that he’s bought the ticket on the train?’
A passenger pushes through the gates at Kingston station in South West London without touching out before attacking British Transport Police officers while they try to apprehend him
A passenger is spoken to by investigators at London Waterloo station after only buying a ticket from Vauxhall, as he is finally caught after evading nearly £20,000 in ticket costs
But Sam replies to the officer: ‘Yep, no, he bought it right in front of me. He bought the ticket at 13, and at 16:14 I said why have you just bought it, and he said ‘I haven’t, I bought it on the train’. And I went ‘well it’s there’.’
The man then returns from his chat with police and sticks with his story, saying: ‘But I did actually buy the ticket when I was on the train because there were no barriers. I was running for my train, I had no time.’
Sam tells him: ‘I understand what you’re saying, but when we scanned the barcode, it gives us the exact time it was purchased, which was 16:13.
‘What I need to do, as I said, is to verify yourself first, then the ticket, then we can work out what we can do going forward.’
The man then admits that the address he has given is actually that of his parents, before he finally provides details and reveals why he did not want to co-operate.
He says: ‘I’m so nervous, please. I don’t want to get a criminal record, genuinely. I study law at uni. Are you reporting me?’
Sam tells him: ‘All I’m doing is writing down the facts of what’s happened, that’s and then we work out what we’re going to do.’
But the man says: ‘Brother please, I’m panicking, I’m panicking.’
A revenue protection officer confronts a man at Waterloo who cannot produce a railcard
A passenger is caught without a ticket by revenue protection officers at the gates at Waterloo
Sam says: ‘You don’t need to panic. As I said, I’ve just got to do those steps. So just give me two seconds, I’ll finish off, and then we’ll work out what we’re going to do.’
The man continues to protest his innocence, saying: ‘I don’t fare evade, I do actually pay for trains.’
But Sam replies: ‘I understand what you’re saying buddy, but unfortunately on this occasion you’ve arrived here today without a valid ticket.
‘It’s going to our revenue team. You can tell them what happened, right. So it’s me not issuing a fine now or a penalty fine.’
The man then becomes increasingly panicked, saying: ‘I know what it means. It happened to my cousin, he got a criminal record, they took him to court. It’s going to happen to me. My life is finished.’
Producers revealed the man was referred to prosecutors, but his case was closed after no prior wrongdoing was found and he paid a fine.
Fare dodging has become a hotly debated issue in recent months after a series of high-profile cases in which passengers have faced prosecution over small amounts of money.
In one example, a passenger was threatened with court action for accidentally selecting a 16-25 Railcard ticket when they held a 26-30 Railcard, which provides the same discount.
A fare dodger is finally caught at Preston Road station in North West London after he avoided paying for more than 200 journeys using a concession card registered to a female relative
Robert Jenrick confronts people pushing through the barriers at Stratford station in London
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has written to train operators stating that ‘any enforcement must be proportionate and not punish those making genuine mistakes’.
She accepted the recommendations of regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which included creating consistency in how passengers are treated when ticket issues arise, and ensuring passengers have clearer information about tickets.
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group has estimated that fare dodging creates £350million to £400million in lost revenue each year.
And former Conservative leadership contender Robert Jenrick posted a video on social media in May in which he confronted people who forced their way through the ticket barriers at Stratford station in London.
‘Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law’ continues on Channel 5 on Monday at 9pm
