This is the moment an Elizabeth line fare dodger was caught in the act by ticket inspectors after evading £1,650 in ticket costs over nearly 250 journeys.
The passenger who regularly commuted from Harold Wood or Romford to Stratford was confronted with 35 pages of evidence dating back eight months.
One of his common methods while travelling through East London was to pay for a fare in Zones 2 to 3 only, rather than the full fare for his journey in Zones 2 to 6.
Stratford station is in Zone 2, while Harold Wood and Romford are both in Zone 6.
There is a big price difference between travelling in Z2-3 instead of Z2-6 – at £33.50 against £55.90 for a weekly travelcard, or £128.70 and £214.70 for a monthly pass.
The annual cost is £1,340 against £2,236. When paying for a single journey, the cost is £2.10 peak or £2.00 off-peak for Z2-3; and £3.20 peak or £2.70 off-peak for Z2-6.
On the morning of the sting, the passenger was caught not touching in on the card reader when starting his journey in an apparent attempt to avoid paying entirely.
Camera crews captured the moment he was eventually stopped in the latest episode of Channel 5’s Fare Evaders: At War With The Law which airs next Monday at 9pm.
The fare evading passenger (left) is confronted by investigators at Harold Wood in East London
The investigators ask the man (centre) to show his Oyster card but he intially refuses to do so
The sting took place at Harold Wood station in East London which the man regularly uses
The passenger was confronted with 35 pages of evidence dating back eight months
The clip begins with Transport for London (TfL) revenue protection officers revealing their plan to confront the suspect at Harold Wood station at 5.30am.
They have been tracking the suspect after a rule break on an Oyster card was picked up by TfL’s Irregular Travel Analysis Platform (Itap), a detection system that identifies fare evasion and revenue loss from patterns in ticketing and passenger data.
The investigators say they have totted up £1,651 in unpaid fares across 245 journeys that he had not paid full price for – and wait for him to arrive at the station.
After one of them spots him getting off a bus outside the station, they see him walk through the ticket gates and intercept him on a bridge between the platforms.
As he approaches, the investigator asks: ‘Hi buddy, just need to do a ticket check on your Oyster card.’
The man replies: ‘I don’t have Oyster card.’ But the investigator replies: ‘You do – so what did you use to come here?’ The man insists he used a ‘bank card.’
However, the investigator says: ‘No, I’ve got a case against you, I see you coming through with the coat all the time. What Oyster card do you use?’
The passenger continues to insist he uses a bank card, but he is told: ‘You do. So where are you travelling to today?’
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
A revenue protection officer confronts a man at Waterloo who cannot produce a railcard
When the man replies ‘Stratford’, the investigator says: ‘I know you go to Stratford. On this Oyster card number you go to Stratford and come back all the time. Have you got any ID with you please?’
The traveller gives them his name and address but not his Oyster card, claiming: ‘I don’t have it anymore.’
The investigator then tells him: ‘I know where you buy your ticket. I know everything about the Oyster card. I will show you all the journeys in a moment.’
And the investigator’s colleague adds: ‘Look, listen, it’s not going to go away. The other option is we get the police down and they can come and deal with it, alright?
‘So we know you’ve got an Oyster card, you might as well show us the Oyster card. At the moment you’re being obstructive, OK?’
After being taken to a private room for questioning, the man eventually hands over the Oyster card and is told he could be taken to court for the offences.
The man was then allowed to go on his way but told he would continue to be tracked on the Oyster card – and the case was passed to TfL’s prosecution team.
MailOnline has already covered a series of incidents featured in the documentary, which comes after Robert Jenrick highlighted fare dodging at Stratford last month.
A passenger is caught without a ticket by revenue protection officers at the gates at Waterloo
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
The shadow justice secretary posted a video on social media in which he confronted people who forced their way through the ticket barriers at the station.
Separately, a report released on June 4 found fare evasion is becoming ‘normalised’, with train staff telling the inquiry that they are struggling to cope with ‘aggressive’ passengers who refuse to buy tickets.
Travellers are using ‘a range of techniques to persistently’ underpay or avoid paying and see it as a ‘victimless crime’, according to the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).
Meanwhile TikTok influencers are brazenly showing Tube passengers how to illegally travel for free by ‘bumping’ through the station ticket barriers.
Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law is on Channel 5 on Monday, June 23 at 9pm
