£20 FARE DODGE PENALTY WELCOME BUT MAYOR MUST CRACK DOWN ON PERSISTENT OFFENDERS

12.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Jun 2005

Liberal Democrats have welcomed today's increase in fare dodging fines from £10 to £20, but warned the Mayor that he must crack down on persistent offenders.

The increase follows a high profile campaign by the London Assembly Lib Dems after they revealed that Transport for London loses around £80million every year from fare dodging.

Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, Geoff Pope, said:-

"It is certainly welcome that the Mayor has adopted another Lib Dem policy, and one that will start to crack down on fare dodging.

"However, with just one in six hundred people caught fare dodging and the increasing numbers of bendy buses coming on to London's roads, there may still be people who think that it will be even easier to fare dodge. We have to scotch the bendy bus urban myth that they offer a free ride.

"If you don't pay your congestion charge penalty on time, it increases up to £120. We need the same for the new £20 penalty. It would then be cost effective to take people to court."

"Millions of pounds are lost each year to people who are breaking the law. The failure to tackle fare-dodging hits the pockets of law-abiding commuters who pay extra fare increases to make up for those who get something for nothing. Cracking down on continual fare evasion could crack down on fare rises.

"It is vital that the Mayor and Transport for London target persistent offenders and, when they are caught, stop them getting away with fare dodging by giving a false name and address."

Ends

Notes to editor

In November 2004, the London Assembly Liberal Democrats proposed that the penalty for fare dodging should be increased form £10 to £20 on Tubes and buses.

Fare dodging on buses is estimated to be running at 2.2%. With almost 7billion bus journeys having been taken between April 2000 and September 2004, up to 152million could have been evaded. In that same period, Revenue Protection Inspectors have caught just 246,000 people who had not paid the appropriate fare.

Tube fare dodging is estimated to be running at 3.6%. With around 4.3billion tube journeys having been taken between April 2000 and November 2004, up to 157million could have been evaded. With around 144million seconds in the last four and a half years, this means around 1.08 Tube fares are dodged every second of every day.