A growing crisis
In 2023 alone, Transport for London (TfL) estimated over £130m lost to fare evasion on its network. Nationally that’s over £240m a year – and experts think the true cost could be much higher.
Vandalism, verbal abuse and physical aggression often accompanies fare evasion and creates an intimidating environment for passengers and staff alike. At hotspots like Stratford Station in east London, enforcement sweeps found 62 fare dodgers in 90 minutes.
Traditional ticket inspection methods are being outpaced by modern methods of evasion – from mobile ticket fraud to unstaffed stations. As the landscape changes so must the response.
The domino effect
The losses from fare evasion ripple out. TOCs rely heavily on ticket revenue to maintain and improve services. Every pound lost is a blow to future infrastructure investment, timetable expansions and station upgrades.
Higher costs are often passed on to honest passengers through rising fares which erodes goodwill. Distorted passenger data caused by unrecorded journeys further hampers service planning which results in overcrowded trains and inconsistent timetables. The feeling that fare dodgers “get away with it” erodes public trust in the system. A growing consensus is that enforcement must be consistent, fair and visible.
Cracks in the system
Several weaknesses have allowed fare evasion to flourish:
Ungated stations leave many areas exposed
Digital loopholes, such as ticket screenshots or short fare misuse, are hard to police
Low risk perception, where fines are cheaper than fares, emboldens offenders
For many the risk-to-reward ratio seems skewed. Until recently inconsistent enforcement and patchy technology made fare evasion seem a relatively low risk gamble.
In 2024 Chiltern Railways recovered over £1m in lost revenue - a figure that included several multi-year fraud schemes.
Other operators like GWR have re-energised their revenue protection strategies. GWR’s latest policy is clear: historical, fragmented approaches are no longer enough. Offenders must be “pursued vigorously” with standards high enough to guarantee a successful prosecution.
Revenue protection on the front line
Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPIs) are key to this fight.
While RPIs issue penalty fares, investigate evasion and tackle anti-social behaviour, RPIs are also there to assist passengers. Balancing authority and approachability is crucial to keeping the railways fair and welcoming.
However, with rising aggression levels many RPIs now wear body-worn cameras as part of TOC’s Travel Safe policies, to capture evidence and at the same time protect themselves.
The deployment of body-worn cameras enables TOCs to capture more evidence to prosecute offenders for train-delaying offences and arguments about littering, feet on seats and drunken behaviour, as well as fare dodging.
However, as TOCs rollout cameras to more staff, the number of incidents recorded will increase, which will have a knock-on effect for an increased requirement to be able to process and produce more evidential footage.
Technology and transparency
Bodycams and station CCTV have become a mainstay of modern revenue protection.
Body-worn devices record interactions, deter abusive behaviour and provide evidence that stands up in court.
But this brings a new challenge: video redaction. Protecting the identities of uninvolved individuals is legally required under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Sophisticated redaction tools are now needed to process large amounts of video recordings and produce footage that is both privacy-compliant and court-ready.
