This is the moment a prolific Elizabeth line fare evader who avoided paying for 500 journeys totalling nearly £4,000 over more than a year was caught by investigators.
The man was intercepted at Seven Kings station in east London after using an invalid bank card which he later claimed belonged to his uncle who had moved to Georgia.
Transport for London (TfL) spent two months investigating the passenger, matching up his card taps with station CCTV images as his fare evasion bill hit £3,710.80.
They finally stopped the man, who spoke little English, at Seven Kings during evening rush hour – before interviewing him in a back room where he admitted the fraud.
But he only had to pay a £590 bill when the case went to court, after pleading guilty to the offences and being fined £40, plus £275 compensation and £275 costs.
TfL’s investigation and interception is revealed in episode two of the third series of ‘Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law’ which airs on Channel 5 at 9pm tonight.
An investigator called Lisa says she has been tracking the man’s card, which is one of more than 10,000 frozen, stolen or blocked cards being followed by the team.
They use a system called the Irregular Travel Analysis Platform (Itap), which checks ticket taps, travel times and digital footprints on Oyster and contactless cards.
Transport for London investigator Lisa (in light blue trousers) confronts the passenger (with grey hoodie up) as he exits the gate at Seven Kings station with an invalid bank card
The investigative team tell the man after the interception that they will need to speak to him
The passenger is taken to a side room at the station to be questioned about his fare evasion
Lisa builds up a pattern to help her identify him, saying: ‘I think with people that are committing these offences, I don’t think they realise just how much we can see.
‘Once we get that card number and it’s been flagged, we can run it through and it brings up a report which gives us every single time that the card has been used, every time it’s touched a gate, touched a bus, what time, gate number.
‘We can get a lot of information. It is a pretty robust system we have to track these ones down. So these are the most detailed reports that we get for the cards.’
She establishes that the man travels to different stations in the mornings such as Farringdon and Chancery Lane, where she can see he has touched out without touching in. But in the evenings, he always returns to Seven Kings.
Lisa says: ‘That leads me to believe that he’s going to work all day, he’ll tap out at whatever station he’s going to in the morning, but his evening ones are always the same – he always comes back to Seven Kings in the evening and then there’s nothing after that.’
She then uses CCTV from different stations to identify him, looking at the card data from the Itap system to match the images with the exact time he uses specific ticket gates.
With a good idea of what the man looks like and a history of fare evasion going back to December 2024, Lisa and her team visit Seven Kings to try to catch him.
She can see the man has alighted at Seven Kings within the same four-minute window almost every evening for the past month – normally 6.08pm to 6.11pm.
But the team fail to spot him at the station during their first attempted interception.
Lisa says: ‘I’m a little bit annoyed, I won’t lie. This one was the most consistent pattern I’ve seen and it’s really, really frustrating that I didn’t catch him. But I will.’
However, Lisa later looks back at the Itap data and establishes that the man did in fact go through the gate while she was waiting there, but she missed him.
Lisa requests CCTV to see why she failed to spot him – and sees that he has cut his hair and is now wearing glasses, since the previous CCTV images were taken.
The team therefore head back to the station on another day, with Lisa saying: ‘If we don’t get him, this [the fare evasion total] is going to keep going up. He’s so brazen that he keeps doing it every day.’
She waits at the gate with a colleague, but they believe the man might have changed his journey because there is disruption on the Elizabeth line that day.
However, just as she fears they will not catch the man, her colleague spots the man approaching and they intercept him together after he goes through the gate.
They quickly confirm that his card is the one they are investigating and tell him to join them in a side room, saying: ‘Take a seat because this is going to take a while’
The team use a translation tool to help them communicate with the man who speaks only limited English. He is at first reluctant to provide any identification.
But he eventually gives his name and address after Lisa threatens to call British Transport Police and tells him ‘this is very, very serious’.
The man claims to Lisa that he does not know why he has been stopped, but then admits that the card is invalid and belonged to his uncle, saying: ‘My uncle’s not living here, he’s gone to Georgia. It’s not working.’
Lisa asks him how long he has been using it on the train, and he says: ‘Today.’
But Lisa replies: ‘Today? Don’t lie to me.’
She then shows him a series of CCTV images, saying: ‘You’ve been using it longer than today, so how long have you been using it?
‘I didn’t find you by accident, OK, I knew I was looking for you. Do you want to know how?
‘That’s you on December 8 at the same time. I’ve got loads of different days, November 15, that’s you; November 7 this is Farringdon, that’s you; Seven Kings, December 6, that’s you; December 10, this is you; December 11, this is you; that’s you; that’s you again at Farringdon.
Lisa confronts the man after he claims he has only used the invalid bank card for travel ‘today’
The passenger (pictured) says the card belonged to his uncle who had moved to Georgia
Lisa shows the man a series of CCTV images which confirm he was using the invalid card
‘And this goes all the way back to December 7, 2024. That’s over a year ago. So when I asked you how long you have been using the card, and you said “today”, that’s how I know.’
She then asks him: ‘So do you agree that that was you? That was you, with the card?’
The man replies: ‘This card? Yes.’
And Lisa says: ‘Are you ready to see how much this is going to cost. Deep breath, it’s big, it’s a lot. £3710.80.’
He then signs a form stating that he is taking responsibility for the full amount of unpaid fares, and Lisa tells him: ‘OK, that’s the scary part done.’
As the man is allowed to leave, he tells Lisa: ‘So sorry.’
She replies: ‘No, it’s alright, thank you for talking to me.’
Lisa concludes: ‘This is a massive win for revenue protection. This is quite a high-level case, I mean it was over £3,500 that he owed in unpaid fares.
‘Definitely I think it was a case that if I didn’t catch him and didn’t stop him, then he would continue to do it.’
TfL recently revealed that the number of passengers handed £100 penalty fares across the network had surged over the past year.
Some 69,001 of them were issued in the year to March, up 9 per cent from the previous 12 months.
TfL always pursues the maximum amount in court including all unpaid fares – but the courts ultimately decide how much to fine someone, which is means tested.
‘Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law’ continues on Channel 5 at 9pm tonight.
