Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law

Following Transport for London's revenue protection teams, highlighting the work of frontline enforcement officers and undercover investigators fighting against the estimated 125,000 passengers who dodge fares across the city every day. Investigators go on the trail of a fare dodger they suspect has avoided paying for more than 200 journeys and officers monitor Hounslow trains, a hot spot for fare evasion.

The hunt is on in Surrey for a suspect thought to have evaded close to £20,000 of fares in one of South Western Railway's biggest ever fraud cases. Revenue Protection officers Michelle and Lucky expose short farers at Vauxhall. And at London Waterloo, Jack and Jack face up to an explosive passenger, while Harry has a run in with a barrier basher.

Investigators Rich and Greg go on the look-out for a fare dodger thought to be scamming Transport for London for over a year, racking up more than £5,000 in unpaid fares. At Waterloo, South Western Railway revenue protection officer Sam faces a tense situation with a man caught without a valid ticket who is more focused on finding a toilet than co-operating.

South Western Railway revenue protection officer Sam is cornered and verbally abused on a train by a man who has no ticket and insists on confronting her throughout his journey. Police step in to stop events spiralling when a man loses control at ticket gates in Kingston after being challenged by Jane, while Harry is threatened by an aggressive tailgater at London Waterloo who won't take no for an answer.

Revenue protection manager Chris co-ordinates a major operation to clamp down on fare evasion at Clapham station, where more than 4,000 notices for ticketless travel were issued in 2024. A young law student pleads his case to Sam after getting caught without a valid ticket, while Jack deals with a frustrated single mum with no ticket at all. On the trains, Nathan and Dan clamp down on the epidemic of ticketless travel between unstaffed stations and challenge a young fare dodger caught hiding in the toilet.

Transport for London investigators go on an undercover sting in Ilford to catch a suspected female fare dodger who they believe has racked up more than £3,000 in unpaid fares on nearly 500 journeys by misusing a contactless payment card. At Wandsworth, South Western Railways revenue protection officer Sam deals with a woman travelling on a 16-25 rail card giving a discount she is not entitled to, and Ty spots a man lurking at the barriers without a ticket who appears to have a paper ticket yet claims he actually tapped in with his phone but that it's run out of battery. And at Waterloo a man is spotted hurdling over the barriers trying to escape without a ticket.

At Vauxhall, revenue protection officers from South Western Railway are involved in a major sting operation which prompts an investigation into fraud going back seven months. A lady is stopped using a half-price ticket bought with a Job Centre Plus discount card which she doesn't have. At Southampton, Spencer is on high alert after claims that two young women who push through the barriers are being abusive and are trying to travel for free. At Waterloo Harry takes on tailgaters and the abuse of half-price child tickets at half term. And two newly trained recruits are on the Weymouth to London line - a route notorious for fare dodgers.

At Hayes, investigators trail a man they believe has racked up nearly £2,500 in unpaid fares by fraudulently making contactless payments with a rogue bank card to cheat the system. The investigators track him to his home station where they identify him on CCTV, eventually catch him in the act, and interview him. At Waterloo, Jack and Sam tackle passengers using railcards they are not entitled to, while in Southampton, Spencer stops a woman pushing through the barriers and finds she is lying about her age and using a child discount card.