An off-duty police officer was punched, kicked and had a drink thrown over her after challenging a group of suspected fare dodgers at Wood Green Underground station in north London, sparking renewed calls for tougher enforcement on the capital’s transport network.
British Transport Police said the female officer was “set upon” by the group after she confronted them attempting to “barge through the barrier without tickets” at around 4:20pm on Thursday, June 12. The force has released CCTV images of four women and two men they wish to speak to in connection with the assault.
“She was then set upon by the group who punched and kicked her and threw a drink over her head,” a BTP spokesperson said. “Officers would like to speak to the people pictured as they believe they could have information which could help their investigation.”
The violent attack comes amid growing public anger over fare evasion on London’s transport network, with Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick recently releasing a viral video of himself confronting fare dodgers to “shame people into action.
In the controversial footage, filmed without Transport for London’s permission, Jenrick challenged multiple fare evaders at Stratford station, with one individual allegedly threatening him with a knife. Do you think it’s alright not to pay?” Jenrick asked one man, while escorting another to TfL enforcement officers.
“Sadiq Khan is driving a proud city into the ground. Lawbreaking is out of control. He’s not acting. So, I did,” Jenrick wrote in a message accompanying the video, which has been viewed over 8 million times.
The Conservative MP’s actions have exposed the scale of fare evasion crisis under Mayor Sadiq Khan’s leadership. When Khan took office in 2016, fare evasion on the Tube stood at just 1 per cent. By 2024, it had risen to 4.8 per cent on the Underground alone, with the overall TfL network rate at 3.4 per cent.
This dramatic increase costs Transport for London £130 million annually – money that could be reinvested in improving services. Despite recent efforts to reduce fare dodging to 3.4 per cent from 3.8 per cent, the rate remains more than double TfL’s target of 1.5 per cent by 2030.
The assault at Wood Green highlights the dangers faced by those who challenge fare evaders. TfL policy explicitly instructs staff not to confront gate-pushers due to violence risks, with disputes over fares accounting for approximately half of all work-related violence and aggression incidents towards frontline workers.
Transport for London announced in April that more than 500 uniformed officers had been deployed across the network to tackle fare evasion, alongside an expanded team of professional investigators targeting the most prolific offenders. The penalty for fare evasion was increased from £80 to £100 in March 2024.
Mayor Sadiq Khan defended the enforcement efforts, stating: “Fare evasion is a criminal offence which deprives TfL of thousands of pounds of vital revenue every year that could be reinvested in London’s transport network. That’s why we’re expanding our team of professional investigators to cover the whole network and investing in the latest technology to target the worst offenders.”
However, critics argue the measures are insufficient. Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives’ transport spokesman, accused authorities of being “in denial about the scale of the issue,” noting that the Metropolitan Police withdrew from supporting fare evasion operations in May 2024 due to lack of political support from the mayor.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association condemned Jenrick’s vigilante approach, with general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust stating: “What we need is a fully funded British Transport Police, more London Underground revenue control teams, and a serious plan to tackle the causes of fare evasion. What we don’t need are performative interventions.”
Court documents reveal the scale of enforcement efforts, with London fare dodgers prosecuted last week alone ordered to pay around £345,000. In 2023, TfL prosecuted 19,614 people for fare evasion, a 56 per cent increase on 2022.
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director of Security, Policing, and Enforcement, said: “The overwhelming majority of customers pay the correct fare, and it’s unfair to those who do that a minority avoid paying. We are strengthening our capability to deter and detect fare evaders, ensuring they face the consequences of their actions and that the cost of fare evasion is paid by the evaders, not our fare-paying customers or taxpayers.
The incident at Wood Green serves as a stark reminder of the challenges facing London’s transport network. While TfL insists fare evasion rates remain lower than cities like New York (13 per cent), the tripling of fare dodging under Khan’s mayoralty has become a potent symbol of what critics see as declining law and order in the capital.
Anyone with information about the Wood Green assault is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 453 of 12 June. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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