Annie Mole's, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog).
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, THE fun and informative BOOK about travelling on the London Underground.
Here's the summary of tonight's episode: "Every day, 60,000 journeys are made and not paid for, costing London Underground £20 million a year in unpaid fares. The programme follows Diane McConnell and Denese Brunker, two of the Tube's longest-serving ticket inspectors, and other plain-clothes revenue inspectors as they pursue fare evaders across the network. Find what happens to the evaders and how the money from tickets is spent."
I'm assuming the picture above shows Diane & Denese not in their plain clothes, as they hardly look unobtrusive in those outfits.
Steve Burton, Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing at TfL, said: "While the level of fare evasion on the network is low, it continues to cost Londoners millions of pounds every year ...... We know that our honest, fare paying passengers feel angry when they see others not paying for their journey and this should reassure them that we are tackling this issue head on."
Hopefully there will be some coverage of people who have genuninely lost tickets. But I'm expecting most of the episode will cover the numerous creative excuses coming from Tube travellers on why they haven't got a ticket.
"The magic, mystery & sometimes maddening shortcomings of London's Tube are documented with love, enthusiasm & sometimes despair by its unofficial social historian." The Guardian
