Two women wearing facemasks on a Tube train
(Picture: PA Wire)Nearly 4,000 Londoners have been fined for refusing to wear a mask on the tube when it was a legal requirement to do so, latest figures show.
The fines came before Transport for London (TfL) decided to drop its condition of carriage on face coverings on February 24 when data indicated that Covid infection rates linked to Omicron were falling consistently.
Some £200 fines were issued to 3,996 people between February 24 2021 and 27 January 2022, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said.
The penalties were reduced to £100 if they were paid within 14 days.
A further 2,325 passengers were asked to leave the transport network after they failed to put on a mask when challenged with 7,283 people stopped for not wearing a mask.
Despite lifting the ban, TfL “strongly recommended” that mask-wearing continued during travel in line with advice being given to passengers using national rail services.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the safety of TfL’s customers and staff is "always a top priority".
He said: "A range of measures helped to ensure customers can travel safely and confidently on TfL’s services during the pandemic, including requiring face coverings as a condition of carriage both before and after they were a legal requirement, and continuing to strongly encourage them today. "
The data was published after a question directed to the Mayor’s Office from a London Assembly member.
