Commuters in Canary Wharf tube station wearing face coverings
(Picture: PA)Passengers owe Transport for London (TfL) an estimated £142,000 in unpaid fines for flouting mask-wearing rules during the Covid pandemic, new figures have revealed.
Face coverings were compulsory in all TfL settings for the majority of the pandemic, with a £100 fine issued for those who paid within 14 days.
The measures were scrapped on February 24 this year as Covid infections declined.
However, passengers are still “strongly encouraged” to wear one to “keep each other as safe as possible”, TfL has said.
Nearly 4,000 passengers were given a fine when the rule was in place, new figures published by City Hall on Tuesday, the BBC reported.
Of these fines, some 710 remain unpaid and TfL are prosecuting 532 cases.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told the broadcaster a further 178 cases remain open and awaiting prosecution.
The fine rises to £200 if not paid within a two-week period, with TfL estimating that the total amount owed could rise as high as £142,000.
A total of 7,283 people were stopped on the network for not wearing a mask while 2,325 were asked to leave, the data showed.
The figures were published in response to a question to the Mayor’s Office from Labour Assembly member Krupseh Hirani.
Mr Khan 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 legal requirement to wear a face covering in other parts of England was scrapped in January as part of the Government’s “living with Covid” plan.
They remained compulsory on TfL networks for a short time afterwards due to high infection rates of the Omicron variant in London.
The Standard has approached TfL for further comment.
