Is there a more infuriating sight in London today than TfL staff ignoring blatant fare dodging, as pushy thugs barge through the barriers right under their heavily unionised noses? Fare evaders bashing through the Tube gates is now a common sight — or indeed a common sound, since the machines go berserk as they ram through them. I can’t be the only traveller who feels like I witness this on nearly every journey.
It used to be the case that subtle tailgaters would linger a little too close for comfort and leap through the barriers just as you tapped your payment card — ah, that classic, sneaky tactic that defined the fare evaders of yore. Such conduct seems almost quaint by modern standards. In Sadiq Khan’s London of 2025 you can simply smash through the barrier with impunity like an international rugby forward and get away with it scot-free.
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