Request ID: FOI-1480-2122 Date published: 25 November 2021
You asked
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act to request the following information.
1. The number of fines and warning TFL staff have issued to passengers not wearing a face mask on the network since January 1st 2021.
2. The number of fines and warning TFL staff have issued to passengers not wearing facemasks on the network since Sadiq Khan asked TFL to continue enforcing mask rules on public transport (July 14th).
I request a response within the statutory limit.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-1480-2122/GH Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 14 October 2021 asking for information about face coverings on public transport. Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require. 1. The number of fines and warning TfL staff have issued to passengers not wearing a face mask on the network since January 1st 2021. TfL do not issue official warnings, but since March 2020, have mobilised hundreds of our enforcement staff, who worked alongside officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the British Transport Police (BTP), to intervene with customers who were not complying with the legal requirement to wear a face covering on our public transport services or in our stations and who do not have an exemption. Our focus was on stopping the people who were flouting the rules, stopping them from travelling and/or issuing them a fixed penalty notice for a first offence. Between 1 January 2021 and 19th July 2021, 88,224 people were stopped by TfL enforcement officers from getting on our public transport services until they put on a face covering. Most complied by getting their face covering from their bag or pocket, putting it on correctly or purchasing one from a nearby shop. In the same period, 2,772 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued. 2. The number of fines and warning TFL staff have issued to passengers not wearing facemasks on the network since Sadiq Khan asked TFL to continue enforcing mask rules on public transport (July 14th). Following the removal of the regulation directing passengers to wear a face covering on public transport, and the introduction of this requirement as a condition of carriage, face covering interventions are no longer recorded. It is not practical for frontline transport staff and enforcement officers to routinely record every interaction with customers about face covering as normal business demands continue to increase with the lifting of other Covid restrictions on 19th July.
The wearing of face coverings is a condition of carriage on TfL services, but this does not come with the same enforcement capability as we had under the previous nationwide regulations. We are unable to issue fines or prosecute customers for non-compliance as part of the conditions of carriage, and therefore no Fixed Penalty Notices have been issued since 19 July 2021. If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal. Yours sincerely Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
