Request ID: FOI-2301-2223 Date published: 04 January 2023
You asked
Good morning,
I would like to make a request for the following datasets under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
Could you please disclose -
1. How many Single Justice Procedure Notices have been sent to people suspected of fare evasion per financial year between 2008 and 2022?
2. How many Postal Requisitions have been sent to people suspected of fare evasion per financial year between 2008 and 2022?
In this timeframe:
3. How many prosecutions were upheld in TfL’s favour (i.e. how many defendants either plead guilty or were found guilty by the courts during these years)?
4. How much money in GBP has TfL spent on prosecuting fare evasion in the financial years between 2008 and 2022 (eg. through court costs and solicitors’ fees)?
5. How much money in GBP has TfL recovered by prosecuting fare evasion in the financial years between 2008 and 2022 (e.g. through fines, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecution costs)?
---
a. What was the cost for a single underground journey in zone 1 per financial year between 2008-2022?
b. What was the cost for a single underground journey in zone 2-6 per financial year between 2008-2022?
c. What was the cost for a single bus journey per financial year between 2008-2022?
d. What was the cost for an annual adult zone 1-4 travelcard per financial year between 2008-2022?
If the following request is too large to fall under your obligations under the act, please answer either questions 1 or 2, and prioritise questions 4, 5 and d thereafter.
I would like for the data requested to be sent in the form of a .xls file.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2301-2223 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 12 December 2022, asking for information about prosecutions and fare cost. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. In terms of what we can supply, our data does not go back as far as 2008 and Single Justice Procedures (SJP) were only introduced by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act in 2015. Also, we do not split SJPs and Requisition results/stats in our data. Please note Tram prosecutions are managed by Tramlink directly and their figures are not included below. You specifically asked: 1.How many Single Justice Procedure Notices have been sent to people suspected of fare evasion per financial year between 2008 and 2022? 2.How many Postal Requisitions have been sent to people suspected of fare evasion per financial year between 2008 and 2022?
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Fin. Year
Prosecutions by mode
14/15
15/16
16/17
17/18
18/19
19/20
20/21
21/22
DLR
N/A
N/A
N/A
69
88
83
2
283
Bus
10,127
14,700
13,251
15,179
21,646
19,000
3,005
1,573
LO
N/A
N/A
N/A
365
2,018
1,347
413
398
Elizabeth Line (TfL Rail)
N/A
N/A
601
949
745
1,057
145
945
LU
N/A
N/A
5,338
3,546
5,166
3,404
726
1,552
TfL Total
10,127
14,700
19,190
20,108
29,663
24,891
4,291
4,751
3. How many prosecutions were upheld in TfL’s favour (i.e. how many defendants either plead guilty or were found guilty by the courts during these years)? We record percentages for our score cards. In order to provide the actual numbers, we would have to review each case individually which would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on those activities. Success rates are captured as percentages below; 2014/15 – 99.94% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2015/16 – 99.87% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2016/17 – 94.33% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2017/18 – 95.57% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2018/19 – Approx. 98% + successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2019/20 - 95.90% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2020/21 - 96.10% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 2021/22 – 92.00% successful prosecutions rate for cases heard at court 4. How much money in GBP has TfL spent on prosecuting fare evasion in the financial years between 2008 and 2022 (e.g. through court costs and solicitors’ fees)? We don’t hold an accurate figure for this. The TfL Investigation, Appeals and Prosecutions team is responsible for the prosecution of fare evasion on all TfL modes (excl. Trams) and they are responsible for a range of other activity, but the cost of that team is circa £1,250,000. 5.How much money in GBP has TfL recovered by prosecuting fare evasion in the financial years between 2008 and 2022 (e.g. through fines, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecution costs)? Please see below for money we received from HMCTS, from passengers convicted at Court; 2016/17 – £1.237,339 2017/18 – £1,702,015 2018/19 - £2,228,545 2019/20 - £2,563,573 2020/21 - £1,687,683 2021/22 – £1,458,269 a. What was the cost for a single underground journey in zone 1 per financial year between 2008-2022? b. What was the cost for a single underground journey in zone 2-6 per financial year between 2008-2022? c. What was the cost for a single bus journey per financial year between 2008-2022? d. What was the cost for an annual adult zone 1-4 travelcard per financial year between 2008-2022? The fares requested are shown in the table below;
Ticket
Zones
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Underground PAYG peak single
Z0101
1.50
1.60
1.80
1.90
2.00
2.10
2.20
2.30
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.50
Underground PAYG off-peak single
Z0101
1.50
1.60
1.80
1.90
2.00
2.10
2.20
2.30
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.40
2.50
Underground PAYG peak single
Z0206
1.80
2.00
2.20
2.50
2.60
2.70
2.70
2.80
2.80
2.80
2.80
2.80
2.80
3.00
3.30
Underground PAYG off-peak single
Z0206
1.00
1.10
1.30
1.40
1.40
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.70
1.90
PAYG single bus fare
B0104
0.90
1.00
1.20
1.30
1.35
1.40
1.45
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.50
1.55
1.65
Annual Travelcard
Z0104
1384
1472
1472
1576
1672
1744
1800
1844
1860
1892
1960
2020
2076
2128
2208
Please note the fares used to be revised on 2 January each year. This was the case until 2021 and 2022 when the changes were made on 1 March. If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed. Yours sincerely Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
