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A fare dodger who avoided paying £2,000 has finally been caught on the Elizabeth Line.
Footage shows the moment TfL revenue officer Lisa pursues the man at the bustling Whitechapel Station in east London before catching him red-handed.
She then made him show his ID, proving he was the same man who had been avoiding paying his fares, as he tried to come up with excuses.
The incident was filmed as part of the documentary Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law, which airs on Channel 5 on Monday at 9pm.
The snare was made using TfL’s ITAP system, which tracks blocked and stolen cards, which allowed access to the man’s digital footprint and showed he had been using the Elizabeth Line for over a year.
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Staff trawled through CCTV footage for hours, matching it to the date and times the card was used as Lisa built up her case against the suspected fare dodger.
She then waited at the station for four hours, hoping to catch him.
As he approached, she could be heard saying: ‘I feel that might be him, that’s him!’
After scanning the man’s TfL card, investigators proved he was the person they were looking for. ‘You need to come with us,’ another officer said.
He was then taken behind closed doors at the station and asked to produce ID.
He then claimed he had no ID on him, adding: ‘My phone was stolen here in London. I reported it to the police. I can’t do anything. This is the phone I borrowed from my friend.’
But Lisa responded: ‘I still need to see ID and if we can’t see ID, then we need to call the police and they will verify who you are.
‘Do you have any idea why I was standing there waiting for you today? So, this is a very serious matter that we’ve stopped you for.’
Lisa then showed the man a still image of himself taken from CCTV in a station.
Eventually, the suspect showed the officers ID on his phone and was given a caution.
The news comes after a report found that fare dodgers cost Transport for London £165 million a year, which almost cancels out the £168 million saved by the network after raising the prices for those who bother to pay.