Plain-clothes police officers are targeting fare evaders who push through ticket barriers, in a new Transport for London enforcement operation that has already led to 24 arrests in its first month.
Operation Vector, a partnership between TfL and British Transport Police (BTP), resulted in 467 people being stopped, 156 penalty fares being issued and 175 reports for possible prosecution.
The arrests covered offences including fare evasion and other criminal activity.
The operation uses an intelligence-led approach, bringing together plain-clothes BTP officers with Revenue Control teams and uniformed Transport Support Enforcement staff to identify and intercept persistent fare evaders who routinely push through ticket barriers. Officers are deployed beyond the gateline and use coordinated communications to track and stop those attempting to travel without paying.
TfL says the operation is expected to significantly increase the detection of persistent fare evaders, deter offenders and challenge the perception that people can push through barriers without consequences.
The plain-clothes approach also addresses a safety problem. When staff see people pushing through barriers, they are explicitly told not to stop them, as doing so can put them in danger of assault. Revenue disputes are linked to around 40% of all reported incidents of work-related violence and aggression towards frontline staff — which is why trained police officers, rather than station staff, are now the ones detaining fare dodgers at the gateline.
The goal is to drive fare evasion down to below 1.5% by 2030/31.
Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, said: “Fare evasion is a criminal offence and prevents essential funds being reinvested to improve our transport network. We have a clear message for the small but persistent group of people that aren’t paying the correct fare: we will not tolerate it, and you will be held to account.”
The first-month results sit within a much wider enforcement effort. Since April 2026, more than 2,400 individuals have been reported for barrier misuse across the network. Alongside that, TfL’s revenue enforcement teams have issued more than 33,000 penalty fares and reported more than 11,000 individuals for prosecution consideration since April 2026.
TfL says it continues to deploy enforcement teams to locations where there is a high prevalence of people forcing their way through ticket barriers and antisocial behaviour that creates an intimidating environment for customers and staff.
The crackdown comes as transport enforcement remains in the spotlight. More than 2.4 million Dart Charge fines were issued in a year at the Dartford Crossing, while a crash closed the A315 London Road in Hounslow and parents in Sutton demanded action over 213 bus delays.
