Sunday, February 26, 2012

Ticket Inspectors feature on 2nd episode of BBC2's The Tube

The second episode of BBC2's documentary on London Underground staff focusses on ticket inspectors.  The Tube, a six part series airing each Monday at 9pm, takes a behind the scenes look at the day-to-day running of the Underground.

Diane McConnell and Denese Brunker - ticket inspectors in The Tube BBC2

Here's the summary of tonight's episode: "Every day, 60,000 journeys are made and not paid for, costing London Underground £20 million a year in unpaid fares. The programme follows Diane McConnell and Denese Brunker, two of the Tube's longest-serving ticket inspectors, and other plain-clothes revenue inspectors as they pursue fare evaders across the network.  Find what happens to the evaders and how the money from tickets is spent."

I'm assuming the picture above shows Diane & Denese not in their plain clothes, as they hardly look unobtrusive in those outfits.

As penalty charges for fare evasion increased from £50 to £80 (that's now around the same amount as the charge for speeding) on Sunday 19th February 2012, this episode may well show why that increase was made.

Alternative to Penalty Fare by Peter F
Alternative to Penalty Fare by Peter F

Steve Burton, Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing at TfL, said: "While the level of fare evasion on the network is low, it continues to cost Londoners millions of pounds every year ...... We know that our honest, fare paying passengers feel angry when they see others not paying for their journey and this should reassure them that we are tackling this issue head on."


Hopefully there will be some coverage of people who have genuninely lost tickets.  But I'm expecting most of the episode will cover the numerous creative excuses coming from Tube travellers on why they haven't got a ticket. 

Related posts
TfL Penalty Charges increase from Sunday 19th February
Tube drunks highlighted in first episode of BBC2 series - The Tube 
Tube staff star in new BBC2 Documentary Series 
Channel 4 - Confessions from the Underground - New Tube Documentary
Three and Out - Preview Screening - The Verdict
One Under - Channel 4 Documentary
Arena: Underground On The Box 

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