Nearly 4,000 people were fined as much as £200 each for not wearing face coverings on London transport when they were mandatory, new data shows.
Passengers had to wear face masks for the first half of last year and over much of the last winter, with the rules changing as Covid rates waxed and waned.
Some 3,996 people were order to pay a £200 fixed penalty notice between February 24, 2021 and January 27, 2022, according to Sadiq Khan. The fines were cut to £100 if paid within two weeks. That means Transport for London (TfL) will make a minimum of 400,000 from the fines, and a maximum of nearly £800,000.
TfL staff stopped 7,283 people from getting on services for not wearing a face covering, and kicked 2,325 people off the network in that time.
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Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The safety of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) customers and staff is always its top priority. A range of measures helped to ensure customers can travel safely and confidently on TfL’s services during the pandemic, including requiring face coverings as a condition of carriage both before and after they were a legal requirement, and continuing to strongly encourage them today. ”
The data, released by the mayor in response to a question to Khan from Labour London Assembly member Krupesh Hirani, is a snapshot of the relatively high level of compliance with mask rules – or at least TfL’s ability to enforce them.
Not everyone who was caught out has paid their fine. Khan’s data shows that TfL is chasing payment on 710 of the 3,996 fixed penalty notices – at a total value of £142,000.