In Robert Jenrick’s fare-dodging video, it felt a little unfair for the Tories’ checked-shirt crusader to include that shot of the Tube station assistant with his feet up.
The guy was probably just on his break, and you don’t blame the infantry for the failings of the generals. But on a wider level, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, and TfL management have had their own feet up for nine years now, with results that people are starting to notice.
Today’s London is not, of course, New York in the 1970s. But parts of the London Underground are looking rather like it. Each time I’ve travelled on the Bakerloo Line recently, the train has been covered in graffiti, inside and out. It doesn’t seem to be the same on any other line – yet. But if left unchecked, it will spread, as fare-dodging already has.
Fare evasion on the Tube in 2015, the last full year before Sir Sadiq took office, was 1 per cent.
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