Transport vigilante Jenrick takes on TfL fare dodgers
Tory MP Rob Jenrick is amping up his public presence amid growing expectations he could displace an unpopular Kemi Badenoch as leader of the Conservatives.
Jenrick has launched a transport vigilante campaign where he questions TfL fare dodgers on the London underground.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office did not respond to Jenrick’s diatribe.
Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who is reportedly in talks with Jenrick to join the Tory party, said: “Full credit, Robert. Great work.”
Clad in his weekend flannel, Jenrick asked the dodgers why they won’t go back to pay the fare like everyone else, which invoked a few expletives in response.
“You’re carrying a knife, did you say?” Jenrick asked a passenger, though the clip of the passenger saying this, or responding to this, was not featured.
In the video, Jenrick lamented how “annoying” it is to see people “break the law and get away with it.”
Jenrick then deposited the wrongdoers with the tube security team.
Earlier this year, Transport for London, which runs London’s public transport system, vowed to lower fare evasion to 1.5 per cent by 2030.
The “£130m annual cost of fare evasion impacts TfL’s ability to invest in and maintain a safe, clean, and reliable service,” TfL said, while adding that the fare evasion rate in the UK is significantly lower than in other major cities like New York.
TfL’s plan involved deploying more officers to catch fare evaders.
“It’s chipping away at society,” Jenrick said. “The state needs to reassert itself.”