Transport for London have swooped on almost 200 fare dodgers on two notorious bendy bus routes

Plain clothed and uniformed Revenue Protection staff backed up by 77 British Transport Police officers flooded the number 12 and 436 routes in Peckham, Elephant & Castle and Southampton Way in late July.

200 could go to court

4,540 passengers were shook down - officials handed out 115 penalty fares, a journey that would have cost just 90p now dented their wallets for £20 on the spot.

For TfL a potential £103.50 in fares netted £650. In all, 189 people were served with notices of potential prosecution.

Theft and immigration arrests

The crackdown also caught out other criminals, cops made five arrests for immigration offences and theft.

Fare dodgers cost London £30m a year, according to TfL. Their South Area manager, Stefan Linn said:

“This is money which could and should be used to further improve the service. I am sure the vast majority of fare paying passengers will agree that it is not fair that they subsidise the dishonest.”