Tube and bus fines doubled

London's fare dodgers will be fined £20 from next month.

The penalty is being doubled and will be accompanied by increased ticket inspections backed up by police.

Ken Livingstone said the on-the-spot fines on Tubes, buses and Docklands Light Railway are meant to send out the message that "freeloaders will not be tolerated".

On the Croydon Tramlink the penalty fare goes up from £15 to £20.

More than £60million is lost to fare evasion in the capital each year. The Mayor said only a tiny minority of passengers set out to avoid paying. But those who do "are cheating the vast majority of honest travellers".

Brian Cooke, chairman of the London Transport Users' Committee, said: "It is about time this was done. There is far too much ticketless travel taking place and this needs to be discouraged."

Mr Cooke added: "We also welcome the fact that a more robust appeals procedure is to be set up for those who feel they have not been treated fairly." Cynthia-Hay, of the passenger campaign group Capital Transport, said: "We certainly agree that people should pay their fares, even if they are among the highest in the world.

"But at the same time more staff are also needed on the platforms and the ticket technology needs to work to encourage passengers to pay their fares in the first place."

Transport for London (TfL) has 240 ticket inspectors patrolling the bus and tram network. This will rise to 290 within the next two months.

They are backed by 1,300 members of the transport operational command unit, a mixture of serving officers and civilian personnel, which is funded by TfL and provided by the Met. The £20 fine comes in on 12 June. Every year 50,000 fines are issued to those travelling without tickets on the bus network - plus another 42,000 prosecution notices for more serious fraud and fare offences.

This represents about one for every 19,000 passenger journeys.

The Tube has about 240 ticket inspectors supported by 750 British Transport police officers.

Each year, around 40,000 penalties are issued on the London Underground for travelling without a valid ticket. There are another 6,000 prosecutions.

Announcing the mainline rail increase in fines, Home Office minister Tony McNulty said millions of pounds are lost across the national network every year through fare evasion of one sort or another.

The cheats cost London's three busiest rail commuter operators nearly £40 million a year - enough to buy 60 new carriages or hire more than 2,000 extra staff.