Last Monday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that nearly 4,000 passengers were issued fines for violating COVID-19 mask laws while riding the city’s public transportation.
According to Khan, more than 7,000 people were denied service because they did not wear face coverings. Kahn heads Transport for London (TfL), the government agency responsible for most aspects of London’s transit system. Khan disclosed this information while responding to questions about face coverings posed by Councillor Krupesh Hirani.
Face coverings were required under threat of penalty on London public transportation for approximately a year from July 4, 2020, to July 18, 2021, and again for about eight weeks between November 30, 2021, and January 26, 2022.
Passengers who broke the rules would receive a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for £200 ($251). If a passenger paid a fine within 14 days, it would be reduced by half.
TfL again required face coverings for four weeks between January 27 and February 24 of this year but could not punish violators because the agency did not record compliance activity.
Between February 24, 2021, and January 27, 2022, TfL had stopped 7,283 people from traveling, instructed 2,325 individuals to leave the transportation network, and issued 3,996 FPNs for people not in compliance.
Khan justified the policies by claiming that “the protection of Transport for London’s customers and workers is always its top concern.”
When Khan was asked about the quantity and price of these FPNs, he said that 710 were still as of the previous Tuesday, with a total outstanding value of £142,000 ($178,000).
Khan also mentioned that 532 of the instances are “currently being prosecuted or have papers issued,” while the remaining 178 cases are “currently open and unpaid, awaiting prosecution.”
However, he did not provide an answer to Hirani’s question about what would cause him to reinstate the mandate. Instead, he said that officers are now developing a response to the situation.
These numbers coincided with the release of a scathing memo on the so-called “partygate” scandal by civil servant Sue Gray. This scandal involved several rule-breaking events in the Cabinet Office and Downing Street during the lockdowns. According to the report, the “senior leadership at the centre, both political and official,” was blamed for the “culture” that allowed COVID rule violations.
