In the year to 24 February 2022, when it was announced that wearing face coverings on Transport for London (TfL) services is no longer a condition of carriage, can you break down how many passengers were reprimanded for breaking the rules by:

Being denied access to TfL services Being asked to leave TfL services Being issued with a fine?

The safety of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) customers and staff is always its top priority. A range of measures helped to ensure customers can travel safely and confidently on TfL’s services during the pandemic, including requiring face coverings as a condition of carriage both before and after they were a legal requirement, and continuing to strongly encourage them today.

National regulations regarding the mandatory use of face coverings on public transport were in place from Monday 4 July 2020 and were removed on Sunday 19 July 2021. From 19 July 2021 to 29 November 2021, the requirement to wear a face covering on TfL’s public transport services and stations, unless exempt, was retained as a TfL condition of carriage. TfL did not have the power to issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) or prosecute offenders for non-compliance during this time.

National face covering regulations were reintroduced on 30 November 2021 and were removed on 27 January 2022. In line with the Government decision to lift covid restrictions on 27 January 2022, which removed legal powers for TfL and the police to robustly enforce the regulations on the network, TfL decided to remove the requirement from its conditions of carriage from 24 February 2022.

Between 24 February 2021, and 27 January 2022 TfL prevented 7,283 people from travelling, directed 2,325 people to leave the network, and issued 3,996 FPNs for not complying with the requirement to wear a face covering. Between 27 January 2022 and 24 February 2022, TfL did not record face covering compliance activity.