Serial train fair dodger owing £3k warned of prison if he doesn't pay fines

Serial train fair dodger owing £3k warned of prison if he doesn't pay fines Charles Brohiri, 29, from Hertfordshire, has more than 100 convictions for not buying train tickets, and has racked up fines of more than £3,000 One of Britain’s most prolific fare dodgers has been warned he could be sent to prison if he does not pay his outstanding fines. Charles Brohiri, 29, has more than 100 convictions for not buying train tickets, and he was handed a suspended jail sentence earlier this year. It is calculated that he failed to pay for fares valued at more than £3,000 for Govia Thameslink Railway train journeys between February 2024 and November last year. Brohiri, originally from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, but who has been homeless for years, was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, in February. And he was back at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for an assessment of his means to pay the £3,629.60 he was ordered to then, among other fines. District Judge Nina Tempia told Brohiri, who was unrepresented: “If you haven’t paid anything then you can go to prison as I warned you last time. Do you understand that?” Brohiri confirmed he did, and admitted he had not yet paid any of the fines or compensation he owed “as of yet”. Asked why, Brohiri told the judge his referral from probation to help him receive benefits had been “a bit slow”, but he insisted he would begin paying £5 a week. Judge Tempia told Brohiri the consolidated amount he owes, in compensation, fines and “maybe victim surcharges”, is £34,486. She ordered Brohiri to begin paying £5 a week from July 31, and adjourned his means inquiry until August 27. “£20 should have been paid when you come back on August 27,” Judge Tempia said. In February, when Brohiri was given his suspended sentence, Judge Tempia told him: “My view is, as is set out in the pre-sentence report (PSR), that you feel that you are invincible by committing these offences and that you see it as some sort of self-entitlement that you can get away with it.” She also called his offending “brazen and persistent”. The court was told at that hearing that Brohiri continued his campaign of fare dodging after being banned in April, 2025, from entering Thameslink stations as part of his bail conditions. His offending is said to have continued unabated, with the last allegation of fare dodging recorded on February 10 this year. “With the exception of the period of October, November (and) December 2024, there have been offences in every month since February 2024 to the present day,” prosecutor Lyndon Harris said. Eleanor Curzon, defending, told the court in February: “He has expressed remorse and regret for having continued to travel on the trains during the whole period and particularly the period when he has been appearing before you judge.” She said the pre-sentence report found Brohiri has been facing personal troubles but “understood the severity of the charges”. “He reiterated to me this morning that if he is given the opportunity to work with probation they can assist him in securing accommodation and employment,” Ms Curzon continued. “It is really these two factors which will put an end to Mr Brohiri’s offending.” She told the court that he went to university but had to drop out and has worked as a waiter and in bars. Asked what he has been doing in his three years of being homeless in London, Ms Curzon said Brohiri has tried to get support from charities “but none of it has been consistent enough”.