Britain’s most prolific train fare dodger has avoided jail despite admitting more than 100 offences and running up almost £48,000 in unpaid fines.
Charles Brohiri, 29, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, spent six years slipping through ticket barriers at Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) stations, including in Brighton and across Cambridgeshire. Over that time, he cheated the operator out of more than £3,600 in fares, the court heard.
Brohiri pleaded guilty to 112 counts of failing to pay for tickets. He has now been ordered to repay the money at a rate of £20 a month starting in March.
At Westminster magistrates’ court, district judge Nina Tempia imposed the maximum three-month prison sentence available, but suspended it for a year after deciding Brohiri had a “prospect of rehabilitation”. An arrest warrant was briefly issued when he arrived 30 minutes late for sentencing.
Addressing him, the judge said his behaviour had been “deliberate and repeated” and that he continued offending while on bail and despite previous convictions. Referring to a probation report, she said he had shown a “reckless and carefree attitude” and behaved in a “brazen and persistent” way for years.
Part of the report stated Brohiri felt “invincible” and believed he had the right to travel without paying the full cost of a ticket, showing a lack of respect for authority.
Prosecutor Lyndon Harris, acting for GTR, told the court Brohiri had even dodged fares the day before his sentencing. He described the rail company as “uniquely vulnerable” to the offending and called the behaviour “deliberate, repeated and brazen”.
“These are serious offences,” he said, adding that immediate custody was the only suitable punishment. He also noted that the fares involved were effectively public money because the taxpayer funds GTR’s operation.
Defence lawyer Eleanor Curzon said the unpaid fares ranged from £3.90 to £71.20, usually around £30. She told the court Brohiri had dropped out of university and previously struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, but had been clean and sober for three years.
The probation report said he had also experienced homelessness and mental health difficulties, losing his home in 2023 and sleeping in trains, hospitals and libraries in order to stay safe.
Brohiri admitted the offences last month. The court heard he still owes £48,682 from cases brought between August 2019 and April 2025. A previous legal challenge to the prosecution was dismissed earlier this year.
