BTP Officer Charged After Bystander Complains Over Fare Evasion Arrest
A frontline officer now finds himself in the dock — and many are asking whether this sends a dangerous message to fare evaders across the country.
A British Transport Police officer will appear in court this week, charged with assault by beating after detaining a 15-year-old girl for suspected fare evasion at Camden Road Overground station.
Despite how it sounds, “assault by beating” doesn’t require any visible injury or even a closed fist — under English law, it can cover ANY use of unlawful force, including a push, grab, or restraint if deemed excessive. It’s a ‘low-level’ charge that sits at the very bottom of the scale when it comes to assault offences — but the implications for a police officer’s career are anything but minor.
PC Adrian Young, 47, is due at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 9 April. The charge follows an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), sparked not by the girl involved in the incident — but by a bystander’s complaint made the following month.
According to the IOPC, the complaint was referred by British Transport Police in October 2024, and by March 2025 the Crown Prosecution Service had authorised a charge. Crucially, this development comes just days before the six-month statutory time limit for prosecuting summary offences like this one was set to expire.
PC Young, part of the London Overground Tasking Team, has been suspended from duty since the incident, which occurred on 22 September 2024. British Transport Police have confirmed the charge in a statement:
“A serving British Transport Police (BTP) officer is due to appear at court charged with one count of assault by beating, following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)… BTP received a complaint in October from a witness to the incident and they referred the incident to the IOPC. PC Young was suspended from duty following the incident.”
For many within the policing community, this case carries unsettling echoes of the now-infamous Croydon bus fare case. That incident, involving Metropolitan Police officer PC Perry Lathwood, attracted national headlines after a partial clip of a fare evasion arrest went viral online. PC Lathwood was convicted of assault, only for that conviction to be quashed months later on appeal. This decision cast doubt over how robustly officers are being supported when enforcing basic laws.
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It’s a pattern that many serving officers and their families will recognise: a brief, out-of-context clip circulates on social media, triggering a wave of outrage that rarely, if ever, reflects the full facts. And despite the existence of comprehensive body-worn video footage, which could quickly and clearly show what actually happened, senior police leadership too often remains silent — letting public perception harden into judgment.
Senior management within policing, and increasingly the IOPC, appear more concerned with appeasing the court of public opinion than with upholding fairness or defending due process. The IOPC, in particular, has developed a reputation for following the herd — moving swiftly to recommend charges in the wake of online uproar, even when that uproar is fuelled by fragments of information rather than the full picture.
But if those charged with oversight won’t insist on transparency — if they won’t release full footage to give the public an informed view — then they’re not leading. They’re surrendering. And in doing so, they’re not just letting individual officers down — they’re undermining public trust in the process itself.
If we expect officers to show restraint and clarity under pressure, then surely those investigating them should be held to the same standard. Leadership means resisting the pull of the crowd — not joining it.
A dangerous precedent?
There’s growing concern that this latest prosecution could embolden fare evaders and undermine officers tasked with enforcing basic public order on transport networks. What message does it send when an officer — in uniform, carrying out his duty — ends up suspended and facing criminal charges, not because of a complaint from the individual involved, but because a so-called ‘professional bystander’ took issue with how the incident looked from a distance?
If police are expected to intervene only when convenient, and to second-guess every use of force even in high-pressure, public-facing incidents, what are we asking of them?
Are the powers that be now expecting officers to tailor their actions — not to the law, not to the threat in front of them, but to how a bystander with a smartphone might later choose to interpret the encounter?
It’s an impossible standard. Officers are being asked to make split-second decisions with the weight of hindsight already hanging over them — not just from courts, but from people completely unconnected to the incident who feel entitled to pass judgment from the safety of the sidelines.
When enforcement decisions are shaped by the imagined gaze of a “professional bystander,” rather than the legal powers an officer is sworn to uphold, the question isn’t just about fairness to police — it’s about the erosion of effective policing altogether.
The public needs to ask itself: Are we backing the people who are trying to protect our transport networks — or are we making it easier for those who break the rules to weaponise the system against them?
Because once again, an officer finds himself in court, and a wider community of law-abiding citizens and frontline workers is watching closely.
Our team — comprised of former emergency services & armed forces personnel who understand the realities behind the headlines — will follow this case every step of the way. If you want to stay informed as it progresses, make sure you’re subscribed to this free newsletter.
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