The Debate: Should you be fined for playing music on the bus?

Local authorities could be empowered to give out £100 fines to loudcasters on buses. We hear the case for and against in this week s Debate YES: Forget £100, Londoners want headphone dodgers fined a grand If Wetherspoons can ban headphone dodgers, then so should TfL. Polling has shown that eight out of 10 Londoners are bothered by ‘bare beating’ (as this anti-social phenomenon is known) and half of those fear it is on the rise. If anything, the government’s plans do not go far enough. Two thirds of Londoners think that headphone dodgers should face fines of £1,000 – not the paltry £100 proposed in the latest measures. Moreover, fines alone will not solve the problem. Penalties to tackle ‘bare beating’ on trains and Tubes have existed since 2005 but have failed to make a dent in this very public nuisance. Why? Because there is nobody there to enforce these rules or impose the fines. Without real enforcement – more police or dedicated security staff deployed on buses – thes