London freeloaders

Ok, i was thinking about cool ways to get stuff for free in London. I found this book called 'Alternative London' written by someone named Nicholas Saunders, which tells you numbers for people who find empty properties suitable for squats, where to get free haircuts/food/cinema viewings, etc. Only problem is, it was written in 1973, so it's a bit out of date.

How to get on to the tube for free : There is a sensor placed between the ticket barriers that tells the computer to close the gate after someone has gone through. It is small and orange-looking. All you need to do it get a newspaper or something, and block the sensor when the person in front of you goes through. Just pretend to swipe oyster with a wallet or something.
I hate paying £4.00 to go 2 km underground, so this nifty trick has come in useful on more than one occasion.

Anyone got any other freebie tips?

that makes sense, i know the book actually but i never thought to actually get cause its so out of date.
i was thinking for a while if there is any way to top-up your oyster at home! as in make a reader/writer for the magnetic strip?

some one should re-write the book for today, i know of something similar published by MUTE - Print On Demand (metamute.org and openmute.org)
http://c6.org/soldout/diy_survival.html

there is loads of info on free internet floating around

i made a radio transmitter a while ago and was thinking about upping the signal output and doing something with it but i have found info on creating a tv transmitter so i tthink i'll go for that instead, its time to reclaim our T.v set

mmmwwhahahahahah

"I hate paying £4.00 to go 2 km underground" have you thought of riding your bike instead? not got a bike? you can build a fixed wheel bike for not a lot of cash
ask here www.londonfgss.com they have lots of friendly advice.

the last person who tried to use the tube with my oyster card (by pushing behind me) got a metal portfolio case smacked into their knees and a bit of verbal for their fare dodging efforts.

There is a book called london for free. by brian butler. loads of stuff in there free places to eat see ETC

have a look at a french artist named matthieu laurette.

Matthieu's website

there was a guide to free stuff in the guardian a few months back, it might be on their web site now.

you can also get free bikes, all you need is some bolt croppers (you can get those for free at any hardware store that doesn't have CCTV) and take your pick, people leave them all over the place so you won't have to look very far.

MrSmith "I hate paying £4.00 to go 2 km underground" have you thought of riding your bike instead? not got a bike? you can build a fixed wheel bike for not a lot of cash
ask here www.londonfgss.com they have lots of friendly advice.

the last person who tried to use the tube with my oyster card (by pushing behind me) got a metal portfolio case smacked into their knees and a bit of verbal for their fare dodging efforts.

Last time someone did that to me I stopped dead in their tracks and they were caught between the now closed barrier and me. Then I called the ticket guy over, told him what happened and laughed at the cheeky son of a bitch as I walked away and he got done for fare dodging.

Word of advise to fare dodgers, pay the fine on the spot. If you claim to not have cash on you, and then claim not to have proof of address (for the fine to be sent to, which will be escalated to court proceedings and criminal record if you fail to pay) then British Transport Police really love using the lack of money and ID to enforce a charge of vagrancy. So then you get put into a cell for a few hours whilst they work out who you are. Fun!

Fare dodgers piss me off. Yes the fares are high, but if you don't like it you've got a bike haven't you?

haaa

The fine for not having a valid ticket is £20. If i don't pay the fare but use the tube everyday, i'll save that in a week, easy.

If anyone asked me if they could double up in the barriers i wouldn't have a problem. If i've got a valid ticket, and i get caught then i don't have a clue who they are. Nor would i grass them up to the station attendant.

stop moaning!!

I know it's a pain to subsidise fare dodgers, but some people are down on their luck - should we kick them while they're down too? You never know a person's circumstances - maybe they're really desperate - and that might be you one day...

if i was short of cash i would walk. it doesn't cost anything and is good for you.
in fact when i first came to london after art college i did walk everywhere.

exception to fair dodging: SILVERLINK!!!!
no one should have to pay for that thing

I'm sure the real Citizen Smith would agree with me ;)

I rode everywhere when I came up to London and if for any reason I couldn't I walked. I never took the tube or bus anywhere. The point I was making wasn't that people should be allowed free on tubes etc, rather that it's a bit presumptuous and meanspirited to judge other people's needs.

the real citizen smith admires the big red country to the east, there nobody needs to faredodge as everybody rides a bicycle. :-)

i squat, and i have some contacts for organizations geared towards that, also i eat for free beacuse im not afaride to dig in skips for a meal... if you want me to shw you some of my faves wisler me, i can also pass on info on the squatting scene

You find meals in skips?

fucking hell, all the skips I ever see are full of builders rubble.

do you eat wood? bits of plasterboard on the side?

There was this Spanish guy that I used to know a few years ago and he told me that old tube tickets worked like master tickets. After a certain time limit, maybe four years, I forget, but you could use it anywhere on the tube and it worked. He was always looking around for old tickets that were of a certain age. I didn't believe him, so he showed me. But that was before the days of Oyster. Maybe it still works.

Join Freecycle London mailing list - the London one is one of the biggests in the world (18000 members if i am right? now think it's divided by zones).

But i strongly suggest you open another e-mail account to receive the list e-mails (sometimes +100 a day!)

when i first moved up to london i was earning £4 / hr 120 per week my rent was 60 my food was 30 / 40 i had a bit of spending and my travbel card 30 odd quid i did have times where i was in kings cross with zero in my pocket and nothing in the bank i physically couldn't get home from work to streatham without walking / fare dodging i used to use a previous days travel card and flash it quickly to the bus driver luckily one bus went direct from kx to streatham so it was just one dodge
not fun not correct but it had to be done

now i'm mega rich and come down like a ton of bricks on fare dodgers ( NOT ) human nature huh how ones outlook on life changes !

If you want sandwiches for 50p there was a place just off Rosebery Avenue, Yardley St. I think where the sandwich sellers had their depot. So anything not sold that day was sold off cheap. Not sure if it's still there. Lots of bikes with trailers and lots of couriers used to hang around there as well.

docus I know it's a pain to subsidise fare dodgers, but some people are down on their luck - should we kick them while they're down too? You never know a person's circumstances - maybe they're really desperate - and that might be you one day...

And by religiously paying your fare, you're subsidising the profit-mongers who incrementally make the tube a mode of transport that's priced for the privileged. Soon it'll be cheaper to take a black cab.

Fare-dodging is one of these things that the zero-tolerance brigade get all twitchy about. There are bigger crimes against humanity going on.

Whatever, I don't use the tube anyway.

that sandwich place is on easton st (not eastern st, most couriers would phone saying 'i'm outside'. no you'r not your in eastern st) it was in the basement/grnd floor of the building where i worked, the smell of the kitchens was disgusting and used to permeate up the stairwell, it got so bad that the landlord had to be involved and there was always rats running around down there. i would never eat anything from those cycle/sandwich things especially if it's sweated in it's wrapper on a tour of london for half a day.

you can pretty much get anywhere in Central London on a bendy bus which you never have toi pay for, just allow a bit extra journey time and your fine.