After a few years working as a ticket inspector on Rome’s buses, Laura has heard every excuse. “We get a lot of men who forgot their ticket because they are rushing to hospital to be with their wife who is giving birth,” she said. “Or to see a relative who is about to die.”
On a bright morning at Roma Termini station, Laura and four of her colleagues are getting ready to board the No 40 heading to the Vatican, part of an army of 300 inspectors let loose this month on Rome’s legions of fare dodgers.
The assault has been ordered by Giovanni Mottura, the city transport boss, who claims that fare-dodging reached “immoral” levels when inspectors were withdrawn from frontline service a year