Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Sebastien Bassong has been fined for dodging a £7 Tube fare after he was caught utilizing another person’s practice driver go illegally.
The Frenchman, 40, who spent a number of seasons within the Premier League with Spurs, Newcastle and Norwich, was stopped by a Transport for London (TfL) officer after he was noticed tailgating a good friend by means of the boundaries at St Paul’s station in Could.
The ex-footballer was carrying the Oystercard of the good friend’s ex-girlfriend, which had been issued to her as a driver on the Docklands Gentle Railway (DLR), courtroom paperwork confirmed.
The TfL officer was then informed that Bassong, who was an £8 million signing for Spurs in 2009, had been utilizing her travelcard as a result of he was ‘experiencing monetary and private hardship attributable to a divorce and unemployment’.
Bassong was convicted of utilizing the rail community with out a legitimate ticket at Wimbledon Magistrates Court docket on October 30.
Justice of the Peace Graham Burbage fined him £220, ordered him to pay the £7 fare for his journey from Arnos Grove to St Paul’s, and directed him to pay £250 in prosecution prices and an £88 sufferer surcharge.
Bassong didn’t enter a plea to the cost, and was convicted behind closed doorways in a Single Justice Process listening to.
Adebukola Anifowose, a income management officer for TfL, informed the courtroom in a press release she noticed Bassong at 1.08pm ‘fake to faucet an Oystercard enclosed in a white pockets earlier than tailgating by means of the wide-aisle gate behind one other male’.
Sebastien Bassong in motion throughout a Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in 2009
Bassong attended the 2026 PFA Awards on the Manchester Opera Home
The star taking part in for Spurs through the UEFA Champions League match between BSC Younger Boys and Tottenham Hotspur in 2010
She mentioned Bassong supplied up a TfL workers nominee go when challenged, which permits free journey on London transport.
‘System checks later confirmed that the go didn’t belong to him and had final been utilized in October 2025,’ she mentioned.
‘The accompanying male was spoken to – this particular person later knowledgeable me that he was aiding Mr Bassong, who was experiencing monetary and private hardship attributable to a divorce and unemployment, by offering him with the nominee go.
‘It was subsequently established that the go was registered to an ex-girlfriend of this male, who reportedly claimed to be a DLR driver.’
A discover in regards to the prosecution was despatched to Bassong’s north London residence, and he didn’t reply earlier than the courtroom listening to.
Bassong, who now runs a motivational teaching enterprise, has been given 28 days to settle the courtroom invoice totalling £565.
