Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Sebastien Bassong has been fined for dodging a £7 Tube fare, after he was caught using someone else’s train driver pass illegally.
The Frenchman, 40, who spent several seasons in the Premier League with Spurs, Newcastle and Norwich, was stopped by a Transport for London (TfL) officer after he was spotted tailgating a friend through the barriers at St Paul’s station in May.
The ex-footballer was carrying the Oystercard of the friend’s ex-girlfriend, which had been issued to her as a driver on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), court documents showed.
The TfL officer was then told that Bassong, who was an £8 million signing for Spurs in 2009, had been using her travelcard because he was ‘experiencing financial and personal hardship due to a divorce and unemployment’.
Bassong was convicted of using the rail network without a valid ticket at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on October 30.
Magistrate 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 costs and an £88 victim surcharge.
Bassong did not enter a plea to the charge, and was convicted behind closed doors in a Single Justice Procedure hearing.
Adebukola Anifowose, a revenue control officer for TfL, told the court in a statement she spotted Bassong at 1.08pm ‘pretend to tap an Oystercard enclosed in a white wallet before tailgating through the wide-aisle gate behind another male’.
Bassong in action during a Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge
Bassong attended the 2026 PFA Awards at the Manchester Opera House
Sebastien Bassong playing for Spurs during the UEFA Champions League match between BSC Young Boys and Tottenham Hotspur
She said Bassong offered up a TfL staff nominee pass when challenged, which allows free travel on London transport.
‘System checks later confirmed that the pass did not belong to him and had last been used in October 2025,’ she said.
‘The accompanying male was spoken to – this individual later informed me that he was assisting Mr Bassong, who was experiencing financial and personal hardship due to a divorce and unemployment, by providing him with the nominee pass.
‘It was subsequently established that the pass was registered to an ex-girlfriend of this male, who reportedly claimed to be a DLR driver.’
A notice about the prosecution was sent to Bassong’s north London home, and he did not respond before the court hearing.
Bassong, who now runs a motivational coaching business, has been given 28 days to settle the court bill totalling £565.
