Rise in reports of violence against women on transport

The number of recorded violent crimes against women and girls on the transport network has risen in the past year by 20%, the British Transport Police Authority has said.

More than 11,000 complaints were made in the year to March – compared with 9,464 the previous year.

Police say the sharp rise is likely to be down to more people reporting what has happened to them, rather than more crimes being committed.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the figures were “appalling” and the government would “relentlessly” hold publicly-owned railways to account.

Figures published by the authority overseeing the transport police show an average of 31 violent crimes a day against women and girls were reported.

Charity Refuge, which works with survivors of domestic abuse, said the figures were likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

A spokeswoman said: “Many women and girls are not able to report crimes committed against them because of the many barriers preventing them from doing so such as fear of not being believed or repercussions from their abuser, and a lack of faith in the system.”

The End Violence Against Women Coalition, a campaign group, said the figures were likely to be a result of more women being willing to report crimes, rather than sexual offences increasing in number.

Executive Director Andrea Simon said: “For most women and girls, we have experienced incidents of sexual harassment and other types of non-contact sexual offending on the transport network for a very long time.

“It isn’t new to many women and girls. We also know perpetrators can target busy transport network times.”

She called for police to take action to deal with the complaints.

British Transport Police (BTP) cover the railways of England, Wales and Scotland as well as the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the Midland Metro tram system, Croydon Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro, Glasgow Subway and IFS cloud cable car.

The figures, published in the annual report of the British Transport Police Authority show 11,357 violent crimes against women and girls were recorded in the year to 31 March 2024. That was up a fifth from the total for the year before, 9,464.

In 2021/22, when passenger numbers were lower due to Covid, the figure stood at 7,561.

Passenger numbers have been recovering since the pandemic. The Office of Rail and Road says rail passenger numbers rose by 16% between 2022/23 and 2023/24.

The British Transport Police Authority’s report also says the number of crimes involving sexual harassment in the past year was 1,908, which was a small decrease on the previous year (2,040).

The number of sexual assault crimes being recorded increased, from 2,246 last year to 2,475 in the year to March.

In May, BTP also revealed that reported sexual offences against and sexual harassment of young women and girls had jumped by a third on London’s transport network.

It suggested most offences took place during the evening rush hour, on busy trains.

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: “Whether these figures reflect an increase in reporting, an increase in the volume of crime, or a combination of the two, one thing is clear: The level of violence, harassment and sexual offences that women and girls are facing when using the transport network is completely unacceptable, and can not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Asked what should be done to improve the situation, Ms Phillips said the government needed to make sure the justice system was “fit completely for purpose to tackle the most serious offenders of these crimes”.

She also said people needed to be given “confidence to come forward” and make sure “action is taken”.

Asked if she would be in favour of women-only carriages, she said: “The day that I ask women to be changing their behaviour to ensure they are not assaulted is the day you can take to the airways and say I had failed.”

BTP has said tackling violence against women and girls is a priority.

A new app for reporting allegations – Railway Guardian – has been downloaded more than 146,000 times.

Head of Crime and Public Protection Detective Chief Superintendent Sarah White said: “We know that these crimes commonly go under-reported, that is why we continue to relentlessly campaign to encourage victims and witnesses to report to us – and with this we expect the number of reports to continue to increase.”