London Underground crime soars by 25% as robberies and violence increase

Crime at London Underground stations has rocketed by 25 per cent in the past three years with steep rises in offences such as violence and robbery, figures revealed today.

The statistics showed a total of 13,101 offences were committed at London stations in the financial year 2017-2018 compared with 10,450 offences in the financial year 2015-2016. In 2016-2017 a total of 12,115 offences were recorded.

There were sharp rises in offences of violence, with statistics showing a 43 per cent increase between 2015-2016 and 2017-2018.

Offences of “weapon crime” were also up by a huge 126 per cent — though the numbers involved were small, up from 42 to 95 — while the number of robberies rose by 88 per cent, from 91 to 171. The figures revealed that the King’s Cross station hub recorded the most crime in the past three years with a total of 1,339 offences, followed by Oxford Circus with 1,055 offences, Stratford station with 1,051, Victoria, 915, and Green Park, 752.

The figures include offences which are recorded on Tube lines and reported at the nearest destination. The data also revealed some changing trends in crime patterns.

While King’s Cross has remained the highest crime station in London, Stratford is now the third highest, almost doubling the number of offences over the three years. The number of offences at the Stratford hub increased from 260 in 2015-2016 to 428 in 2017-2018.

Last year the station also recorded more offences of violence than any other, with 119 crimes compared with Oxford Circus which recorded 93.

The figures, obtained by the London Assembly Tory group, also showed increases in the number of sex crimes, up 13 per cent, graffiti, up 12 per cent, thefts, up 24 per cent, and public order offences, up 29 per cent.

Conservative assembly and police and crime committee member Susan Hall blamed Mayor Sadiq Khan for the rise, saying: “These statistics should spur the Mayor into dropping his complacent attitude towards surging crime rates and take control of the situation.”

She claimed the Mayor could cut spending on “City Hall waste” to put more officers on the street, declaring: “Now is the time for a zero-tolerance approach to crime.”

A spokesman for the Mayor, who decides the budget for the Met, said the Met had been forced to make £850 million of savings since 2010.

He said: “Sadiq is doing everything in his power to tackle crime but the Met desperately needs more money which only the Government can provide.”

British Transport Police’s assistant chief constable Robin Smith, said: “London has one of the busiest transport networks and the chances of being a victim of crime remains incredibly low, with less than 10 crimes recorded for every million passenger journeys.”

He added that weapons seizures had also increased.