More than half of women in London are ‘victims of sexual harassment on Tube, trains and buses’

More than half of women say they have suffered sexual harassment on public transport in London, a survey revealed today.

The YouGov research suggests that tens of thousands of incidents on buses and the Tube go unreported.

The most common offence was being deliberately pressed up against by a stranger, experienced by 37 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men.

Twelve per cent of women saw a flasher expose their genitals. Eight per cent had complete strangers request sexual favours.

Only two per cent of respondents had made a complaint, despite a Transport for London campaign encouraging passengers to report any form of unwanted sexual behaviour.

TfL said the number of reported sex offences across the network was “low”, with one incident for every two million journeys, but it admitted this type of crime is “underreported”.

It recorded 285 sex offences on the Underground and 161 on buses between July and September last year.

The survey found 39 per cent of Londoners were subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour on public transport — 55 per cent of women and 21 per cent of men.

For women, the second most common incident was someone staring at their breasts, reported by 29 per cent. About one in five said their backside had been touched or pinched.

Almost two-thirds of incidents happened on the Tube. Crowded carriages are known to be targeted by offenders. There has been a 43 per cent rise in reports of sexual assault on the Tube since 2016.

Last year Mayor Sadiq Khan was criticised by his Tory rival Shaun Bailey for a four-year wait to complete the installation of CCTV cameras on the Central line, which has the most sexual assaults — 292 were reported in 2017-18.

Siwan Hayward, director of policing for TfL, said: “TfL and the police work tirelessly to combat sexual offences, with 3,000 police and police community support officers dedicated to deterring crime and catching offenders across the network.

“This activity includes running regular covert patrols on the Tube network with plain-clothed officers, which have been successful in catching offenders and encouraging more people to report offences, resulting in more than 1,500 arrests since 2015.”

She added: “Anyone who experiences or witnesses a crime should report it immediately by texting 61016, as every single report matters and helps build a picture of the offender so they can be caught and brought to justice.”

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