The number to text when you're on public transport but too scared to call the police

If you’ve ever found yourself on public transport confronted by a threatening situation but were too scared to be seen phoning the police, there is a special number you can text for help.

The Christmas and New Year period means you have probably been out and about late at night on public transport – often on your own and on the way home.

Whether it’s in the form of offensive comments or someone inappropriately touching you when you’re on a night tube, bus or train, it can be difficult to know how to seek out help when you think you’re in a potentially dangerous situation.

According to the British Transport Police, crime rose 7.2% at stations and on railways in 2016-2017 compared to the previous year.

70% of all offences reported are for sexual assaults on women, with 20% for ‘outraging public decency’ (masturbation), six percent exposure and two percent sexual assault on men.

But reporting incidents like verbal abuse or groping on trains and the Underground has always been difficult – it can feel dangerous to call the police when the offender may still be around.

In 2013, the BTP launched the 61061 texting service – a way to anonymously report non-emergency incidents on trains and railways.

Since its creation, the BTP has received more than 62,000 texts and dealt with over 10,000 incidents.

13,000 of these were in the first two years of the service, which means the BTP have received 49,000 in the last two years.

And the number of offences could be even higher with the BTP estimating in 2015 that 90% of sexual assaults on the Tube were not reported.

Incidents like sexual touching and ‘upskirting’ make up 60% of the British Transport Police’s (BTP) reported offences via the 61016 texting service.

‘Upskirting’ is the act of filming a victim with an angle towards under their dress or skirt without their knowledge.

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‘Violence against the person’ offences were up 12.6% to 9,263, while Public order offences, such as threatening behaviour, rose more than 10%.

Most notably, ‘Line of route’ offences, which includes track interference and throwing missiles at trains, went up 16.2%.

One particular area of concern has been hate crime, with anti-Muslim crimes on the rise from 2016.

Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Tell MAMA, expressed his support for the texting service as a way to combat hate crime.

‘We’ve had many cases of hate crime on public transport,’ he said

‘We’ve had women reporting their hijab being pulled, women humiliated because of their Muslim identity on trains. The more avenues there are to report in, the better.

‘We welcome the service,’ he said.

The BTP say 61016 is a valuable tool to combat these rising figures.

‘We think it’s a great way for people to report things to BTP in a discreet and easy way,’ said a BTP spokesperson.

However, concerns have arisen about the lack of public awareness around the service.

This led to the BTP relaunching the campaign in 2015, in order to increase ‘awareness of the service and subsequently increase the level of reporting.’

To report a non-emergency incident on railways or at stations, you can contact the BTP anonymously by texting 61016.

For more serious emergencies, the BTP instead recommend calling 999.