Teenager 'spat at and racially abused' London Underground worker

Transport for London (TfL) is aiming to crack down on abuse of its staff after a five per cent increase of work-related violence and aggression in a year. In 2023/24 there were 10,493 reports, compared to 9,989 in 2022/23.

The authority has also described recent incidents on its network. This includes a young man 'violently threatening and assaulting' a female Customer Service Assistant during rush hour at King’s Cross St. Pancras station in June 2023.

He was sentenced to 38 weeks in prison. In addition, a teenager 'spat at and racially abused' a customer service assistant at Balham station during rush hour in May 2023.

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She was arrested and sentenced to three weeks in prison. Further, a 59-year-old man verbally and physically assaulted a bus driver at Cromwell bus station in 2022. He was arrested and later sentenced to 20 months in prison.

913 violent or sexual crimes against staff between January and September, 2023

In December, MyLondon reported that there were 913 incidents of violent or sexual crimes against TfL staff had been recorded between January and September 2023. This was a smaller total compared to the same period in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the Tube's passenger numbers, when there were a total of 977 incidents reported.

Officials caveated the figures by highlighting that there are instances where the station details recorded by the British Transport Police (BTP) 'aren’t always obvious' so bosses were not able to provide 'an accurate picture'. TfL also noted that, in April 2020, it began to collate all reports of workplace violence and aggression (WVA), whether reported to the police or not, and broke them down into physical, threat and verbal abuse.

They were not doing this in 2019, so 'it would be impossible to provide a fair comparison over the two timeframes'. Therefore, incidents that were reported via other routes, but not reported to police, were not included in the data.

Now, bosses have said that a new campaign will 'emphasise zero tolerance approach to all forms of work-related violence and aggression' on London’s public transport network. Officials note that they have seen an increase in all incidents of work-related violence and aggression against staff, with 200 incidents reported on average every week in 2023/24.

'Strongest penalties' brought against offenders

Siwan Hayward, TfL's Director of Security, Policing and Enforcement, said: "Everyone has the right to work without fear of being assaulted, abused or threatened. We take work-related violence and aggression extremely seriously and will always encourage staff to report any instance of abuse whether physical or non-physical. This means that preventative measures can be taken and the strongest penalties brought against offenders.

"This new campaign aims to send a strong message to offenders that staff abuse won't be tolerated on our services and that you will be caught and face serious consequences. We are committed to doing all we can to protect our colleagues and keep them safe, and to eradicate work-related violence and aggression."

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