Women facing ‘epidemic’ of abuse on public transport across London

The Mayor of London has weighed in on the alarming rate of abuse and violence women and girls face while out and about in the capital.

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan took aim at men who seek to abuse women and girls, saying the capital faces an ‘epidemic.’

He said women and girls should ‘feel safe going across our city’ and highlighted the measures the City Hall is taking to tackle the violence on the transport network.

He told Metro: ‘Unfortunately across our country, every three days a woman is killed in the hands of a man. I know from the evidence I see that one out of 12 women is the victim of violence against them, and also one in 20 men is a perpetrator.’

The mayor said that while it is important to support the victims and survivors ‘we have got to tackle the behaviour of men and perpetrators.’

It comes just hours after the Office for National Statistics released its latest figures revealing that 5% of the female population in England and Wales have been victims of domestic abuse.

However, the worrying figures are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg due to underreporting.

Mr Khan said: ‘We want to encourage women and girls to report when they have been a victim of crime. In the past, there was too much underreporting.’

‘We’ve also made sure our staff is properly trained on how they receive complaints from victims of crime, in particular women.’

He said he wants women, girls and minority communities ‘to be able to use public transport and feel safe doing so.’

What is being done in London to tackle violence on public transport?

One of the recent measures is the installation of more CCTV cameras on TfL bus shelters in a bid to make passengers feel safer and give them ‘confidence,’ Mr Khan said.

Now 20 bus shelters have dedicated CCTV cameras. TfL maintains around 12,500 bus shelters in Greater London.

‘All our buses have CCTV, but I know people sometimes get scared when they’re waiting for a bus at those shelters,’ the mayor added.

Mr Khan said: ‘Across the TfL estate, we have more than 77,000 CCTV cameras. Every single one of our stations has a member of staff who stays in that station until that station closes.

‘All our platforms have CCTV. All of the Elizabeth line has CCTV including all trains. There are currently only two train lines without CCTV and we’re planning to get that on those trains once we change those trains. Because as we know, cameras deter crime but also when the crime occurs it helps us catch the criminal.’

‘We’re also making sure we’re having audits and speaking to women Londoners about what we can do to make them be safe and feel safe, and this is one example of us listening to what will make women be safe and feel safe.’

When asked if we could consider launching a scheme that allows women to flag down a bus if feeling threatened, Mr Khan said all drivers are trained to ‘make sure bus drivers are aware of the concern members of the public have.’

He said: ‘For example, our bus drivers know if a woman stops a bus at a bus stop and she has not got an Oyster card or money to pay for the fare. Our bus driver will let that person on even without a fare if there is concern about that person’s safety. So we are making sure our bus drivers are properly trained to be sensitive and tuned in to the concerns women have.

Figures from police chiefs show a 37% increase in violent crimes against women and girls between 2018 and 2023 across the UK.

The mayor said it is ‘really important we recognise there is an epidemic of violence against women and girls and I’m determined to take the whole society approach, and that means starting in schools.’

One of the actions in schools includes the £1,000,000 Have a Word campaign and a toolkit for primary and secondary schools ‘teaching boys about healthy relationships,’ he explained.

‘It breaks my heart when I’m told one out of three young people have a positive view of Andrew Tate, and one out of ten nine-year-olds have seen porn on their phone.

‘We’ve got to start early with the education and I’m hopeful we can make progress,’ he added.

Read more about Metro’s violence against women campaign This Is Not Right.

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