Sex offences ‘becoming routine’ for women on Tube with reports at five year high
Harassment and assault are ‘routine’ for women and girls on the Tube, campaigners have warned as reported sexual offences hit a five-year high.
New figures published by Transport for London (TfL) show that reported sexual offences on the London Underground have reached the highest level in five years.
There were 595 sexual offences – including rape, assault and other crimes – across all Tube lines in 2024/25, which was the most since before the Covid pandemic.
Commuters reported 341 sexual offences to the British Transport Police in the seven months from April to October this year.
In total, there have been 6,475 reports of sexual offences reported to police since April 2015 – an average of 1.7 a day.
Farah Benis, Director of the Centre for Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls, called the figures ‘concerning” but stressed they shouldn’t be seen as an ‘anomaly’.
The campaigner continued: ‘Sexual offending on public transport has been a persistent, systemic issue for years.
‘For too many women, this data reflects lived experience rather than surprise.’
Ms Benis acknowledged that the increased rates of reporting ‘may actually reflect better awareness and confidence to come forward, which is a step in the right direction.’
‘But that shouldn’t distract from the reality that women and girls continue to experience routine harassment and assault as part of daily travel,’ she added.
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Georgia Theodoulou, Head of Partnerships at Our Streets Now, agreed that ‘the scale of these figures are a reminder of the stark reality many women, girls and marginalised genders face when travelling or existing in public spaces.’
The figures, which do not include the London Overground, DLR or Elizabeth line, also reveal the Underground lines worst affected by sexual offending.
More than 1,000 assaults were recorded on each of the Central and Northern lines.
The Bakerloo and the Circle, Hammersmith & City Lines saw less than 300 since 2015.
King’s Cross Station also saw the most sexual offences being reported at 118.
Oxford Circus and Bank station also saw high reporting figures, at 117 and 98, respectively.
The data was revealed by a Freedom of Information request published on TfL’s website last week.
In the response, TfL said: ‘Tackling violence against women and girls on public transport has long been a priority for us and our policing partners, and concerted action has been undertaken for a number of years.
‘We have been running large-scale multimedia campaigns to tackle sexual offences and sexual harassment on our transport networks since 2015.
‘These campaigns have aimed to raise awareness of unwanted sexual behaviour; reassure victims that we take this issue seriously and improve their confidence to report knowing that action will be taken; and sending a strong message to perpetrators that this behaviour is harmful and won’t be tolerated on our networks.
‘The increases seen in reporting following campaign launches or significant campaign and engagement activity have been anticipated and are a positive indication that our efforts to improve confidence and make it easier to report sexual offences, a crime that is widely recognised as being underreported across society, are making a difference.’
They also confirmed their work to improve and expand the CCTV network, including rolling out on-train CCTV on Central line trains.
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