Rise in reviews of violence towards girls on transport

The variety of recorded violent crimes towards girls and women on the transport community has risen up to now yr by 20%, the British Transport Police Authority has mentioned.

More than 11,000 complaints have been made within the yr to March – in contrast with 9,464 the earlier yr.

Police say the sharp rise is prone to be all the way down to extra individuals reporting what has occurred to them, reasonably than extra crimes being dedicated.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh mentioned the figures have been “appalling” and the federal government would “relentlessly” maintain publicly-owned railways to account.

Figures printed by the authority overseeing the transport police present a mean of 31 violent crimes a day towards girls and women have been reported.

Charity Refuge, which works with survivors of home abuse, mentioned the figures have been prone to be the tip of the iceberg.

A spokeswoman mentioned: “Many women and girls are not able to report crimes committed against them because of the many barriers preventing them from doing so such as fear of not being believed or repercussions from their abuser, and a lack of faith in the system.”

The End Violence Against Women Coalition, a marketing campaign group, mentioned the figures have been prone to be a results of extra girls being keen to report crimes, reasonably than sexual offences rising in quantity.

Executive Director Andrea Simon mentioned: “For most women and girls, we have experienced incidents of sexual harassment and other types of non-contact sexual offending on the transport network for a very long time.

“It isn’t new to many women and girls. We also know perpetrators can target busy transport network times.”

She called for police to take action to deal with the complaints.

British Transport Police (BTP) cover the railways of England, Wales and Scotland as well as the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the Midland Metro tram system, Croydon Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro, Glasgow Subway and IFS cloud cable car.

The figures, published in the annual report of the British Transport Police Authority show 11,357 violent crimes against women and girls were recorded in the year to 31 March 2024. That was up a fifth from the total for the year before, 9,464.

In 2021/22, when passenger numbers were lower due to Covid, the figure stood at 7,561.

Passenger numbers have been recovering since the pandemic. The Office of Rail and Road says rail passenger numbers rose by 16% between 2022/23 and 2023/24.

The British Transport Police Authority’s report also says the number of crimes involving sexual harassment in the past year was 1,908, which was a small decrease on the previous year (2,040).

The number of sexual assault crimes being recorded increased, from 2,246 last year to 2,475 in the year to March.

In May, BTP also revealed that reported sexual offences against and sexual harassment of young women and girls had jumped by a third on London’s transport network.

It suggested most offences took place during the evening rush hour, on busy trains.

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: “Whether these figures mirror a rise in reporting, a rise within the quantity of crime, or a mixture of the 2, one factor is obvious: The stage of violence, harassment and sexual offences that girls and women are dealing with when utilizing the transport community is totally unacceptable, and can’t be allowed to go unchallenged.

Asked what needs to be executed to enhance the scenario, Ms Phillips mentioned the federal government wanted to ensure the justice system was “fit completely for purpose to tackle the most serious offenders of these crimes”.

She additionally mentioned individuals wanted to be given “confidence to come forward” and ensure “action is taken”.

Asked if she could be in favour of women-only carriages, she mentioned: “The day that I ask women to be changing their behaviour to ensure they are not assaulted is the day you can take to the airways and say I had failed.”

BTP has mentioned tackling violence towards girls and women is a precedence.

A brand new app for reporting allegations – Railway Guardian – has been downloaded greater than 146,000 occasions.

Head of Crime and Public Protection Detective Chief Superintendent Sarah White mentioned: “We know that these crimes commonly go under-reported, that is why we continue to relentlessly campaign to encourage victims and witnesses to report to us – and with this we expect the number of reports to continue to increase.”