A new report has revealed thousands of incidents of violence against women and girls and hate crimes across London’s public transport network, with only a small proportion resulting in charges.
The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee published its report yesterday, highlighting what it described as “unacceptable levels” of abuse across services run by Transport for London.
The report found in 2025, 4593 violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences were recorded across the TfL network.
However, only around 3% resulted in a charge or summons while approximately 58% of cases identified no suspect.
Hate crime figures followed similar trends. A total of 1,724 incidents were recorded in 2025, with only 2% resulting in a charge or summons and 66% identifying no suspect.
Girl on escalator
The report outlines 11 recommendations aimed at improving safety and reporting of incidents.
A key recommendation included establishing a rapid response taskforce involving the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and TfL to ensure incidents are responded to within a faster timeframe.
The report also calls for TfL to commission an annual London-wide survey to capture unreported experiences of hate crime and violence against women and girls on public transport.
Marina Ahmad, Chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee condemned the level of abuse and harassment, labelling commuters constant fears of incidents “unacceptable”.
“We heard throughout our investigation that many crimes like this will go unreported, for various reasons, including a lack of trust in any outcome, the trauma of the incident taking place, and slow response times.”
Women waiting at London bus stop
The British Transport Police told CityNews that tackling hate crime and VAWG remains a top priority.
In a statement, they said “Last year we received a 20% increase in reports, showing us that more passengers know how to report crime to us and have the confidence to do so, knowing they will be believed and taken seriously.”
Officers highlighted the importance of discreet reporting routes, including their ‘61016’ text service, which received more than 255,000 messages last year and led to nearly 21,000 deployments.
Commander Clair Kelland, the public protection lead for the Met, told CityNews this reports shows that there is more to be done to improve women’s safety on Transport in London.
“We are already delivering major improvements across several of the areas identified in this report – from rolling out bespoke VAWG training to more than 23,000 officers and staff, to strengthening victim support through specialist services”.
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Headline“Unacceptable levels” of violence and hate crimes against women and girls reported across London Transport Networks
Short HeadlineReport finds thousands of violent incidents against women and girls across TfL networks
StandfirstLondon Assembly calls for rapid response taskforce after thousands of incidents against women and girls were reported.
A new report has revealed thousands of incidents of violence against women and girls and hate crimes across London’s public transport network, with only a small proportion resulting in charges.
The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee published its report yesterday, highlighting what it described as “unacceptable levels” of abuse across services run by Transport for London.
The report found in 2025, 4593 violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences were recorded across the TfL network.
However, only around 3% resulted in a charge or summons while approximately 58% of cases identified no suspect.
Hate crime figures followed similar trends. A total of 1,724 incidents were recorded in 2025, with only 2% resulting in a charge or summons and 66% identifying no suspect.
Girl on escalator
The report outlines 11 recommendations aimed at improving safety and reporting of incidents.
A key recommendation included establishing a rapid response taskforce involving the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police and TfL to ensure incidents are responded to within a faster timeframe.
The report also calls for TfL to commission an annual London-wide survey to capture unreported experiences of hate crime and violence against women and girls on public transport.
Marina Ahmad, Chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee condemned the level of abuse and harassment, labelling commuters constant fears of incidents “unacceptable”.
“We heard throughout our investigation that many crimes like this will go unreported, for various reasons, including a lack of trust in any outcome, the trauma of the incident taking place, and slow response times.”
Women waiting at London bus stop
The British Transport Police told CityNews that tackling hate crime and VAWG remains a top priority.
In a statement, they said “Last year we received a 20% increase in reports, showing us that more passengers know how to report crime to us and have the confidence to do so, knowing they will be believed and taken seriously.”
Officers highlighted the importance of discreet reporting routes, including their ‘61016’ text service, which received more than 255,000 messages last year and led to nearly 21,000 deployments.
Commander Clair Kelland, the public protection lead for the Met, told CityNews this reports shows that there is more to be done to improve women’s safety on Transport in London.
“We are already delivering major improvements across several of the areas identified in this report – from rolling out bespoke VAWG training to more than 23,000 officers and staff, to strengthening victim support through specialist services”.
More than 330,000 people across the UK sought support from the Stop It Now helpline in 2025 over concerns about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour towards children, according to new charity data. The anonymous service says contacts by phone, email and webchat rose significantly over the year.
