Tube workers were abused almost 250 times a month during the pandemic, new figures show

Victoria saw the highest number of abusive incidents. Photograph: TfL 

Staff at Tube stations across London faced close to 250 incidents of abuse a month at the height of the pandemic.

A Freedom of Information request from a workforce management company revealed that Transport for London (TfL) faced an average of 245 incidents of abuse and 24 physical assaults every month between April 2020 and December 2021.

The data shows a correlation between fare evasion and abusive behaviour, with almost 2,500 incidents being the result of fare disputes in that time period.

TfL estimates that it loses around £116 million per year as a result of fare evasion and ticket fraud.

Victoria station saw the highest number of abusive incidents relating to fare evasion during the pandemic, with 71 recorded between April 2020 and December 2021. Staff at King’s Cross were the “most abused”, with a total of 147 incidents recorded in the same timeframe.

Oxford Circus was the Tube station that saw the highest number of physical assaults against staff, with 16.

But TfL has said that the actual number could be even higher because workplace violence is “underreported”.

Mandy McGregor, the service’s head of transport policing and community safety, said: “Our staff have the right to do their job without fear or intimidation and we do not tolerate any violence, aggression or threatening behaviour towards them.

“We take workplace violence extremely seriously and know that it is underreported, so we always encourage staff to report any instance of abuse, whether physical or non-physical, so that preventative measures can be taken and the strongest penalties brought against offenders.

“We have been working closely with our unions on a number of commitments to reduce risk to our frontline colleagues and customers and we have sought regular feedback and input from them to shape our work-related violence strategy. This includes equipping our staff with body-worn video cameras and funding a team of enforcement officers who were introduced to support frontline staff and tackle workplace violence.

“We have also increased the size of the London Underground revenue team to tackle fare evasion, which is often a trigger for violence and aggression towards staff.

“We work extremely closely with the police to prevent assaults on our network and ensure offenders are brought to justice.”

Body-worn video footage led to the sentencing of three individuals last year over three separate incidents of abuse against TfL staff.

Agris Grisins was jailed for 12 weeks for physically assaulting two staff members, while Jonathan Saber was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, after racially and homophobically abusing tube workers.

Keia Williamson was sentenced to a 12-month community order after assaulting staff members who asked her to wear a face mask when they were compulsory.