Seven in 10 Londoners avoid travel or certain times due to security concerns, according to Tricia Hayes of London TravelWatch. Overall crime on the network has risen almost 8% in the last three years. 4% on the Elizabeth Line and 15% on the Overground.
7% on the Docklands Light Railway and 40% on Trams in that period. Specific concerns center on violence against women, hate crimes, and sex offences. Of all public transport crime reports in 2025, almost a fifth (4,593) related to violence against women and girls and another 1,724 were hate crime incidents, according to the report.
A record number of sex crimes were committed on the railways last year, with 2,658 sex offences recorded in 2024-25, up almost 10%. Only a handful of incidents led to a charge, with no suspect identified in 58% of VAWG incidents and 66% of hate crime incidents. Low resolution rates are evident.
Only 449 sex crime cases were solved, with the suspect charged or given a lesser sanction, according to British Transport Police data. In around half the cases (1,333), police never identified a suspect. In almost 700 sex crimes where police identified a prime suspect, they lacked enough evidence for a formal case.
British Transport Police officer numbers fell by 112 in the year to September 2025. Geographic hotspots include stations linked to the most sex crimes in London: Euston (29), King's Cross (28), Waterloo (23), Green Park Underground (21) and London Bridge (20). Outside the capital, worst records were at Birmingham New Street (27), Glasgow Central (20), Manchester Piccadilly (19), Liverpool Lime Street (14) and Reading (13).
Most trains and stations are now covered by CCTV cameras. According to a BTP spokesman, the rise in recorded sexual offences was partly driven by increased public confidence to report crimes. London TravelWatch estimates up to 80% of incidents go unreported.