There were an average of 200 incidents a week of work-related violence and aggression towards transport workers in the capital in 2023/24, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

An RMT protest outside King's Cross Station (credit RMT) — An RMT protest outside King’s Cross Station (credit RMT)

Transport for London (TfL) must ensure stations are staffed and properly policed to curb record levels of assaults, a major union has said.

There were 10,493 reports of work-related violence and aggression towards transport workers in the capital in 2023/24 – an average of 200 incidents a week – according to the latest data from the London Assembly. This includes a 35% increase in incidents against rail staff and 18.5% against bus drivers since 2021.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have now held a campaign day across the UK demanding an end to the rise in assaults and abuse against frontline staff.

In London, union officials said members are being “punched, spat at, sexually assaulted, verbally harassed, and threatened” on a daily basis.

They have called on TfL and the government to ensure safe staffing levels, an end to lone working, proper funding for the British Transport Police (BTP) to ensure they are present across the network, and legislation to make it a specific offence to assault a transport worker – similar to what was introduced for retail workers.

Senior assistant general secretary John Leach told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We have many thousands of members who work within TfL and on the railway.

“In London, we had a case of one of our members being killed in Ilford – but every day we have members being punched, spat at, sexually assaulted, verbally harassed, threatened – it’s worse than its ever been, and TfL don’t even deny it.

“We are putting the full weight of the union behind doing something about it.

“We want more funding for protection for us, including more effective policing instead of outsourcing to agencies. We want well trained and well motivated, trained staff to be doing it.

“We want a change in legislation that protections for retail workers should apply to transport workers.

“We also want to make sure this is not normalised. We’re not having it – we want actions against assaults.

“TfL are always up against this ideological commitment to save money, including outsourcing and cutting staffing levels.

“There is an overreliance on agency security. They could have more staff on stations, doubling up staff, for example. Staff make stations safer – and the public agree with us.

“It is utterly intolerable that people are being murdered, hospitalised at work. We shouldn’t accept it in any sector or job in society – you shouldn’t be expected to be the punchbag. We need the people who are running the country to engage with us and share the narrative that this is unacceptable.”

In February, the London Assembly’s transport committee heard harrowing stories of abuse and violence directly from frontline workers as part of their new investigation into assaults on transport staff.

Luke Banks, who works as a revenue control officer on the London Underground, was assaulted at King’s Cross Station last year after stepping in to defend a colleague who was being threatened.

He told assembly members: “The customer turned on me, shoved us both in the chest and started screaming death threats.”

Meanwhile, Paul Feakes, a revenue control inspector for London Underground, was punched twice by a member of the public and “dragged across the ticket hall floor” during one incident.

One senior frontline staffer told the LDRS that the levels of abuse faced by transport workers seem to have hit record levels following a hollowing out of the workforce.

“TfL have massively cut frontline staff, leading to increasing amounts of unstaffed stations, especially in zones 3-6,” they said.

“That has allowed people to stroll onto the network without a ticket, and without a deterrent.

“Post-Covid, we’ve seen a lot more opportunists trying to travel for free, while violence against staff is through the roof. We’ve had broken jaws, eye sockets, brain damage – that used to be super rare even a decade ago, now it’s commonplace.

“There’s a massive problem with us deterring abuse against staff. We need every station properly staffed and far more visible policing – not only in response but for people to regularly see police [at stations]. Staff also need more legal protections.”

Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security, policing and enforcement, told the LDRS: “Everyone has the right to do their job without fear of being assaulted, abused or threatened, and we have been clear that we will not stand for this behaviour towards our staff while they carry out their essential work to keep London moving.

“While we’ve made real progress in reducing the most harmful forms of violence and aggression, the rising levels of hostility and hate across society make clear that we cannot be complacent. That’s why we’re working closely with our staff, the police and our operators and our trade unions to take action – including by making body‑worn video essential kit for all frontline staff, making CCTV improvements, enhancing policing, running communications campaigns and making interventions to reduce the triggers of conflict.”

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