Rise in reports of sexual assault and harassment of teenage girls on public transport

Sexual assault and harassment of teenagers and girls as young as ten on public transport is on the rise in the North East, new figures reveal.

New figures show the number of reports of incidents committed against young women and girls on public transport has risen by 25% nationally - up from 663 in 2022 to 886 last year.

In the North East, the number of reports made by 10-19 year old girls in the North East increased by 71% in the same time period.

In response, the British Transport Police has launched a national campaign urging young women and girls to report sexual harassment they experience while travelling on trains.

The force says the rise can be partly attributed to greater awareness of how to report incidents - but there are fears that many instances of harassment and assault still go unreported.

To help address the issue, South Tyneside-based charity Bright Futures is working to help young women and girls feel confident about speaking up.Hannah Woodward from Bright Futures, said: "It's that power dynamic. I think it's really uncomfortable to do that anyway as an adult but when you factor in being a young woman I think it's really tricky to do that.

"Ultimately it is really important that it is reported and young women talk about it and have those discussions.

"I think if you feel uncomfortable or feel frightened or nervous or any kind of uncomfortable feelings on public transport it's really important to articulate that."

The British Transport Police run a dedicated text service to allow passengers to easily report incidents, and are urging the public to save the number - 61016 - in their phones.

British Transport Police Assistant Chief Constable Paul Furnell said: “As well as our uniformed and plain clothes officers, 150,000 CCTV cameras and your fellow passengers are watching you.

“We’re receiving more and more reports about sexual harassment, as people have had enough of this disgusting behaviour and know we prioritise tackling it. We use reports from multiple passengers to secure the strongest possible sentences for sex offenders.

“Sadly, we know that many women feel that they have no option but to put up with sexualharassment. That’s not the case: if someone is persistently bothering you and makes youfeel unsafe or uncomfortable, please text 61016 to report it.

“Our officers are on patrol 24/7 and can meet trains at the next station. If it happens on the tube and you don’t have signal, you can speak to staff or text us at the next station.

“Nothing is too small to report and sexual harassment is never your fault."

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