Violent crime on London’s Tube network has increased by more than 43% in the last three years.
British Transport Police data showed there were 1,980 reported incidents between November 2015 and October 2016 compared with 2,838 between November 2017 and September 2018. King’s Cross St Pancras had the highest number of recorded offences.
British Transport Police (BTP) said the chance of being victims of crime on the tube was “low”. The figures which were released following the request of the Greater London Conservatives go up to September last year because data for October was not available.
They showed a 25% increase in the number of total criminal offences recorded on the entire network over the same time period; there was 10,450 recorded crimes in 2015-16 and 13,101 in 2017-18. Weapon offences more than doubled from 42 to 95 whilst sexual offences increased from 925 to 1,047.
King’s Cross St Pancras is one of the busiest stations on the network with several lines passing through it, it was found to have the highest number of crime with 1,339 incidents over the three year period. King’s Cross St Pancras was followed by Oxford Circus, Stratford, Victoria and Green Park, all of which having high level of crime. The statics include offences that happened inside the station as well as on trains.
BTP Assistant Chief Constable Robin Smith said: “London has one of the busiest transport networks in the world and the chances of being a victim of crime remains incredibly low, with less than 10 crimes recorded for every million passenger journeys made.
“In the last year crime involving a weapon has increased, however it is important to bear in mind that these figures also include the many knives seized in our targeted, intelligence-led operations against knife crime, for instance Operation Engulf which has been running successfully for a year now.”
There is 3,000 BTP and Metropolitan Police officers working across London’s transport network. A spokeswoman for Sadiq Khan said Met Police need more money and has called for the government ot reverse cuts.
