Shocking details of violent assaults on frontline staff, including those trying to tackle London’s fare evasion epidemic, have been uncovered by a City Hall inquiry.
Transport for London enforcement officers told how they were punched to the ground or received death threats as they tried to help colleagues being threatened by fare dodgers.
A bus driver had his hair pulled out and eyesight damaged by an irate passenger who smashed the security door of the driver’s cab after the bus had to be diverted.
Many of the witnesses said they had been let down by British Transport Police, who took between 30 minutes and two hours to arrive at an incident, and by their own bosses at Transport for London.
The horrific details of the scale of the violence faced by the capital’s transport workers emerged on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session by the London Assembly’s transport committee.
Figures obtained by the committee revealed that the number of assaults on TfL staff or contractors has doubled in the last year to about 200 a week.
Between October and December last year, 897 incidents of “work-related violence and aggression” were reported on the London Underground, up from 637 in the same period a year earlier, while those on the bus network increased from 434 to 1,324, and incidents on other transport modes increased from 280 to 395.
Added together, it took the total number of incidents from 1,351 to 2,616. But the witnesses said many incidents went unreported, as many staff believed that nothing would be done.
Selington Rock Santan Fernandes, a bus driver who works for TfL bus operator Transport UK, said he was attacked on October 27 last year in Southall after his bus was forced to take a diversion.
Despite announcing this to passengers, he was then attacked by a man who broke through the cab door – which drivers had reported to the bus firm as being insecure – and had chunks of his hair pulled out and was beaten about the head.
“He pulled my hair and started hammering me,” he said, demonstrating to the committee where the hair was still missing from the top of his head.
He was taken to hospital and later underwent MRI scans. He has suffered depression and has been put on sick pay.
Paul Feakes, a revenue control inspector, who has worked for London Underground for 11 years, told assembly members that he was assaulted at an unnamed station last year during a crackdown on fare dodgers.
“I was punched twice by a member of the public that I had had no contact with previously,” he said. “I was punched so hard that I suffered concussion.
“I’m 6ft 3in but went down like the proverbial and got dragged across the ticket hall floor. Luckily, members of the public were there to assist.
“Unfortunately, colleagues find it very difficult to assist. Often their actions are questioned by our line managers, so they often hesitate before physically assisting colleagues in any assaults.
“A member of the public dialled 999. The Met police turned up. But the British Transport Police took an extra 30 minutes to turn up after the Met police had arrested the guy.”
The attacker was found guilty at court. But there was “no communication” between the BTP and TfL managers to keep Mr Feakes informed of the progress or outcome of the case. “Line managers literally do nothing,” he said.
He said TfL managers were more likely to question the actions of staff who were assaulted than those of the perpetrator.
“If I make a report and say I have been hit, my manager is likely to say: ‘What did you do to make him hit you?’”
Luke Banks, a revenue control officer on London Underground, was assaulted at King’s Cross station last summer.
He said it was “insane” that he knew it wouldn’t be the last time he would be seriously attacked on duty.
He recalled: “A [Tube station worker] was being challenged by a customer. I went over to check on that colleague, who was being backed into a corner.
“The customer then turned on me and my colleagues and shoved two of us in the chest and started screaming death threats towards myself.”
Despite the incident being recorded on body-worn video, this did not deter the attacker from continuing to make threats.
The TfL enforcement staff requested back-up from the British Transport Police but none came for two hours.
“That was quite concerning for us. With a major station like King’s Cross, you’d expect them to be able to come out quite quickly, or from Euston. There is a BTP station there. Or The Met.
“But we had nothing. I was relying on colleagues to keep me safe and keep this person away from me until I could get to a place of safety,” Mr Banks said.
Despite a rail warrant having previously been issued for the attacker, BTP were unable to trace him.
“These are the sort of BTP issues that we are dealing with,” Mr Banks said. “BTP are not very effective at the moment.”
He said there had been some “horrific assaults” in the 18 months he has worked as a revenue control officer, including broken noses and broken arms.
“It’s very difficult out there are the minute,” he said. “It’s a very challenging environment to try and enforce revenue. In this current climate we are facing some real problems.”
Deban Aderemi, a TfL bus enforcement officer, said: “There is almost always verbal and almost always hate crime verbal. It’s not just ‘get out of my face’.
“It’s swear words and sometimes that’s physical, sometimes it’s spitting, sometimes it’s a push.”
Kola Olalekan, London region secretary of the GMB union’s professional drivers’ branch, said taxi and minicab drivers suffered “physical abuse, verbal abuse, intimidation, harassment and hatred”.
Hina Bokhari, a Lib-Dem member of the transport committee, told the attacked workers: “That was incredibly difficult to hear... the acceptance that this happens, and the normalisation of it, is the most disappointing thing from all the stories.”
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director for security, policing and enforcement, said: “Our staff work hard to serve the millions of customers who use the transport network every day and have the right to go about their work without fear or intimidation. We do not tolerate any violence, aggression or threatening behaviour towards them.
“We encourage everyone to report every incident of aggression or abuse - physical and verbal - so that preventative measures can be strengthened, and the strongest penalties brought against offenders.
“A specialist team within TfL works with the police to support investigation and brining offenders to justice. This team also supports staff and their managers at work. We are committed to doing all we can to protect our colleagues and to eradicate work-related violence and aggression.”
