Tube crime has soared by almost 40 per cent on pre-pandemic levels and fare-dodging has hit a record high, it can be revealed.
A total of 10,420 crimes were recorded on the London Underground between last December and May, fuelled by a four-fold increase in robbery and a 66 per cent hike in thefts.
The total number of Tube crimes was 39 per cent higher than the 7,505 pre-covid average for the same six-month period – despite there being 18 per cent fewer passengers.
It came as Transport for London admitted it was losing £130m a year due to fare dodging – with one in 25 passengers not paying to travel.
Fare evasion is linked to about half of all work-related violence and aggression suffered by station staff.
TfL’s latest Tube crime data revealed robbery was up 316 per cent, from 92 offences to 383. The worst stations for robbery were Oxford Circus, Finsbury Park, Bond Street and Stratford. There were 18.7 crimes per million Tube journeys.
TfL also said there were 9,329 crimes reported on its bus network – up 19 per cent – plus 776 on the London Overground, 623 on the Elizabeth line – which had the lowest crime rate - 422 on the DLR and 158 on the Croydon tram.
Susan Hall, City Hall Conservatives police and crime spokesman and the frontrunner to become the party’s mayoral candidate, said: “Londoners will be absolutely appalled to hear that crime on the London Underground has risen by 39 per cent.
“In Sadiq Khan’s London, crime on TfL’s network has spiralled out of control. He must work with the British Transport Police to ensure that travelling on public transport comes without the risk of being mugged or threatened.”
Michael Roberts, chief executive of London TravelWatch, the passenger watchdog, said: “Fare evasion is not fair on the overwhelming majority of Londoners who do the right thing and pay for their travel.”
Haringey, Westminster and Lambeth were the worst boroughs for bus crime, and accounted for a fifth of all reported bus robberies. Teenage boys accounted for half of all bus robbery victims.
Victims of sexual offences on the bus were overwhelmingly female, and typically aged 12 to 30 years. Schoolgirls accounted for a “substantial” number of victims.
Eight per cent of respondents to TfL’s passenger surveys said they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour on public transport. Four per cent said they had witnessed a crime being committed.
The surveys found that a third of passengers felt worried on public transport in the past three months and six per cent were completely or temporarily deterred from using public transport due to an incident.
TfL said it had issued 54,000 penalty fares – which increased to £100 in January – and listed more than 18,000 fare-dodging cases in court.
It said it had caught about 400 “calculated and persistent evaders” who were responsible for 35,734 “irregular” journeys, with an average of 90 unpaid journeys worth £780 in unpaid fares per offender.
TfL aims to install new “wide gates” for disabled passengers and people with children or luggage. These gates are often – and easily - forced open by fare dodgers.
TfL’s target is to cut fare evasion by two-thirds, to less than 1.5 per cent by 2030. It said it had 450 officers carrying out daily ticket inspections and enforcement.
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security, policing and enforcement, said: “We have been actively promoting the importance of reporting crime, especially crimes that are underreported such as hate crime, sexual offences and harassment, and workplace violence and aggression, which has contributed to the increase in recorded crime figures.
“We are seeing an increase in robbery and theft offences which reflect London-wide and national trends. We will continue to work closely with the police to ensure that our transport network remain a safe environment to work and travel.”
