Teenage girls urged to report sexual harassment on public transport by British Transport Police

Teenage girls are being urged to report sexual harassment on public transport after new statistics suggested the crime is under reported.

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of teenage girls reporting sexual offences or harassment to the British Transport Police rose 25%, from 663 to 886 reports.

While the increase is believed by the police authority to reflect improved awareness that you can report any type of sexual behaviour that makes you uncomfortable, it said it believes that many incidents are still going unreported.

One teenager, Lex Gibbon, who wrote a song called ‘Audacity’ after she was followed through an underground train station by a man and then verbally abused and touched said she had not heard of British Transport Police’s text 61016 service and did not report the incident.

Police believe that many girls have experienced similar behaviour and are unaware that it can be reported to police.

Officers are reassuring victims that sexual harassment is never their fault and urging everyone to save text 61016 in their phone.

Lex said: “I was followed through an underground train station by a man who made me feel extremely unsafe, scared and vulnerable.

“At the time I had no idea that text 61016 existed. I believe it’s really important to help women feel safer on public transport, so when I wrote ‘Audacity’ about my experience I felt it could really raise awareness for the initiative.

“I’ve now reported and spent a day with British Transport Police, and I’ve seen how seriously they take sexual harassment.

“If someone does this to me again, I’ll be texting it in. Please save 61016 in your phone and use it to report this sort of creepy behaviour.”

British Transport Police assistant chief constable Paul Furnell said: “The man’s behaviour as described by Lex is completely unacceptable. I want everyone to know that acting like this on the rail network has serious consequences.

“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 sexual harassment. That’s not the case: if someone is persistently bothering you and makes you feel 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. Save text 61016 in your phone today”.