Many rail staff wear body cams to record and log incidents of violence. \u201cI think it\u2019s so sad that we have those,\u201d said Dave*, a rail worker in south-west England<\/a>. However, after 20 years in the job, he said: \u201cThe threats, the abuse, the violence we see is off the scale.\u201d<\/p>\n Drink and drugs play a part, he added. \u201cWe\u2019re also seeing a lot more people with mental health issues. If you\u2019re out on the street you can steer clear, but if you\u2019re on a train or a platform you can\u2019t. Our workplaces are becoming more and more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Now it\u2019s mostly bad days\u2019<\/p>\n Steve, a guard based in the north of England, was punched in the head by a passenger: \u201cIt was my last train of the night. I\u2019ve had to look away to see the door controls and the next thing I know, I\u2019m waking up on the platform.\u201d<\/p>\n Every guard gets verbally abused on a daily basis, he said, with behaviour worsening since the pandemic: \u201cNow it\u2019s mostly bad days, and you\u2019re searching for good days, where nothing\u2019s said, or nothing happens. The amount of times we\u2019re getting threatened now with physical attacks, even when you walk through the train and say, \u2018Tickets, please.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Even a simple request for tickets can trigger abuse. Photograph: UK Stock Images Ltd\/Alamy<\/p>\n Even those working on the infrastructure can be on the receiving end. One rail contractor, Liam, based in Somerset, said: \u201cWe\u2019re there working on the tracks and we sometimes get sworn at and even spat at. It\u2019s just a minority, but somehow they think we\u2019re responsible for slow journey times, cancelled trains. We\u2019re in bright orange so we\u2019re easy targets.\u201d<\/p>\n The railway is by no means unique: bus drivers have faced repeated abuse and threats, as the Unite union has highlighted. Transport for London staff working on roads are issued with \u201cspit kits\u201d, or forensic saliva collection tubes, so common is that form of assault.<\/p>\n Violence against women and girls is of particular concern; at the Labour conference this week, the minister for buses and local transport, Simon Lightwood, described it as a \u201cnational emergency\u201d.<\/p>\n Kim McGuinness said women need to know \u2018that if you raise an alarm something is going to be done\u2019. Photograph: DEW\/Alamy Stock Photo\/Alamy Live News.<\/p>\n Speaking alongside him, the mayor for the north-east, Kim McGuinness, said that as well as measures such as more staffing, lighting and CCTV, a crucial point for women was \u201cknowing that if you raise an alarm something is going to be done. It\u2019s a choice to use public transport or not \u2026 if you\u2019re accepting 50% of the population don\u2019t feel safe, that\u2019s not good.\u201d<\/p>\n The rail industry and police say some of the sharp rise in recorded assaults on passengers \u2013 up 36% last year \u2013 is due to greater reporting, including using discreet text messaging to the BTP.<\/p>\n But while many more incidents are now reported, plenty are not.<\/p>\n \u2018Tearful, angry and scared\u2019<\/p>\n Emily, 24, was travelling home on a late-night train between Glasgow and Edinburgh last year when a stranger made a beeline for her. \u201cHe immediately tried to start a conversation and wouldn\u2019t give up even when I showed no interest. He was asking what I\u2019d been up to, whether I had a boyfriend, complimenting my outfit, and then it escalated really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n The man began rubbing Emily\u2019s upper thigh and asking her intrusive questions about her sex life. \u201cI froze and didn\u2019t know what to do. I looked around but everyone else was oblivious. I tried to move but I was on the inside seat and he just grabbed my leg harder and leaned in towards me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She managed to manoeuvre out of the seat and away from the man, who \u201cshouted aggressively and called [her] a bitch\u201d. Other passengers looked round but did not intervene. She moved to another carriage and arrived home shaken but decided not to report the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to just move on,\u201d Emily said. \u201cBut I never used to think twice about getting on a train by myself at night and now I\u2019m much more nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
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