Transportation for London (TfL) staff at Tube stations across London were subjected to more than 240 incidents of abuse per month during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, new figures have revealed.
A Freedom of Information request carried out by WorkForce Software has revealed that staff at London’s Tube stations faced an average of 245 incidents of abuse per month between April 2020 and December 2021, including 24 physical assaults per month.
The data revealed a correlation between fare evasion and abusive behaviour, with almost 2,500 incidents of abuse having been a result of fare disputes in that time period.
TfL estimates that it loses around £116 million per year as a result of fare evasion and ticket fraud across all its services. Victoria station saw the highest number of abusive incidents relating to fare evasion during the pandemic, with 71 incidents recorded between April 2020 and December 2021. Notting Hill Gate saw the second highest number of incidents with 66.
Staff at King’s Cross Tube station were the “most abused” during the pandemic, with a total of 147 abusive incidents against workers recorded in that time. Oxford Circus was the Tube station that saw the highest number of physical assaults against staff, with 16.
But TfL has said that the number could be even higher, as workplace violence is “underreported.”
