Woman reports train sexual assault, waits 13 hours for police response

Esme Rice says two men sexually assaulted her on an eastbound Elizabeth line train just before 11pm on 6 June, as she got off at Stratford station in east London. Rice, who lives in Hackney Wick, said she texted British Transport Police’s 61016 service within two minutes of the incident, then waited until midday the next day for a call back, about 13 hours later. Police later asked her to provide a statement the following Monday.

Rice said she felt “massively let down” by the response and had expected the text line to work as a “safety net.” She said the men, who she said were part of a group of buskers that boarded at Whitechapel station, could have gone on to assault other passengers if officers had reached the train while they were still on board.

61016 is for non-emergency crime and texts are monitored 24/7. Officers can be sent to meet a train at the next station when needed. Launched in 2013, the service has now received more than 668,000 text messages in its first 10 years. In 2022, it received texts relating to 472 reports of sexual harassment and 540 incidents involving a sexual offence.

On 22 May, the government and rail industry launched a new sexual-harassment campaign under the Enough banner, targeting behaviour such as staring, intrusive questions and unwelcome comments. That same announcement launched the national Safer Railway Scheme, which requires operators, for the first time, to show how they prevent harassment, support victims and train staff to respond properly. Operators must score at least 70% overall to be accredited.

On 9 June, the Crown Prosecution Service secured the first conviction under the new sex-based harassment offence after a man was sentenced for targeting a woman on a train in an incident on 3 April.