How rude insults and daily abuse affect railway staff

Insults like 'you absolute moron' and 'you dumb cow' are part of a South Western Railway campaign to tackle low-level everyday abuse of railway staff. Paul Cifton finds out why the posters are necessary.

“We have seen verbal assaults on staff double since COVID,” says Grant Robey, crime and security manager at South Western Railway. “It is becoming much more of a problem.”

SWR records 40 assaults on its 5,000 staff each month, on average. Two thirds are verbal assaults, one third are physical. It believes this is the tip of an iceberg - the great majority of assaults go unreported.

There are two peak times of day for assaults. The first is at the end of the commute home - frustrated workers who are taking out their weary anger after difficult journeys, or just a heavy day at the office. The second is towards the end of the evening.

“People who’ve had a skinful,” Robey explains. “They lose their inhibitions and forget the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

“The really bad assaults go to British Transport Police, and they’re brilliant, but they don’t have time to deal with the volume of low-level incidents.”

Want to read more? Subscribe today and never miss an issue of RAIL. With a Print + Digital subscription, you’ll get each issue delivered to your door for FREE (UK only). Plus, enjoy an exclusive monthly e-newsletter from the Editor, rewards, discounts and prizes, AND full access to the latest and previous issues via the app.