TfL campaign aims to deter aggressive customers

Transport for London is launching a new campaign to tackle violence and aggression against its staff, based on the message ‘Abuse has consequences’.

Millions of customers use London’s transport network every day, and this campaign is just one element of TfL’s work to make sure staff can work without fear or intimidation.

Abuse, whether physical or verbal, is a criminal offence that can lead to arrest and prosecution, as spelled out in a series of posters.

There has been an increase in all incidents of work-related violence and aggression, with 10,493 reports of verbal abuse, threats, hate and aggression in 2023/24. That is an increase of 5 per cent compared to 9,989 reports in 2022/23.

However, despite the overall rise, the number of physical incidents reported recently has decreased. From 1 April to 22 June 2024, 197 physical incidents were reported by directly employed TfL staff, a 20 per cent reduction compared to the same period last year, when there were 248 reported incidents.

TfL hopes to continue seeing this downward trend through the widespread adoption of body-worn video cameras, deployment of Transport Support and Enforcement Officers and rollout of conflict management training.

Research shows that the risk of assaults on colleagues can almost halve when wearing a BWV camera, and the footage can provide vital evidence to the police if an assault does occur, resulting in better outcomes when offenders go to court.

TSE officers are deployed across the network to provide support to colleagues, challenge work-related violence and provide a highly visible reassuring presence to staff and customers. In January, TfL launched its first night team of TSE officers. In the first four weeks, they removed 47 passengers who were refusing to comply with the rules and regulations of the network and were obstructive or threatened TfL staff. Officers are trained in conflict management with powers and equipment to deal with anti-social behaviour and enforce byelaws and regulations.

In RAIL 1015 Paul Clifton reports on a similar campaign by South Western Railway to tackle abuse of staff.