What happened when I tried to report sexual assault to British Transport Police
The videos Esme shared after she was sexually assaulted for the second time exploded on the internet. At the time of writing, it has been viewed more than 500,000 times and has flooded in with messages from people sharing similar experiences.
“Some people get it wrong in the comments; they try to blame me for this incident or leave racist comments about the attackers,” he says. “But I want to be clear: this can happen to anyone.”
Figures released at the end of 2025 show that reports of sexual offenses on the London Underground have reached their highest level in five years.
There were 595 sexual crimes on all metro lines in 2024-25; this was the highest figure since 2019-20, when there were 776 reports.
The data released by TfL in response to a Freedom of Information request did not include the London Overground, DLR or Elizabeth Line.
At the time, TfL said: “Tackling violence against women and girls on public transport has long been a priority for us and our police partners, and joint action has been taking place for a number of years.”
On June 9, 2026, just three days after Esme’s attack, a passenger was convicted under the new gender-based harassment law. He grabbed a woman’s hair and tried to kiss her on the train to London, describing it as a “joke”.
He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, 150 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation program.
BTP told the BBC that tackling sexual offenses on its transport network was a priority as it was “committed to protecting everyone’s right to safe travel”.
“More than 250,000 messages are received each year to number 61016 and this figure continues to rise as confidence among travelers in reporting historically under-reported crimes such as sexual offenses increases,” a spokesman said.
“This is not misplaced confidence, because we have shown time and time again that we will not rest until we catch criminals, bring them to justice and secure justice for the victims.”
