TfL Launches 'Zero Tolerance' Campaign Against Sexual Harassment

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 29 months ago
TfL Launches 'Zero Tolerance' Campaign Against Sexual Harassment
A train whizzes into Old Street station
The campaign is being rolled out across the TfL network, and the wider country. Image: Shutterstock

A campaign is being rolled out across London's transport network, emphasising a zero tolerance approach to all forms of unwanted sexual behaviour and sexual harassment.

The London campaign — which is in partnership with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), British Transport Police (BTP), Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and women's safety groups, and is part of a wider, national drive — calls out specific behaviour that TfL says won't be tolerated on its trains and buses. This includes exposing body parts, upskirting, touching, staring, rubbing against people on purpose, cyber-flashing and catcalling.

The series of bold posters encourages witnesses and victims to report such instances, assuring that they can do so in confidence.

A bright orange poster calling out explore on the tube
One of the posters from the new TfL campaign

The campaign, says TfL, aims to challenge the normalisation and dismissal of such behaviour as 'something that happens' to women and girls on public transport and in other public spaces, with a view to 'stamping out' this kind of sexual harassment altogether.

Says a TfL spokesperson: "Sexual harassment is a form of violence, most often directed against women and girls in public places. The safety of women and girls is an absolute priority for TfL and this new campaign is one element of TfL's work to ensure everyone can travel with confidence."  

A bold poster calling out the crime of upskirting
The poster campaign encourages witnesses and victims of sexual abuse to call it out

The posters will appear across the TfL network, on the wider UK rail network, and elsewhere, such as in magazines and newspapers. Other steps that TfL says it is has taken include more than 2,500 police and police community support officers and 500 TfL enforcement officers patrolling the network, and an extensive CCTV system.

TfL was recently petitioned to reopen the night tube, in a bid to make travelling for women safer after dark — although only part of the service will resume in November.

A 2020 YouGov poll showed that more than half of women said they have experienced harassment on London's public transport network, and that tens of thousands of incidents go unreported.

Free helplines are available to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse or sexual violence.

Last Updated 27 October 2021

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