A senior member of the British Transport Police has warned of the dangers of sex attackers targeting lone women falling asleep on the Night Tube.

Vulnerable women who go out drinking with friends before dozing off on the 24-hour services are being targeted by predators, Chief Inspector John Loveless told the Standard.

Speaking after a mass operation to tackle crime on the capital’s transport network over the festive period, Chief Insp Loveless said working to protect potential victims of crime was as important as catching perpetrators.

“What we do works in three ways,” he said.

“Protecting and advising possible victims of crime is an important part of that. What we see, especially when people are out partying more over the holidays and at weekends is opportunists preying on what they see as easy targets.

“Obviously, it could happen to anyone but sex offences against women travelling alone is a particular worry. These are people who have gone out and enjoyed an evening with friends or may have been working and have been targeted on quiet Tube carriages.

"The Night Tube is a great thing for the capital's night time economy and for London as a whole but it does present more opportunity for criminal activity.

“We want victims to come forward and report this but we also want to stop it happening. We would encourage people to stay in the busiest parts of public transport if possible and try to avoid falling asleep. If someone is acting suspiciously, tell someone.”

The senior officer also warned of opportunist thieves snatching smartphones and bags from sleeping travellers.

He said: “We see it more and more often, someone has maybe had a few too many drinks, drops off and wakes up with their device missing.

“The people doing this aren’t professionals, they’re just taking a chance.”

The warnings came after BTP and Network Rail launched a campaign encouraging festive revellers to look after themselves following nights out.

Harrowing footage showed risk-takers cut across train lines and showed others fall onto tracks appearing to have had a heavy night of drinking.

Chief Insp Loveless said people cutting across tracks at suburban stations including Harrow-on-the-Hill, in north London, was becoming increasingly more common.

He said: “We see it a lot, people are wanting to get home and have maybe had a few drinks so are feeling less cautious and they nip across the train lines.

“This could easily go so badly wrong and affects so many people. From our officers having to scrape someone up off the line, the driver seeing someone on the tracks as they pull in to a station, the passengers on that train.

“Anyone cutting across tracks also risks hurting themselves if they slip and knock their heads, they are left in such a vulnerable position stuck on those tracks.”

Network Rail figures showed passengers boarding and alighting trains were involved in 469 alcohol-related accidents in the last five years, the rail organisation added.

Overall more than 7,400 booze-fuelled incidents were recorded on or around Britain’s railways last year.