A tweet that giving unique advice on how to report hate crimes on London buses has gone viral.

Patrick Strudwick, an editor at Buzzfeed, tweeted the advice after allegedly attending a hate crime event ran by the Met. He wrote:

‘Just been at a hate crime event with the Met police + they told me something really useful. If you’re on a bus + you witness a hate crime, if you give the police the number on the back of your Oyster/debit card, they can trace the bus + every passenger on it to find the culprit.’


Reaction to the method being used by police has been mixed.



Leila Abboud commented: ‘That’s good but terrifying. Surveillance society baby’.

Peter Bradley said: ‘Creepy. 1984 well and truly with us’.

Just been at a hate crime event with the Met police + they told me something really useful. If you’re on a bus + you witness a hate crime, if you give the police the number on the back of your Oyster/debit card, they can trace the bus + every passenger on it to find the culprit. — Patrick Strudwick (@PatrickStrud) May 24, 2018

Silkie Carlo, a director for Big Brother Watch, an independent non-profit organisation fighting for the protection of privacy and civil liberties in the UK, told metro.co.uk:

‘This police advice demonstrates the extraordinary extent of our surveillance society and the sheer volume of sensitive data at their fingertips.

‘It is really quite chilling that an allegation of a loosely defined ‘hate crime’ could so easily lead to hundreds of passengers being investigated. It is not at all clear whether this kind of data access would even be lawful’.

Inspector Wayne Matthews, Roads and Transport Policing Command said:

‘The Met works closely with Transport for London to tackle crime on the surface transport network.

‘Where a crime has taken place on the transport network, the Met with TfL will carry out a robust investigation to identify and trace suspects. This usually involves the retrieval of evidential CCTV. However, in certain circumstances, ticket data may be requested by the Met in order to identify suspects or trace CCTV that will lead to the identification of suspects.

‘In all cases, this information is managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act, and the Management of Police Information. Police requests for such data must be proportionate, lawful and necessary’.

TFL have been approached for comment.