Race hate crimes on Britain’s railway networks have risen by 37% in the past five years, an average of more than five reported incidents of abuse or harassment a day.

British transport police (BTP), covering railway services in England, Scotland and Wales, including London underground, recorded 1,993 racially motivated hate crimes in 2015, an average of 5.5 per day.

Excluding incidents where the race of the victim was not stated, more than three-quarters of incidents recorded in 2015 involved non-white victims: 36% were perpetrated against black victims, 33% against those of Asian origin, 3% involved mixed-race victims and 3.5% were against those of another race.

Reported hate crimes rise by almost a fifth Read more

The greatest increase in racially motivated crimes in recent years was against white victims, which now account for 24% of incidents recorded. There were 346 hate crimes involving white victims in 2015 compared with 204 crimes in 2011, which represented 19% of such hate crimes at the time. In 27% of incidents, the race of the victim is not stated by BTP.

The data, obtained from the BTP via a freedom of information request, showed that the number of race hate crimes resulting in a prosecution fell between 2011 and 2015, from 704 to 663.

The majority of hate crimes recorded last year were carried out by white people, who accounted for 73% of suspects. In 2015, black suspects accounted for 17% of incidents where the race of the suspect was stated, compared with 14% in 2011.

The most common type of hate crimes recorded last year involved racially or religiously motivated harassment, alarm or distress. Such incidents accounted for 58% of all those recorded by BTP. Common assaults where no injury was recorded accounted for about 11% of hate crimes – 220 incidents – while racially or religiously motivated aggravated assault resulting in bodily harm accounted for 1.5%, or 30 such crimes.

“Only by understanding the true scale and nature of the problem can we hope to develop lasting solutions that will give all travellers and rail staff an environment as free from hate crime as possible,” a British Transport Police spokesman said.



He advised people to report any such crimes immediately. “What is important for people to know is that we care and we will respond,” the spokesman added.

Karen Bradley, minister for preventing abuse and exploitation, said: “Crime motivated by hatred or hostility towards someone because of their race or religion has absolutely no place in our society, and we will do everything we can do eradicate it.

“We welcome the fact that more and more people are coming forward to report hate crime to the police, and that forces are improving the way they identify and record hate crime.

“We already have in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. But we are not complacent. That is why we will publish a comprehensive new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan shortly to drive forward action against hate crime including crimes that occur on public transport. We are working in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes and with the police and the CPS on how we can bring the perpetrators of hate crime to justice.”

Mick Cash, the general secretary of the RMT union, said: “These are shocking figures and match up with the reports that RMT members are feeding back to the union from the sharp end. They coincide with the drive to de-staff our trains and stations in the search for cuts and increased profits.”

The British Transport Police can be contacted on 0800 40 50 40 or via text at 61016.

Peter Yeung is a freelance journalist. He has contributed to The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Financial times and The Independent. He is @ptr_yeung on Twitter.