There were 237 cases of sexual assault recorded at stations and on trains across Islington between 2016-2020.
Data for the British Transport Police, obtained by Islington Now under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that 163 instances of sexual assault were recorded on trains and 68 in stations. The sexual assault offences include incidents with no penetration in females and males and individual cases of rape.
Finsbury Park Station has seen the highest number of reports of sexual assault at 77 cases in the last four years. Behind Finsbury Park comes Highbury and Islington Station with 66 reported cases of sexual assault in the same period. Angel follows with 28 cases in the last four years.
The lowest number of cases were reported at Archway Underground Station, with one reported in the period. Caledonian Road and Barnsbury Station and Essex Road reported two cases in the period.
When it comes to assaults which occured on trains, the majority of sexual assaults occurred on TFL underground services. Victoria Line trains had the highest reports of sexual assault with 59 cases reported. While 33 cases were reported on Piccadilly Line trains. Only five cases were reported on Thameslink services in the borough.
The Office for National Statistics predicts that up to 83% of sexual assaults in England and Wales go unreported. This is backed up by Neil Henderson, CEO of Safeline, who said: “While we can use data on issues of assault, we should still take it with a pinch of salt as the vast majority of cases go unreported.”
In an average pre-pandemic year TFL receives reports of between 800-1,300 cases of sexual assault on the London Underground. So the number of assaults in Islington’s stations remains low on average over the four-year period.
