Passengers travelling with Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express are experiencing fewer reported incidents of theft, vandalism and graffiti, following action taken through initiatives including Greater Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan.
Since launching the plan in 2024, GTR has increased the visible presence of safety and enforcement teams, strengthened its partnership with British Transport Police (BTP) and introduced practical crime-prevention initiatives across its network. These measures are helping to reduce antisocial behaviour and improve the experience of customers travelling by rail.
Bike thefts have seen the biggest decrease, with incidents down by 59% year-on-year following schemes such as ‘Cycle Surgeries’, which GTR has been running in partnership with the BTP. The initiative helps to prevent bike thefts by giving commuters crime prevention advice, as well as offering practical solutions such as free security marking – a permanent, unique code added to bicycles making the item easier to recover if stolen.
Thefts relating to personal property of passengers has also decreased compared to last year, falling by 35%.
As part of GTR’s drive to improve the look and feel of its trains and stations, there has been a focus on reducing vandalism and graffiti across the network, which is seeing positive results. Reports of vandalism and criminal damage have fallen by nearly a third from 306 to 209 incidents, whilst graffiti and etching reports have dropped by 41% from 252 to 147 incidents.
In its Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan, GTR committed to increasing the number of visible staff on stations and trains, including doubling the number of Travel Safe Officers (TSOs). There are now 110 TSOs visible across the network, who work alongside the operator’s Rail Enforcement Officers (REOs) to help and reassure passengers, whilst also deterring criminal activity.
Increased presence of TSOs specifically at ticket gates is helping to drive down incidents of ‘push throughs’, where a non-paying passenger forces their way through the gate behind a paying customer. In some areas of the network, GTR is reporting a reduction of up to 80%.
Customer Service Director Jenny Saunders said: “We’re serious about tackling antisocial behaviour of any kind across our network because we know how upsetting these crimes can be.
“Whilst these reductions are encouraging and show that our targeted action is making a difference, we know there is still a long way to go. I want to thank our colleagues who work tirelessly every day to make our network safe and would encourage customers to continue reporting crime and antisocial behaviour on our network, so we can work together to keep these numbers moving in the right direction.”
