Incidents of abuse/harassment by Tube line

Roedd y cais yn rhannol lwyddiannus.

Dear Transport for London,

I am writing to you in order to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would like to know:

For each of the last five years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019) the total number of reported incidents of physical and verbal abuse/harassment for each Tube line.

If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. Under Section 16 it is your duty to provide advice and assistance and so I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way.

I would also like to request that the information is sent back in an Excel spreadsheet. Please send confirmation of receipt of this request and I look forward to hearing back within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Robyn Schaffer

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Our Ref:         FOI-3106-1920

 

Thank you for your request received on 15 January 2020 asking for
information about incidents of abuse/harassment by London Underground
line.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. 

 

Unfortunately, from the description provided, we are unable to identify
the information you require. If you could please confirm whether you are
requesting information for incidents involving members of staff or members
of the public. To enable us to assist with your request, please provide a
more detailed description of the information you are seeking together with
any other details you think might help us locate the information you
require. Please also note that not all incidents will have been reported
to us and you may wish to contact the British Transport Police to
determine what information they hold:
[1]https://www.btp.police.uk/about_us/your_....

 

The FOI Act allows you to request recorded information held by Transport
for London (TfL). There are limits on the time that TfL are required to
spend determining whether TfL holds the information you are requesting and
the time spent locating, retrieving and extracting it. Therefore you
should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as
you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You
might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time,
geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

 

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a
request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question
if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a
judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at
the time of your request.

 

Please note that the 20 working day deadline for responding to your
request will depend on when we receive satisfactory additional information
to help clarify your request.  

 

If we hear nothing further from you by 6 February 2020 your response will
be treated as a new request.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your
request, please feel free to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[2][TfL request email]

 

 

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear Gemma,

Thank you for getting back to me. Sorry if I was unclear. I am requesting information for both incidents involving members of staff AND members of the public. So the request would be:

For each Tube line, I would like to know for each of the last five years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019) the total number of reported incidents of physical and verbal abuse/harassment (on both staff members and the public).

Again, if you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. Under Section 16 it is your duty to provide advice and assistance and so I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way.

I would also like to request that the information is sent back in an Excel spreadsheet. Please send confirmation of receipt of this request and I look forward to hearing back within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Robyn Schaffer

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Our Ref:         FOI-3106-1920

 

Thank you for clarifying your request received on 15 January 2020 asking
for information about incidents of abuse/harassment by London Underground
line.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

 

A response will be sent to you by 13 February 2020. We publish a
substantial range of information on our website on subjects including
operational performance, contracts, expenditure, journey data, governance
and our financial performance. This includes data which is frequently
asked for in FOI requests or other public queries. Please check
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar... to see if this helps you.

 

We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[2]www.tfl.gov.uk website. We will not publish your name and we will send
a copy of the response to you before it is published on our website.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[3][TfL request email]

 

 

 

 

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Gadawodd Lewis Western anodiad ()

The way you've asked this request and repeated all of the section 16 malarky is quite funny

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Our Ref:         FOI-3106-1920

 

Thank you once again for your request for information about incidents of
abuse/harassment by London Underground line.

 

I’ve been asked to seek further clarification regarding your request. You
have asked for ‘reported incidents of physical and verbal
abuse/harassment’, can you please confirm if you are asking for reports of
any incident or if you are asking specifically for reported crimes. If it
is the latter then the police would hold more up to date and complete data
on any reported crimes so you may wish to direct this query to them.

 

We can provide you with information on reported incidents, for both
passengers and staff, however these may not all have been reported as
crimes.

 

Please note that the 20 working day deadline for responding to your
request will depend on when we receive satisfactory additional information
to help clarify your request.  

 

If we hear nothing further from you by 11 February 2020 your response will
be treated as a new request.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your
request, please feel free to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[1][TfL request email]

 

 

From: FOI
Sent: 16 January 2020 12:06
To: '[FOI #634676 email]'
Subject: RE: FOI Request - Incidents of Abuse/Harassment by Tube Line

 

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Our Ref: FOI-3106-1920

 

Thank you for clarifying your request received on 15 January 2020 asking
for information about incidents of abuse/harassment by London Underground
line.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

 

A response will be sent to you by 13 February 2020. We publish a
substantial range of information on our website on subjects including
operational performance, contracts, expenditure, journey data, governance
and our financial performance. This includes data which is frequently
asked for in FOI requests or other public queries. Please check
[2]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar... to see if this helps you.

 

We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[3]www.tfl.gov.uk website. We will not publish your name and we will send
a copy of the response to you before it is published on our website.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[4][TfL request email]

 

 

 

 

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear Gemma,

Thanks for getting back to me again. Yes, I'd like to know about reports of any incident (the former). Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Robyn Schaffer

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Thank you for further clarifying your request. A response will be provided
in due course.

 

If you have any questions in the meantime please feel free to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[1][TfL request email]

 

 

 

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

FOI, Transport for London

2 Atodiad

Dear Ms Schaffer

 

Our Ref:         FOI-3106-1920

 

Thank you for your request received on 15 January 2020 asking for
information about incidents of abuse/harassment by London Underground
line.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can
confirm we hold some of the information you require.

 

Tackling transport crime and disorder is one of our main priorities. We
are committed to helping to bring real benefits to our passengers, staff
and the wider community. The transport system in London is a low-crime
environment, and the risk of becoming a victim of crime while travelling
on it is low.

 

We fund more than 2,500 officers across the Metropolitan Police Service
(MPS), British Transport Police (BTP) and the City of London Police
(CoLP). They police London's transport network to tackle crime and
antisocial behaviour, and make you feel safer when travelling in London.

 

In November, we announced our proposals for strengthening support for
frontline staff and tacking triggers of work-related violence and
aggression e.g. antisocial behaviour and fare evasion. We are recruiting
approximately 150 Transport Support and Enforcement Officers (TSEOs) to
prevent work-related violence, aggression and anti-social behaviour and
making sure staff and customers feel safe. We expect the first trained
officers to be out on the network in spring 2020. We are also doubling the
size of our workplace violence team to provide additional focus on
workplace violence, better support for our people when they experience it,
and increased focused on investigations and prosecutions. Body worn video
cameras will be rolled out to frontline staff from May 2020 to reduce the
risk of them being physically or verbally abused. Recorded evidence can
also be used to take action against those who assault our staff

 

You asked:

 

For each Tube line, I would like to know for each of the last five years
(2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019) the total number of reported incidents
of physical and verbal abuse/harassment (on both staff members and the
public).

 

Please find the requested information of staff incidents attached from
2014/15 to 2018/19. Please note the following:

 

Verbal abuse

Verbal abuse and/or abusive gestures are defined as insulting and/or
offensive comments and is included in the description of workplace
aggression provided that the insulting and/or offensive comments are
directed at an individual, personally, who perceives them as threatening
to their safety, wellbeing or health.

 

Threat

A threat is a declaration of intention to harm or injure and is included
in the definition of workplace violence provided that the threat is
personal to the individual, is specific to the individual’s safety,
wellbeing or health and that the person making the threat is perceived by
the individual to be capable of carrying it out.

 

Assault (Physical)

An assault is an act of violence that results in physical contact.

 

TfL also publishes quarterly health, safety and environment reports, with
figures for [1]work-related violence and aggression. These figures contain
both physical and verbal assaults on staff and are incidents that are
reported to the police. As staff may not report incidents to TfL that are
reported to the police and vice versa, these may differ from the figures
published above or requested from each respective police force.

 

We do not hold data on all incidents of physical and verbal abuse on the
public. We would only record assaults ourselves that resulted in injury or
that result in a delay to the train service. The information on crimes
that we hold is provided to us by the BTP and will not be live data. The
BTP will be able to provide you with accurate crime data for the entire
period requested:
[2]https://www.btp.police.uk/about_us/your_....

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[3][TfL request email]

 

 

 

 

 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear Gemma,

Thanks again for your help here. Again could I please request to have the information sent to me in an Excel spreadsheet as I initially requested? Thanks so much.

Best wishes,

Robyn Schaffer

FOI, Transport for London

1 Atodiad

Dear Ms Schaffer,

Please see attached.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[TfL request email]

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir