There have been almost 4,000 violent assaults reported on trains in Britain in the past year, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats.
The statistics from the British Transport Police indicate a significant rise in train-related crimes, prompting calls for a more effective strategy to address this issue.
The BTP data reveals that 3,991 incidents of violence against people were reported on trains in the year ending in November, marking a 12 per cent rise from the previous year.
There were 699 robberies, an 18 per cent rise from the prior year, and sexual offences increased by 2.3 per cent, for a total of 1,419 incidents.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney, who accessed the information through a Freedom of Information request, expressed concern over the safety of public transport users.
Ms Olney criticised the government's approach to tackling crime on railways, advocating for a return to local community policing to enhance safety.
“People deserve to feel safe when on public transport, yet these alarming figures tell a different story," she said.
“Far too often our train carriages are being turned into crime scenes as violent criminals are allowed to terrorise other passengers with impunity”.
Det Chief Supt Paul Furnell, the BTP's head of crime and public protection, acknowledged the rise in reported incidents.
Mr Furnell said that tackling crimes such as robbery and sexual offences is a priority for the BTP, which has established dedicated task forces.
“We are committed to making the network a hostile place for those who seek to commit such offences,” he said.
“We are aware the data might not represent a true increase, with travel numbers only recently returning to pre-Covid levels.
“Additionally, we continue to campaign to encourage victims and witnesses to report to us as a priority – particularly for sexual offences, which we know are underreported – and with this we expect the number of reports to continue to increase.
“As a result of this, we continue our work to make reporting as accessible as possible for the travelling public, with our discreet text 61016 service turning 10 this year and the introduction of the free Railway Guardian app in 2022.”
The Home Office responded to the figures by highlighting overall reductions in neighbourhood crimes such as burglary, robbery and theft.
“We are providing police forces with the tools they need to deliver for the public and since 2010, our communities are safer," a Home Office representative said.
“Neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft are down 50 per cent and violent crime is down 52 per cent.
“There are also now 149,500 police officers keeping the public safe in England and Wales – the highest number on record.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
