International Women’s Day: Scottish rail passengers urged to report non-criminal harassment of female travellers

Infrasisters cycle campaigners to stage latest mass Edinburgh ride to mark annual day

Rail passengers are urged to report potentially threatening behaviour against women even though it may not be a crime because it could "provide the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle" in tracking repeated aggressive behaviour.

The British Transport Police (BTP) move to help make female travellers feel safer on trains by cracking down on sexual harassment includes incidents such as men choosing to sit beside lone women in otherwise empty train carriages.

BTP highlighted the move to The Scotsman as the Infrasisters campaign group prepared to lead their latest mass bike ride through Edinburgh to champion female cycle safety to mark International Women’s Day on Friday.

BTP urged passengers to text incidents on 61016. (Photo by Hannah Brown)

The rail police force said reducing violence against women and girls was a “core focus”. Reports of sex offences on the Scottish rail network increased by 60 per cent between April and December last year compared to 2022, with 27 more cases. A total of 68 per cent were solved – up 10 percentage points. Sexual harassment cases were down by 47 per cent, although only one to two were reported a month.

Superintendent Lorna McEwan said: “We ask people to text in on 61016 if they see anything they sense is not right. For instance, if you are sitting on a train and somebody comes and sits right beside you when there’s space everywhere else.

"That’s not normal behaviour, because people like their own space. It could be that behaviour is being repeatedly reported. These things may not be a traditional crime and may sit below the threshold of a crime, but it might be a byelaw offence, and might help us provide the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

"We record that, and where we differ from a lot of police forces is that where it’s below the threshold of a crime, we still put a marker on it, so we can see patterns. It helps us to get people deployed at the right places at the right time and hopefully make a positive intervention.”

BTP Superintendent Lorna McEwan urged passengers to report incidents even if they were not criminal. (Photo by BTP)

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “Public transport should be safe for everybody. Sexual harassment and assault is far too common on public transport, as is intimidating and threatening behaviour towards women and girls, which may currently fall short of criminality.

"It’s important to note just how damaging these unacceptable behaviours can be. It’s positive to see BTP recognise this and encourage the public to take action and report these damaging behaviours, which should not be tolerated anywhere.”

Infrasisters’ “Blooming Mad in Bloomers” event leaves Middle Meadow Walk at 7.30pm on Friday.

Meantime, transport secretary Fiona Hyslop has criticised the gender imbalance of the rail industry, which receives £1.6 billion a year from the Scottish Government.

She told the overwhelmingly male audience at the Rail Scotland conference in Glasgow on Thursday: “For the rail sector to be successful, we need to use the potential of all of Scotland and I challenge all of you to make sure that when we come back next year, we’ve got more women at this conference and you have more women in your organisations, unleashing the full potential of skills capability to make the most of our rail industry.”