TfL launches powerful campaigns to encourage people to be active bystanders and to deter perpetrators of crime

Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new campaign in cinemas and ITVX to encourage people to support those who experience hate crime and other forms of abuse on the London transport network. It launches during National Hate Crime Awareness Week (11-18 October), with a complementary campaign targeting perpetrators, and as TfL announces more free active bystander sessions for the public.

The safety of everyone who uses London’s transport network is an absolute priority and TfL continues to work closely with the police to keep customers safe, with a new taskforce launched last week focusing on tackling sexual offences and harassment, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and hate crime on the network. It has been created in response to the Mayor’s commitment to improving safety and confidence for all passengers, especially women and communities disproportionately affected by these issues.

A new video campaign launches today at cinemas across London and on ITVX, encouraging people to be an active bystander and “act like a friend” to other passengers targeted by hate crime, sexual offences and harassment on London’s transport network, if they feel safe to do so. The video draws on three true stories of Londoners who have witnessed another passenger being targeted, and who have helped defuse the incident by engaging the targeted person in a conversation, as they would with a friend. Posters displayed on the TfL network from today also feature three other true bystander stories and the conversation starters that were used in these real incidents to show support to fellow passengers.

A complementary poster campaign targeting perpetrators also launches this week, with hard-hitting messaging focussing on the consequences of committing crime on the TfL network and how perpetrators are likely to be caught. The campaign is inspired by posters that have previously been displayed on the TfL network that focus on abuse by customers towards staff, with new posters now also featuring messaging around sexual offences and harassment, hate crime and fare evasion.

To mark National Hate Crime Awareness Week, TfL is also partnering with Protection Approaches, the national charity working to prevent all forms of identity-based violence, to deliver more active bystander training for the public, which are funded by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime’s (MOPAC’s) Shared Endeavour Fund. The 10 two-hour online sessions start on 22 October and finish on 1 December and aim to encourage people to take action to prevent or reduce harm when they encounter hate crime. Throughout the week TfL is also holding a series of events to raise awareness of hate crime, what it is and how to report it, at Edmonton and Stratford bus stations, Euston and Waterloo rail stations and London Bridge Underground station.

Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, said: “No one should be a victim of hate crime or harassment in London or feel anxious or targeted because of who they are. TfL’s new campaign gives Londoners the knowledge and confidence to stand up to hate crime, address intolerant behaviours and safely challenge hateful narratives.

“City Hall is leading from the front and Sadiq has invested more than any other Mayor to tackle hate crime. We will always champion London’s diversity as our greatest strength and work to shape a city where people understand and respect one another. We will continue working in close partnership with our communities and the police to ensure everyone in the capital feels, and is, safe, building a safer London for everyone.”

Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of Security Policing Enforcement, said: “Everyone has the right to be safe and feel safe when they travel on our services, and we have a strong police and enforcement presence on our services and in our stations to prevent crime. Sadly, there are still some instances of people being targeted and we know that it can feel hard to know what to do when we see this happen to someone else. Our new campaign shows how powerful it can be to strike up a conversation with the targeted person and treat them like a friend, to help them feel less alone and make the first steps towards reporting the incident.”

Szymon Glowacki, Director of Stronger Communities at Protection Approaches, said: "Too often we see people being harmed while those around them stay silent, not because they don’t care but because they don’t know how to step in safely. Our Active Bystander training gives people the skills and confidence to respond in those crucial moments — to support those at risk and to help prevent harm from escalating. At a time when many communities are experiencing the harms of rising division and polarising narratives, this work is about building stronger, safer communities where everyone feels empowered to act."

Earlier this year the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced a further £875,000 for 21 grassroots projects to fight hate crime, intolerance and extremism in all its forms in the capital as part of his Shared Endeavour Fund.  This is part of the Mayor’s record £16m in funding to tackle hate crime and has so far helped 190,000 Londoners across every borough to recognise and critically assess intolerant, hateful and extremist messages and empower them to safely challenge these narratives.

TfL works with the Metropolitan Police Service and British Transport Police to help keep the transport network safe for all. More than 2,000 police and police community support officers and 500 TfL Enforcement Officers patrol the network, working across the Tube, rail and bus networks to help keep people safe. Night patrols on the network by TfL’s Transport Support and Enforcement Officers help customers travel home safely, while the police carry out targeted policing and investigations to identify and arrest people committing crime and anti-social acts.

National Hate Crime Awareness Week is an annual campaign founded in 2012 by Mark Healey and organised by the anti-hate crime charity 17-24-30 National Hate Crime Awareness Week. This year’s campaign focusses on hate crime targeted at people with disabilities. TfL is committed to making its transport network as fair, accessible and inclusive as possible, and is working to deliver more than 80 actions outlined in its customer in inclusion plan, Equity in Motion. Actions include increasing the proportion of step-free Tube stations from a third to a half by 2030, while those that have already been completed include recruiting a research panel of disabled Londoners to better understand how TfL can support disabled customers when things go wrong, to inform investment priorities.