The Transport Secretary today condemned a Tube passenger for openly smoking crack cocaine – amid growing concern about rising crime levels on the network.
The shocking sight occurred on the Victoria line during rush hour, with the man bending over and attempting to light up a rock of the drug in full view of fellow passengers.
Asked about the incident this morning, Heidi Alexander told LBC: ‘That situation you describe is obviously totally unacceptable, I know it will concern the Mayor. It’s not something you or I would be doing.’
Violent crimes on the London Underground have been increasing steadily since Sadiq Khan became Mayor in 2016.
Since the start of 2016, Tube crime rates have more than doubled, from nine per every million journeys to more than 21 last March. Similarly, offences have risen on the Overground, DLR and Elizabeth line, which opened in 2022.
A MailOnline analysis shows that the capital’s the most dangerous station per passenger is Poplar on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), near Canary Wharf.
Statistics collated by the British Transport Police (BTP) and TfL show 46 crimes were committed at the stop on the self-driving line last year. This equated to a rate of 58.7 offences for every million passengers.
Transport for London has acknowledged the crack smoking incident after it was widely shared on Reddit. It is not clear exactly when it took place.
Have you seen crime on the tube? Email matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
A man on the tube horrified commuters when he started smoking crack-cocaine
The shocking sight comes amid growing concern about rising crime levels on the Tube and on the capital’s streets
Describing what he saw, a commuter wrote: ‘I was travelling back from work during a busy(ish) hour when I became aware that a number of people before me had started to get up and move away before what was normal for the next stop.
‘I looked up and saw a dirty, scruffy-looking man opposite me and I initially thought that he was homeless and that other people were moving away because he smelt bad or something before realising that he was behaving oddly and attempting to light a small, metal pipe.
‘Thinking he was just drunk, I said ‘Dude, no- you can’t do that here’ before I recognised that he was attempting to light up some crack.
‘He was as high as a kite, occasionally looking around but not really focusing on anything, with a gormless grim expression on his face. He was phlegming and spitting on the floor near-constantly too.’
Although the passenger initially considered confronting the addict, he ultimately decided to move away to another part of the carriage, joining others who were visibly unnerved by the situation.
‘I could tell that many others were unnerved and/or repulsed by the man, especially the young women on the carriage,’ he said.
When the commuter got off at his stop, he went straight to a nearby Transport for London (TFL) worker to report the incident.
However, the response he received was not what he expected: ‘I went to tell a TFL worker about what I’d just witnessed, telling them the carriage number, guys description and general direction. But the TFL guy said that there basically wasn’t much they could do about him,’ the commuter explained.
‘Apparently the crack addict was so well known to them that they had complaints about him every 1-3 days and that he was so familiar that the workers all knew him by his 1st name.’
A British Transport Police spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of a post on Reddit over the weekend referring to a man appearing to smoke crack cocaine on the Victoria Line.
‘While the poster states this wasn’t reported to British Transport Police, it is completely unacceptable behaviour which will not be tolerated. If you witness this behaviour, please report it by texting 61016, calling 0800 405040, or speaking to a member of staff.’
The passenger recounted that the man, who was allegedly highly intoxicated, was constantly spitting on the floor and grinning absentmindedly while fumbling with his lighter
Crime data compiled by MailOnline shows the gradual increase of crimes per million passenger journeys on the Underground over a 15 year period from 2009 to 2024.
However, the curve of the graph shows that the crime rate was actually declining from 2009 to 2016, hitting its lowest crime rate of 7.3 just before Sadiq Khan took over as Mayor of London.
March 2023 was the worst month on record with a crime rate of 24.9. This is excluding data compiled around Covid which is skewed as ridership plummeted during this time due to government restrictions being in place.
Most recent data for the first quarter of 2024 is also bleak and showed little signs of improvement with 6,319 crimes being reported across January, February and March.
That is more than 70 crimes being reported per day.
It also comes amid a wave of disturbing new footage of violent, racists, sexist and anti-Semitic assaults being published online by scared passengers.
A brutal machete attack at Edgware road tube station in November saw ambulance crews called to save a man who had been stabbed multiple times.
A teenage boy, 17 was arrested and pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and affray.
A brutal machete attack at Edgware road tube station in November saw ambulance crews called to save a man who had been stabbed multiple times
The attacker, dressed in grey sweatpants, a black hoodie and wearing a balaclava, can be seen in the video with the enormous machete at the entrance to the station.
As an eyewitness films the vicious stabbing, the attacker can be seen making several attempts to swipe at someone laying on the ground.
After the attacker finally runs away, the camera moves in closer to reveal a man injured holding his side.
In the background, a staff member for Transport for London can be seen walking towards the injured victim.
A spokesperson from British Transport Police said: ‘Following a stabbing at Edgware Road underground station on 19 November, a boy aged 17, has pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and affray.
‘A second boy, also aged 17, has pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. Both are due to appear for sentencing in February.’
Among other attacks caught on video in recent years was an incident at Green Park station on 11 January 2024, where Liban Ahmed, 27, was filmed whipping a woman in the face with a belt.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and two public order offences. He was sentenced to 18 weeks, suspended for 18 months.
Another incident in February 2024 took place when homeless Brwa Shorsh, 24, pushed an innocent stranger, Tadeusz Potoczek, onto the tracks at Oxford Circus underground station just seconds before the train pulled in.
Shorsh, who has accumulated convictions of assault and indecent acts since arriving in Britain in 2019, had denied trying to kill his victim and claimed he did not know a train was arriving at the time.
But in July that year he was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury at Inner London Crown Court after just 32 minutes of deliberations and he was jailed for life with a minimum term of eight years.
An incident from April last year showed a violent female thug touring London filming herself attacking commuters and shop workers as part of a sick ‘chaos for clout’ social media trend.
Another attack at Green Park station, where a man whipped a woman in the face with his belt
In another, she appears to smack a female commuter in the face on the London Underground (pictured is the victim, before the attack, left, and holding her nose after it, right)
In one clip, the violent yob is seen hitting another female in the face while on the London Underground’s Bakerloo Line.
And in a display of anti-Semitism last March, one Jewish man was wearing a kippah and riding the Northern Line when a vape-puffing passenger told him ‘your religion is killing Muslims’.
The passenger who reported the crack-smoking incident claimed the British Transport Police (BTP), were reluctant to take action.
‘BTP weren’t much interested in him either because the police were reluctant to deal with him (because what exactly could they do beyond putting him in a cell for a few days? Before releasing him all over again).’
One person wrote in response to the story: ‘I have a lot of sympathy for addicts and I think they’re often unfairly maligned, but smoking crack on the tube is obviously a step too far. I don’t wanna be inhaling second-hand crack smoke while I’m stuck in a small, unventilated metal cylinder.’
While another added: ‘Happened to me on the Victoria line and the person smoking the crack became incredibly erratic.
‘When I told the TFL staff he looked at me and shrugged as someone forced the barriers, don’t blame the TFL staff but Jesus Christ, is this what things are like now?’
A TfL spokesperson said: ‘We want all customers to feel safe when travelling and we understand the alarm this kind of behaviour could cause. We are working with the police, specialist teams and other agencies to help move vulnerable people away from our network and into help and support.’
BTP has been approached for comment.
Have you seen crime on the tube? Email matt.strudwick@mailonline.co.uk
