A late-night train packed with revellers and workers heading home from London’s Blackfriars station has been named as the capital’s most violent late night commuter service.
The 1.04am Saturday morning train bound for Bedford, which is operated by Thameslink, recorded 23 crimes last year, including theft, sexual assault and battery.
The 23 recorded crimes resulted in five arrests and two convictions.
The figures were revealed in a Freedom of Information request to British Transport Police focusing on London’s nine busiest commuter routes to the Home Counties between midnight and 4am.
Eight crimes were recorded on services from King’s Cross to Peterborough and also Victoria to Brighton, plus seven on Paddington to Oxford trains and five on the Waterloo to Guildford line.
There were no reported crimes on the Marylebone to Aylesbury service during the same period and one on the Victoria to Maidstone East line.
Richard Fuller, Tory MP for Bedford and Kempston who uses the Thameslink Blackfriars line, said the results were 'shocking' and that he would challenge the rail operator over security.
He told the Daily Star: "People can have a good time but when you have a good time you should realise there are people on the train who want to sleep, maybe they worked a night shift, maybe their work is stressful."
A Thameslink spokeswoman said: “These statistics of 23 crimes in one year have to be seen in the context of the 52,000 passengers we carried between Blackfriars and Bedford in the early hours of Friday night in that same period.
“The safety and security of our passengers and staff is of great importance to us and crime rates on Thameslink have fallen by seven per cent in the past year because of the range of measures we have put in place.”
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