The most crime-ridden train lines and stations in London revealed

Londoners have been arguing for decades about which Tube lines to avoid, now they know the answer for certain.

Transport for London (TfL) has revealed which Underground routes are most affected by crime, with some lines escaping scot-free.

There were 31,648 offences recorded from January 2024 to August 2024 across London transport, with over 16,000 of those taking place on the Tube or at a Tube station.

TfL’s data only goes as far as August because of the devastating cyber attack in September last year.

King’s Cros saw the most crimes across London’s 272 stations
(Provider: Getty)

What the numbers do show confirms Londoner’s fears about phone snatchings and other thefts, which accounted for over 50% of all crimes on the Tube.

These snatchings saw a mammoth 13% increase from 2023.

After thefts, violence was the second most common problem cops had to deal with last year.

This increased by 20% on the previous year, although the majority were ‘violence without injury.’

Passengers now know what lines they should fear most when it comes to criminal behaviour.

The Central Line came top of the list of Tube crime hotspots, with 17% taking place there.

It is London’s most frequently used route, and saw 1,419 incidents of the 8,000 plus ‘on Tube’ crimes in the first half of 2024.

The Central Line accounted for over 17% of offences (Picture: Getty Images)

 TfL isnow fitting CCTV cameras to all 94 of its Central line trains as part of a £500 million improvement drive.

The second most troublesome route was the Northern Line, which saw 1,320 offences, or 16% of the ‘on tube’ total.

Commuters making the short distance between Bank and Waterloo on the Waterloo and City Line can now enjoy a stress-free journey, as figures show only 3 crime incidents took place on the service.

That is equivalent to just 0.0004% of London’s ‘on Tube’ criminal activity.

World-famous central London stations are also hotspots of criminal offences in the capital.

Kings Cross St Pancras came top of the list, with 359 of London’s 7,600 ‘station’ crimes across 272 stations.

Oxford Circus landed at second place on TfL’s ranking, with 281 offences taking place there.

Oxford Circus sees million daily visitors with many of them travelling through the station, one of the most crime-ridden in London (Credits: Getty Images)

Monopoly board favourite Tottenham Court Road was the station third most affected by criminal behaviour, with 271 recorded instances.

Also in the top five were Stratford and Finsbury Park further out of London.

London’s big red buses racked up thousands of criminal offences in the same period.

Theft was the largest problem TfL combatted, but violent crime also accounted for close to 22% of bus offences.

The borough with the highest level of bus offences is Westminster, with over 600 committed from January to June 2024.

The central London borough beat Southwark, with 440 offences, and Lambeth, which saw 363.

Despite the thousands of crimes committed across London transport, only 6% of Londoners felt deterred from using public transport following an incident.

A far higher 34% have been worried for their own personal safety on London transport in the last 3 months.

Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director of Security, Policing and Enforcement, said: ‘The overall risk of experiencing crime on London’s transport network is low.

The Waterloo and City Line, between Bank and Waterloo, was practically unscathed by crime (Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images)

‘We are committed to working with the police to make sure this remains the case and to ensuring that everyone travelling in London can do so safely.  

‘Theft of personal property continues to be the most commonly reported crime on our public transport networks, accounting for almost half of crime.

‘Thieves target busy areas and our transport networks are no exception.

‘There is a range of activity underway to tackle this including targeted operations, investigations and crime prevention advice for customers.

‘Working with the police, our priority is protecting our customers and staff from serious harm.

‘Significant effort is underway to tackle serious violence, sexual offences and harassment, robbery, and hate crime. 

‘As part of this, we have been encouraging and making it easier for customers and colleagues to report incidents so action can be taken.

‘We will continue to work closely with the police to ensure that our transport network remains a safe environment to work and travel.’

Thomas Brown