TfL's anti-harassment team warned about sexual harassment by Tube bosses

'Some individuals hide behind the pretence that they are just being friendly, funny or flirty. You are not'

Staff working in the department tasked with eradicating sexual harassment on the Tube have had to be warned to stop sexually harassing their own colleagues.

Employees of the Enforcement and On-Street Operations (EOS) team had reportedly complained about colleagues engaging in “subtle forms of sexual harassment”.

The team were warned by Siwan Hayward, the deputy director, that this type of behaviour was “unacceptable” at work, according to the Evening Standard.

Ms Hayward said in an email: “Our staff tell us that some individuals in EOS engage in subtle forms of sexual harassment, and then hide behind the pretence that they are just being friendly, funny or flirty.

“You are not. You are undermining your colleagues and it has to stop.

“The senior management team is united that we need to tackle all forms of harassment.

“We are clear in our stance with our passengers that any behaviour which makes women feel uncomfortable is not acceptable. Let’s apply the same principle to each other,” she wrote.

The warning follows findings that almost half of staff believe their workplace was not free from discrimination, bullying and harassment, according to the internal annual workforce monitoring report.

Between 2014 and 2015, there were a total of 94 harassment cases reported by staff, which was a rise of 10 from the previous year.

But the Standard reported that most of the harassment cases had not been reported by staff.

However, the internal survey also revealed the amount of unhappy people had fallen by nine per cent, compared to the previous year.

Ms Hayward encouraged staff to report incidents and to make complaints where necessary.