Four suspected race hate crimes reported on railways everyday in 2014

Four suspected race hate crimes on railways were reported to police every day last year, new figures have revealed.

Statistics from the British Transport Police indicate a rising trend in the number of allegations of racially or religiously aggravated offences, with 1468 recorded in 2014 - in 2013, this number was 1364, while in 2012 it was slightly lower, at 1351.

The figures, obtained by the Press Association through a Freedom of Information request, also showed that 232 of the suspected offences in 2014 involved violence, with 42 of those being racially or religiously aggravated assaults which resulted in actual bodily harm.

There were also two allegedly racist attacks causing grievous bodily harm and three reports of racially or religiously aggravated malicious wounding.

In February this year, British Transport Police opened investigations after a video emerged of a woman on the London Underground appearing to tell a black man that "you guys used to be slaves".

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said the statistics were “shocking” and exposed “the sheer complacency of rail and tube bosses despite a weight of recent evidence suggesting that the safety of passengers and staff is being compromised".

He added: “De-staffed stations and over-stretched and over-crowded services are core factors in this increase in racially motivated incidents as far as our members are concerned.”

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "It is always disappointing to see any rise in crime, though it should be noted that the rise in this case is just 8%, which equates to just two offences each week.

"However, any crime or incident of anti-social behaviour which is motivated by racial hatred is particularly abhorrent and British Transport Police is working hard to drive such behaviour from the railway.

"Part of this drive is encouraging victims, and those who witness crimes, to report such behaviour to police; only by understanding the true scale and nature of the problem, can we hope to develop lasting solutions that will give all travellers and rail staff an environment as free from hate crime as possible."