A campaign urging people to report uninvited sexual advances on London’s transport network has been labelled a success by Transport for London (TfL).

Since the ‘report it to stop it’ campaign was launched in April 2014, reports of unwanted sexual behaviour have gone up by almost a third (31 per cent), with 1,716 sexual offence reports leading to more than 500 arrests. Prior to the campaign, it was believed that 90 per cent of unwelcome sexual behaviour on public transport went unreported.

More than two years on from the campaign’s introduction, police officers will be involved in reminding the public on how to handle undesirable sex pests.

Although crime remains low on London’s transport network following a 21 per cent drop in reported crimes in the past five years, chief superintendent Martin Fry of British Transport Police sees the safety and security of passengers and rail staff as its biggest priority.

"We know that offences were being under reported and have worked hard during the past two years to give victims and witnesses the confidence to come forward to make us aware of any problems," he commented.

Steve Burton, TfL's director of enforcement and on-street operations, hoped that the fresh push would result in another rise in reported cases, stressing that every report would be taken seriously and investigated.

A short film produced to promote the campaign upon its initial launch has been watched online by almost eight million viewers. You can watch it here.