'I was sexually harassed and Tube staff gave me a leaflet'

Reports of sexual harassment on public transport have jumped alarmingly, according to figures from police. Here, in her own words, Instagram influencer Georgie Clarke describes what happened to her on the London Underground - and what she thinks should be done to prevent women being harassed.

I sat down and started to change my shoes as I had flip-flops on. As I put my heels on, I sat up, and there was a man opposite me who started to reach across and grab my ankles and feet. I gently kicked my feet away and said "please don't touch me".

He got his phone out and started taking pictures of me and my legs and feet. I asked him to not take any more pictures and he then reached across again and tried to grab me. He did make physical contact with me for a time.

I then stood up and walked to the door. He followed me and stood next to me. He was staring at me the whole time.

When the doors opened at the next station - I think it was Pimlico - I thought the platform looked pretty empty and I was worried that if I got off the Tube he would follow me and there would be less people around to help.

So I panicked last minute and didn't get off the Tube. The doors shut and I looked to my left and there were four men and I thought "let me go and sit in front of two of them and next to two of them" so that hopefully he stops.

I sat down and he continued staring and taking pictures of me. He then came and sat not on the seat next to me but the one next to that, and tried to reach across and grab me again.

I asked him to stop and he tried to do it again, at which point the man in front of me to my right said: "Would you like to sit in between us?", so I got up and sat in between them. The guy who was harassing me then got up and moved into the seat that I had moved out of, which was opposite where I was sitting.

He continued to take pictures of me and then tried to grab me again, which is when the man who offered the seat intervened and said: "Would you like me to walk you out and we'll go and report this at Victoria station?" That was the next stop.

He escorted me off the Tube and the man followed us all the way out. We got on to the escalators and when we got off at the top, he never actually came up so I think he turned around and ran back down.

I was crying at this point.

I went to the barriers where there were two Transport for London (TfL) men, and the man who helped me - Diego - said: "I just witnessed her being sexually harassed on the Tube, the guy has just gone back down there, he's going to get on the Tube and do this again. You need to call someone; do you want us to go and point him out?"

The TfL staff were staring at me crying and one of them handed me a leaflet. It said: "TfL does not tolerate sexual harassment." There was a number on there to call and they just said to report it to British Transport Police (BTP).

I said: "I don't know what to do, I'm on my way to work, do I report this now?", and they just stared at me like they didn't know what to do so Diego waited with me while I got an Uber.

When I went and sat deliberately with the four men, only one offered help, so in a carriage full of 12-15 people, the majority of them had the bystander effect where they just averted their eyes.

They all knew what was happening and they all chose to ignore it.

I thought 7-7.15pm was a pretty safe time to travel. The carriage was about a third full, I thought there were enough people around.

I thought about screaming and shouting but then I thought people may have mistaken me for being drunk and disorderly or it might have aggravated him and caused him to physically harm me.

A rape alarm would have done nothing because I was stuck in a carriage with this person, and criminal identifier spray, which would have painted his face red, would only help identify him after he sexually harassed me.

There was zero reassurance. They could have taken me off to a private corner or a private room but I felt like they didn't really care about what happened and they didn't alert BTP.

If Diego hadn't had helped me, they would have happily let me walk out on my own with someone potentially following me.

They could have got Diego's details because I was in absolutely no frame of mind to think: "I need to get his number for a witness statement" - I was in complete and utter shock. I really needed TfL to step in and say: "What happened, can we get your number, can we get a statement from you?"

I don't think handing a leaflet to a woman who's just gone through a situation like that is good enough.

It took me six days to report it to British Transport Police because I felt like I was going to be blamed. I think the majority of women understand what I mean when I say when a situation like this happens, we are used to being blamed for it happening - like you shouldn't have been wearing pink sexy heels, you shouldn't have looked at him, you should have run away, you should have done this.

However, when I did speak to BTP, they were incredibly efficient and fast; within 24 hours they had stills of him. I've heard from them four or fives times and they're definitely on it.

I've had thousands of women DM (direct message on social media) me with their experiences of sexual harassment, especially on public transport in London.

The most common message I received was from women saying men had sat opposite them on the Tube and touched and exposed themselves. A lot sent me videos of this. If you are on the Tube and you have to witness that for two to three minutes, that's pretty scarring while a man is staring you in the eye and licking his lips and touching himself and exposing himself to you.

There were a lot of women saying on crowded Tubes, men were taking the opportunity to rub their genitals against them and on a crowded Tube it's even harder to escape.

This was happening at all times of the day; it doesn't matter whether it's 1pm or 1am, women are still being sexually harassed.

What we should be seeking to do is prevent sexual harassment and assault from happening in the first place.

Men need to have more conversations about what it's like for women. They also need to have conversations not just with their female friends but their male friends. Every male friend I have spoken to has said: "Why didn't you scream? Why didn't you kick him?", and my response is: "You are a man, you have never felt intimidated by a larger man who is touching you sexually inappropriately.

"You will never understand how terrifying and scary that is. You must not tell me how I should have responded differently. You must just listen to how awful it is."

They can't pass judgement on women on how they handle these situations because they can't possibly understand or identify quite how terrifying it is. It adds to the victim blaming.

Two friends who were recently on a night out saw a woman being followed home. One of them offered her help and my other friend said he didn't know whether he should have as well, and the answer is always yes. If she doesn't want help she'll say so.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a police officer patrolling the Tube or at a Tube station.

Public sexual harassment should be a criminal offence. That would dramatically reduce sexual harassment and assault because the consequences that it would be a criminal offence if they were caught would potentially persuade them from doing it.

It's been going on for a long, long, time however women are only just finding their voice to say: "I'm tired of being blamed for this, I'm tired of this happening, I'm tired of not feeling safe." Women are getting to a point where they're so tired of it and sick of it that we're finally speaking up.

Women have had enough.

As told to Rebecca Cafe

Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi from British Transport Police said victims should not question whether to report harassment, as such information helped BTP to know where on the Tube network police officers, community support officers and security guards should be placed.

Siwan Hayward, TFL's director of compliance policing, operations and security, said TfL was shocked to hear about what happened and had apologised to Georgie.

She said it was enhancing training for staff, which would cover how to handle incidents sensitively and with compassion.

TfL has also launched a public campaign to highlight the different forms of harassment that take place on public transport and to encourage Londoners to look out for and support one other, and to engage bystanders to speak up so that perpetrators can be held accountable for their actions.

Passengers can report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable by texting 61016. If the offender is present, help points on the platform that connect straight to BTP can be used, or a report can be made to station staff who should contact BTP straight away.

TfL added that its leaflets to raise awareness of the issue of sexual harassment were not intended to be used to replace intervention by TfL staff or the police.