GMB Union has joined the London Assembly Transport Committee in calling for a new specific offence of assaults on transport workers.
In addition to public transport workers and taxi and private hire drivers, the union has also called for this to cover those working in aviation.
Unlike retail workers, transport workers are not highlighted as a specific group within the Crime and Policing Bill despite the shocking scale of abuse they face on the job.
Currently the bill introduces a new standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker which will have a maximum penalty of six months in prison.
TfL figures show an average of 200 incidents of work-related violence and aggression against its staff every week, while an FOI request to the Metropolitan Police uncovered 142 alleged assaults against taxi and private hire drivers in the capital over just a six-month period from November 2023 to May 2024.
A recent GMB survey of hundreds of frontline airport workers revealed that 88 per cent had suffered abuse at work, with workers experiencing abuse on check-in desks, planes, trains, buses, and taxis no longer a rare event.
Steve Garelick, GMB Regional Organiser, said:
"The scale of violence and aggression against transport workers is staggering.
"Sadly, we hear from members that it has become an expected part of the job.
“As a union with thousands of members in the retail sector, we welcome the provision made in the bill to cover those people working in retail as a new standalone offence, but we believe this should be extended to cover other frontline workers in transport too.”
"Those who abuse transport workers cannot be allowed to act with impunity any longer.”
