‘I was punched in the face, spat at and racially abused for challenging a Tube fare dodger'

Independent

a day ago

Garthfeild Whyte has been punched, spat at and racially abused - all in the line of his work that is only getting more dangerous.
Violence, aggression and anti-social behaviour have become a typical part of his job patrolling London's Tube network on the hunt for fare evaders.
The 47-year-old is a Transport Support Enforcement Officer at Transport for London (TfL) and can recall several incidents where fare dodgers have lashed out after being questioned, putting his safety at risk.
Mr Whyte is not alone - more than 800 reports of physical incidents were made by TfL staff over the past year.
This figure balloons when verbal aggression is included, with more than 10,490 reports of work-related violence and aggression made by TfL workers in 2023/24 - a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. About half of these incidents were triggered by approaching fare evaders.
Mr Whyte was grabbed by a passenger who tried to fare dodge at Tottenham Court Road earlier this month.
'He came through the gate behind one of his friends, and I tried to engage by sticking up my arm, which is a non-aggression approach,' Mr Whyte said, recalling the incident.
'He just immediately grabbed me up and tried to intimidate me, trying to prove his point to say that he's a strong man and he can handle me,' he added.
Mr Whyte and his colleagues managed to de-escalate the situation and tried to take the man's details. The police were called, and the man was arrested.
During a separate incident in Stratford last year, a person shouted racial abuse that left him 'trembling', and even talking about it 'brings back that trauma', he said.
In another incident in May last year, Mr Whyte was again the victim of racist abuse, punched in the face and spat at by a man at Finsbury Park station who did not have a ticket.
'He was racial and was making passing remarks in regard to my sister. My sister died three years ago, so that brought up some more trauma,' Mr Whyte explained.
However, he managed to get a swab of his spit and took it to the police station.
They found the attackers' DNA and discovered he was also wanted for a robbery, which happened a couple of days before.
Often, there is no specific reason for aggression towards station staff other than being stopped for fare evasion.
'We don't know the reason or what is triggering the aggression, it could be some psychological stuff or maybe it could be the weather, economical or private stuff at home, it could be anything,' Mr Whyte explained.
'Once you disrupt their livelihood or their day-to-day activities, you are going to be at fault,' he added.
He admitted that when he first started the job almost five years ago, he used to fear approaching people in case someone was carrying a knife.
'I used to have that fear, but not anymore because you need to engage to be able to get a response, and you are trained how to respond,' he said.
'But new starters especially have that fear,' he added.
Over the past year, more than 480 bladed weapons, such as a knife, have been confiscated by the British Transport Police, who work alongside Mr Whyte and his colleagues.
He recalled one incident last year at Seven Sisters station, where a man was seen reaching for something, which staff assumed was a weapon.
'We approached him, and he became violent and reached for something in his bag and because we didn't know what it was, we had to physically restrain him,' he said.
'In that instance, I was really fearful for myself and my colleagues getting hurt,' he explained.
Mr Whyte explained that 'getting hands-on is a last resort' and if it is not safe, he does not approach people.