‘I was punched on the Tube but TfL failed to help me'
Sally Wynter said she was punched on the Victoria Line at Green Park station last Thursday.Nobody answered her call when she tried to use a help point to speak to the station's control centre and contact the police, Ms Wynter said.
'I was on my phone standing to the side of the doors,' she said.'A bunch of people got off, maybe eight or nine people. I didn't see anyone before I felt someone punch me in the side of the arm and knock me with that same fist into the glass [partition].'I screamed out once I sort of got myself together, I was like 'What the f--- did you just do? You f-----g hit me!''
She said she asked passengers if anyone had seen the man assault her, but that bystanders did that 'very British thing' with just one person 'mumbling'.'People waiting to get on definitely saw it happen,' she added. 'But unfortunately, no one came up to me. That's the bystander effect in reality.'
Credit: TikTok/ @Sallyhooha
She got off the train and pressed the emergency button at Green Park station.
'Basically that help [point] was not manned, so the intercom never connected. I pressed it about four times,' Ms Wynter said, explaining that she eventually gave up and went upstairs to the ticket office where she could get mobile phone signal.'I was there for about half an hour while I was on the phone to the police. There were basically multiple failings,' she continued.'It puts people's lives in danger because it's funnelling towards something that isn't very helpful and might not even be the right thing, to be honest.'
Now the startup entrepreneur has called for Sir Sadiq Khan, who oversees Transport for London (TfL) in his role as Mayor of London, to investigate why the help point failed to work – and to audit the thousands of help points dotted around the capital's rail network.
She added that she had 'not heard from Sadiq Khan yet', despite making public calls on LinkedIn and TikTok for the Mayor to contact her.
However, she said that Andy Lord, the TfL commissioner, has emailed her to apologise for the handling of the incident.
Last year, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) opened an investigation into the 4,500 help points on the mainline rail network across the country.The regulator said in November that 'not all station operators have systems and processes in place to reliably operate their help points, or reliably answer calls from them', adding that a quarter of help points were not working when inspected.TfL said in a 2020 freedom of information (FOI) response that its platform help points typically called a phone in the station office. If the call is not answered within '30 seconds or so' it is diverted to the London Underground Control Centre (LUCC).'When an emergency call is diverted to the LUCC, it is presented in our priority queue as an emergency call and they are answered within a few seconds. Typically, this would be within two to three rings,' said the FOI response, which was published on TfL's website.Siwan Hayward, TfL's director for security, policing and enforcement, said the transport authority was 'investigating as a matter of urgency' why Ms Wynter did not receive immediate help.'Safety is our top priority and we are truly sorry for the experience that Ms Wynter had seeking help at one of our stations,' said Ms Hayward. 'It must have been very distressing and it should not have happened.'Everyone should feel safe when travelling on our network. If anyone is a victim or witness of a crime they should be able to access help and support straight away. We train our staff to support customers and to help report incidents to the police.'
A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: 'The Mayor's thoughts are with Sally Wynter following the incident she experienced on the London Underground last week. Everyone should be and feel safe in London. The British Transport Police are investigating and an arrest has been made. The Mayor urges anyone with information to get in touch with them.'All passengers who use the TfL network deserve to be and feel safe, with complete confidence that if things do go wrong, help is always available. In most cases, TfL staff serve Londoners incredibly well, taking deep pride in delivering an excellent service and supporting customers when needed, including in complex and sometimes distressing situations.'
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
D.C. residents flood social media to counter Trump's crime claims
A new TikTok trend is taking off in D.C. following President Trump's federal takeover, with locals posting their "love letters" to the District. Why it matters: Crime in D.C. has become a national talking point, and some residents are trying to flip the script. The big picture: Trump earlier this week said the District has "been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people" — a depiction some locals disagree with. Meanwhile, violent crime is declining in D.C., as are homicides — although the latter is still higher than it was a decade ago. State of play: TikTokers are sharing images of what they love about the city over background audio of Trump's claims that D.C. is teeming with crime. Some X users began posting lists of "Things I'm Actually Scared of as a D.C. Resident," sharing tongue-in-cheek answers like " Exiting Northwest Stadium," " Whitlows" and " middle school tour groups." Meanwhile, some residents made their opinions known offline via protests against Trump's takeover.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Don't snoop through your partner's phone. Learn to sleuth instead
Put yourself in Emma's shoes: You're scrolling on your phone and get a text notification that says, 'Hey girly, your boyfriend said you guys would have a threesome with me, and I think he didn't tell you about that.' Would you (a) ignore the message or (b) look through his conveniently unattended phone? If you chose (b), don't feel too bad. Nearly 30% of American adults say it's at least sometimes acceptable to look through a significant other's phone without permission, according to a Pew Research Center survey. 'I have looked through many of my partners' phones, and I definitely have quite a few stories,' said Emma, who didn't want to include her last name to protect her privacy. An age-old debate surrounding phone snooping has been revived by the July breakup between JaNa Craig and Kenny Rodriguez, stars of the 2024 season of the reality dating show 'Love Island USA.' 'Discovering that someone you loved isn't who you thought they were and that the relationship you thought you were building hasn't been genuine since day one has been truly devastating,' Craig wrote in an Instagram story post confirming the split. Craig's friend then took to Instagram to advise other women in relationships to 'go thru your mans phone TODAY' if they had access. (Craig and Rodriguez haven't confirmed the more specific details of their breakup.) Searching through someone's phone may not be aligned with a person's character and values, but they might have valid suspicions and no other way find the truth — so they look. Doing so may turn out to be fair game when you learn incriminating information, according to divorce lawyer Dennis R. Vetrano, who is also a mediator and content creator based in New York's Hudson Valley. Not so much to this psychologist. 'In general, I think that invading another person's private space — whether it's snooping on their phone, reading their personal journal, or invading their physical space — is unethical without their permission,' said Dr. Cortney Warren, board certified clinical psychologist and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Snooping also can be illegal, depending on privacy laws in your state or other jurisdiction, so it's not advised that you go through your partner's phone, according to Vetrano. But is such snooping even necessary anymore? With so much out in the public sphere online, do you really need to snoop? Why not replace snooping with sleuthing? Do you need to look through a partner's phone? The easy answer is no. While snooping is considered a breach of privacy because you're searching for information someone hasn't given you permission to access, with sleuthing you're working with information that's available in an online public space. And so many people are online: Seventy percent of American adults are on Facebook, 50% on Instagram, and 33% on TikTok, according to a 2024 survey. Sleuthing is easier these days with the creation of websites that can locate dating profiles, apps that track location, and most notably, social media platforms that allow you to see everyone who a person follows and the content they like. It's all there for anyone to mine. That was the case with Emma. 'I had already been kind of suspicious of this boyfriend for a while,' Emma said. 'So I was sleuthing through (his) TikTok following, and it was just girl after girl after girl of those OnlyFans models and anime cosplayers that, you know, cosplay minor characters in very inappropriate ways.' Is sleuthing OK to do? 'Technology is out there to track everything that you do, so I think the question — is it the right thing to do — is really something that we have to center on,' said Dr. Angela Corbo, a professor and chair of the department of communication studies at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. As far as Emma was concerned, going through her previous partners' social media followings was justified because she was accessing public information and she ended up finding evidence of behavior she didn't like. 'I had been very straight up with my partners, and I don't like (them) following OnlyFans models because honestly, it was kind of embarrassing when everybody can see that your partner is liking photos and sharing weird adult content videos publicly,' she said. When it comes to social media, people can formulate an image of what another person is like based on who they follow and the content with which they interact. 'I think social media is a great way of getting an idea without waiting for someone to show you, or without having to break someone's boundaries and invade their privacy,' said Diana Prime, a relationship coach on Instagram and TikTok. 'If someone has adult-rated content, if they're following OnlyFans models, that is enough to not continue a relationship with that person because it gives you an insight to what they do.' Is snooping through someone's phone still wrong? Yes, Warren said. Snooping is also a sign of other troubles, such as not respecting your partner, Prime said. In that case, you're 'not going to think twice about invading their privacy.' Generally, sleuthing 'is different in the sense that the material online is often public — so the deceptive element of violating a partner's personal boundaries is less pronounced,' said Warren, author of 'Letting Go of Your Ex: CBT Skills to Heal the Pain of a Breakup and Overcome Love Addiction.' Think of it like this: Say you're sitting beside a partner and happen to glimpse a notification on their phone. 'You've done nothing wrong,' Corbo said. 'I think it's when you go behind somebody's back to retrieve information that they're not giving you permission for — I think that's when a violation has occurred.' You're already in breakup territory if you're feeling like your partner's behavior leaves you no other option but to snoop. 'That's a deeper-rooted problem that will lead to bigger issues down the road, and that's enough to walk away from someone, because what happens when you find information by snooping is that you hurt your own feelings times 10,' she said. 'It will do you more damage to snoop through that person's phone than to honor your own intuition about something being off,' Prime added. 'What within you wants to play things out, versus just trusting yourself the first time?' If your ex-partners have treated you badly and you're regularly suspicious of a partner who hasn't given you a reason to be, Corbo suggested evaluating your feelings and considering the evidence before you assume the worst. Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. CNN's Kristen Rogers contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
‘Fairly unexceptional' US lady hired as hitwoman is convicted in attempted UK slay
A 'fairly unexceptional' Wisconsin woman was convicted of attempted murder Tuesday after she was shockingly hired to kill a British storeowner — and failed only because her gun jammed. Aimee Betro, 45, of West Allis, WI, was part of a slay plot targeting Sikander Ali outside his home in Birmingham, England, on Sept. 7, 2019, UK authorities said. The planned hit was triggered by a fight at a Birmingham clothing boutique owned by Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad, in July 2018 which left two men — Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31 — injured, a jury was told. Betro had previously met Nazir on a dating app. '[Betro was] a fairly unexceptional individual. On the face of it, a normal-looking individual, prepared to do an outrageous, audacious and persistent murder,' said Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas from West Midlands Police's major crime unit to BBC News. 4 'Fairly unexceptional' Aimee Betro of Wisconsin has been found guilty of trying to shoot a UK storeowner. Dramatic security footage from the shooting scene showed Betro, who had almost no previous 'criminal footprint,' approaching Ali's car and firing her gun at him at point-blank range, prosecutors said. Betro allegedly hid her identity at the time using a headscarf. But her gun jammed, allowing Ali to flee, prosecutors said. Betro later allegedly goaded Ali's father Mahumad by text. 'Where are you hiding?' she texted the dad. 'Stop playing hide and seek, you are lucky it jammed.' 4 Betro was extradited from Armenia to face a British court in January. Hours later, Betro took a taxi to Ali's home and fired three gunshots at the property, which was empty at the time, before flying home to the US the next day. Betro had allegedly traveled to the UK on two previous occasions after meeting Nazir on an app. 4 Betro was hired by Mohammed Nazir and his father to kill a man in Birmingham, England. West Midlands Police/SWNS Calling her crimes 'brazen,' Orencas said there didn't 'seem to be a whole lot of effort to avoid detection.' In October 2019, just weeks after the bizarre failed murder bid, Betro took part in another of Nazir's revenge plots on a rival, authorities said. She mailed three parcels of ammunition and gun parts to the UK, addressed to a man in the central English city of Derby, with the plan being that Nazir would tip off police and frame him for the crime, they said. 4 Nazir's father, Mohammed Aslam, was sentenced over the plot, too. West Midlands Police/SWNS The innocent man was arrested but later released without charge after Nazir's 'devious scheme' came to light, prosecutors said. Betro's DNA was found on the gun parts and ammo inside the box, and she was seen in security footage at a post office 100 miles from her home sending the parcels under a fake name, the jury was told. She tried to claim that the woman in the footage wasn't her, but just someone who dressed, looked and sounded like her. Nazir and Aslam were jailed for 32 years and 10 years respectively in November for their role in the planned hit, while Betro was extradited from Armenia, where she was living, in January to face trial in the UK. Wearing a purple t-shirt and with her hair in space buns, Betro appeared emotionless as she was convicted Tuesday of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol with intent to cause fear of violence, and illegally importing ammunition. She was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced Aug. 21.
