VIOLENCE against women on British trains has risen by 50 per cent in two years, with the reports of sexual harassment also doubling.

British Transport Police say that many of these offences occur during rush hour, when trains are at their fullest, and people – well, mainly men – use the crush as an excuse.

These are shocking figures. It cannot be right that half the population feels threatened on a daily basis, that women are becoming used to feeling uneasy when on public transport because of the leering, catcalling, touching and pressing, and far worse.

Hard on the heels of the riots, where a small number of thugs picked on vulnerable communities, this targeting of women suggests there is something deeply unpleasant happening to our society.

Labour, to be fair to it, was aware of this phenomenon, and during the election pledged to halve the violence against women and girls in a decade, with 80 new specialist rape courts to ensure justice is done.

There is a disconnect: the rioters thought that there was little chance of them being caught, just as the men who use their power to abuse women on trains think they will get away with it.

Some voices are calling for women-only carriages on trains, but that segregation does not tackle the root causes and will make women in other carriages feel even more vulnerable when we should be making sure every carriage is safe for everybody.

We do need swift justice and proper sentences, but we also need to go back to the days when there were bobbies on the beat, cashiers on the tills in supermarkets and railway staff on the platforms and in the trains.