‘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
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Troy man scammed out of $200 after agreeing to send an online gift card
A resident of Troy, Michigan, received threats on the TikTok social network after someone had already requested money from him. The Troy Police Department said in its report that officers advised the man not to send any more money after he had already lost $200 by sending an Apple gift card to his original contact. According to the police report, the man had been messaging a woman after connecting with her online, and she offered to come to his apartment in exchange for the gift card. Then after providing his address, he received threatening messages demanding $500, or they would come and kill him." As an alternative, the original contact replied, "She did not know who was sending the threats, but if he sent her more money, she would block them from contacting him." Upon learning the circumstances on July 9, officers told the local man that this was a scam. The Michigan Attorney General's office urges residents to learn the signs of potential scams and report such attempts to authorities. "Never pay someone who insists you pay with a gift card or by using a money transfer service," the AG's office said.
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Boy Denied Chips—So He Brought in Backup and 'Called HR'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. After being told to stop eating chips, one young boy wasn't taking no for an answer and called in reinforcements to back him up—he FaceTimed his grandma. Before dishing up dinner, Jennifer, from Michigan, noticed that her son, Remington, was snacking on an awful lot of salt-and-vinegar chips. She didn't want him to spoil his appetite, so she asked her son, now 4, not to eat any more before dinner was ready. Needless to say, that didn't go down well. Jennifer told Newsweek that Remington "wasn't having it," and he didn't hesitate to call in the big guns to argue on his behalf. "He followed me into the kitchen with the phone and FaceTimed his Gammi to plead his case," Jennifer said. "It was such a bold move that I couldn't help but laugh. I caught the moment because it was just so classically him." After calling his grandma, Remington asked her to tell his mom to stop telling him not to eat chips. Indeed, he would stop at nothing to get those delicious chips, and he repeatedly said, "Gammi, tell mommy to stop." Remington speaks on FaceTime to his "Gammi" during the clip. Remington speaks on FaceTime to his "Gammi" during the clip. @heyremington / TikTok Jennifer was understandably taken aback by her son's antics, but she was also quite impressed at his quick thinking. He certainly provided her with a memorable moment. "He was so serious and persuasive about it, like he was presenting a legal case. That's their dynamic—he knows Gammi is on his side," Jennifer continued. His tactic worked in a way, because Remington was allowed to have some chips on the side of his plate as long as he ate his dinner, too. While he is usually very good at only eating in moderation, Jennifer said that "the chips were winning" that day. She captured her son's negotiating tactic in a video that was shared on TikTok (@heyremington). Internet users are obsessed with Remington's bargaining attempt, and at the time of writing, the video has gone viral with over 6 million views and more than 682,000 likes on TikTok. Jennifer has been blown away by the online response, and she is delighted that so many people could see the joy and humor her son provides daily. Plenty of people have praised Remington for being so articulate at such a young age, while others hailed the precious bond he undoubtedly shares with his Gammi. Remington knows that his grandma will always back him up, and she said that he will always find a way to send her "messages through his expressions." He knows she will get exactly what he is trying to say even without uttering anything. "Remington and Gammi are incredibly close. They talk multiple times a day—he calls her every morning, and she calls to say goodnight," Jennifer told Newsweek. "He also has twin cousins who are four months younger than him, and they FaceTime often. He's very familiar with using FaceTime because he loves staying connected to them and other family members, whether they're nearby or out of state." In just a matter of days, the viral TikTok video has already generated almost 30,000 comments. Social-media users have lauded Remington's iconic way of calling in reinforcements. One comment reads: "Not he called HR on you." Another TikTok user wrote: "He went straight to corporate. This complaint went straight on your file mam." A third person posted: "He knew to call his emergency contact and let her handle it." One commenter added: "[he] went straight to the manufacturer." Do you have any viral videos or pictures that you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@ and they could appear on our site.
3 hours ago
UK sanctions Russian intelligence officers who targeted Mariupol theater
LONDON -- The U.K. on Friday sanctioned Russian military intelligence units and officers it said were behind preparations for a 2022 bomb attack on a theater in southern Ukraine that killed hundreds of civilians. Britain's foreign ministry said it sanctioned 18 officers working for Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU. It said the officers were also accused of targeting the family of a former Russian spy who was later poisoned with a nerve agent. It said the units also carried out a campaign of cyberattacks over many years that aimed to sow chaos across Europe and undermine democratic institutions. 'GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens," U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. On March 15, 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Unit 26165 carried out online reconnaissance on civilian bomb shelters in Mariupol, southern Ukraine and in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, the British foreign ministry said. One of the targets was the Mariupol theater where civilians sheltering from Russian bombs had painted the words 'children' outside in the hope of sparing them. The next day, the theater was hit by Russian airstrikes which killed around 600 people, including many children, according to an Associated Press investigation. In 2013, officers from the same unit targeted the daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal with malware, the foreign ministry said. In 2018, Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury, in an attack the British government said was organized by Russian intelligence. The sanctions also targeted Africa Initiative, which the foreign ministry said employed Russian intelligence officers to carry out information operations in Africa including undermining public health programs and destabilizing various countries. The Associated Press is tracking Russia's campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe which ranges from cyberattacks and propaganda to arson and attempted assassination. More than 70 different attacks have been attributed to Russia by Western officials since the invasion. The military intelligence units sanctioned Friday also targeted foreign aid to Kyiv, ports, infrastructure and border crossings as well as technology companies, the foreign ministry said. Although targeting GRU officers with sanctions is likely to have limited effect, the foreign ministry said the goal is to raise awareness of Russia's campaign and raise the cost to individuals working for its services, including making it harder for them to travel.
