When I moved to London two years ago, my friends who already lived in the capital shared various warnings. From the cost of housing to the oppressive heat of the Central Line in summer – they tempered my excitement at moving to the big city with sober, sensible advice. But more than anything, the one message I heard time and again was striking: don’t get your phone out on the street.
I’d read numerous articles about London’s growing phone-theft epidemic, but it wasn’t until I moved here that I realised quite how prevalent it had become. My brother-in-law’s phone was stolen within moments of him stepping out of his gym on the Strand. A friend’s was wrestled from her hands in Soho. And sure enough, it wasn’t long before it happened to me.
I’d stepped out of Oval tube station, in broad daylight, and was about to turn into my road when… snatch. My iPhone was lifted straight out of my hand by a teenager on a bike. Rightly or wrongly, I blamed myself. I’d had enough warnings, after all. Yet it also felt like a perverse rite of passage. An initiation ceremony for life in Sadiq Khan’s London. Mine was now among the more than 70,000 phones stolen in the capital in 2024.
It is hard to overstate the scale of the problem. Freedom of Information data shows that a phone was stolen every 15 minutes in Westminster alone last year – 94 a day and over 34,000 in total. Londoners have been forced to adapt – I almost never get my phone out in public now, and if I do, I stand with my back to a wall and clutch it as close to my person as possible. But tourists are just as likely to fall victim. Sadly, many now return home with their smartphone replaced by a scare-story about the state of the UK.
One might expect the Mayor of London to adopt the issue as one of his immediate priorities. Instead, it has now been left to high-street retailers to raise awareness. Currys has now launched a campaign called ‘Mind the Grab’ – with a bold purple line and signage added to the pavement outside its store on Oxford Street. The retailer is also piloting a new training scheme for staff to support victims – from contacting loved ones and the police, to cancelling cards and getting them home safely.
It is noble of Currys to launch such a campaign, but it is utterly depressing that a high street retailer feels compelled to tackle an issue that is so squarely the responsibility of the police and the Mayor’s office. The Met is supporting ‘Mind the Grab’ and claims to have increased patrols in hotspots. Yet when my phone was stolen within sight of several CCTV cameras last November, my case was still closed within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, on TikTok, a viral post contrasts the difference approaches taken by Singapore and London when it comes to sexual assault on public transport. In Singapore, train carriages are adorned with warning posters that state, ‘If you molest, we will arrest’. In London, tubes now carry posters that advise victims simply to ‘distract’ their attacker ‘with a question’.
From phone theft to sexual assault, retailers, influencers and campaign groups are filling the void that should have been filled by the authorities long ago. ‘Mind the Grab’ is welcome, but it should never have been needed in the first place.
Comments