02 Feb Supporting Women’s Safety in Hammersmith
At Hammersmith BID, we’re working with local businesses and our partners across transport, policing, local government and the voluntary sector, to create a town centre where everyone feels safe and supported.
Transport for London (TfL) – ‘Act Like a Friend’
At the end of last year, Transport for London (TfL) launched its ‘Act Like a Friend’ campaign. Rather than looking away, the campaign is encouraging Londoners to safely support those experiencing hate crime, harassment and sexual offences on the transport network. It runs alongside warnings to perpetrators that abuse and antisocial behaviour won’t be tolerated.
Working with the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police to keep customers safe, TfL has around 2,000 police officers and 500 TfL Enforcement Officers patrolling. The approach supports Mayor Sadiq Khan’s commitment to improving safety for all, particularly women and girls, and those disproportionately impacted by these issues.
If it is safe to do so, bystanders can ‘Act Like a Friend’ by:
- Engaging in direct conversation with the person being targeted, as though you’re their friend
- Ignoring the perpetrator and focusing instead on the person affected
- Checking that the person targeted is okay following the incident
- Reporting incidents of hate crime, harassment and sexual offences happening across the network
- Text 61016 (British Transport Police – Tube & Rail)
- Call 101 (bus-related incidents)
- Call 999 (emergencies)
Suzy Lamplugh Trust – Active Bystander Training
To empower people to intervene safely, Hammersmith BID partnered with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to deliver a series of in-person active bystander training sessions to members of our Women’s Safety Forum, equipping attendees with practical tools to respond to harassment.
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust continues to hold regular 30-minute online training sessions, which you can sign up to here.
- Wednesday 11 February at 12.30 pm
- Tuesday 24 February at 12.00 pm
- Wednesday 25 February at 12.30 pm
- Wednesday 4 March at 1 pm
Women’s Night Safety Charter
In addition to hosting our Women’s Safety Forums in Hammersmith, we are also proud signatories of the Women’s Night Safety Charter.
The Charter is a direct response to Londoners’ call for the safety of women across the city to be a priority. The Charter forms part of the Mayor’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and London’s commitment to the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces global initiative.
Charter members sign up to several pledges, including:
- Nominating a women’s night safety champion
- Demonstrating, for example through communications campaigns, that women’s safety at night is being taken seriously
- Reminding customers and staff of the practical steps they can take if they experience or witness harassment
- Encouraging reporting by victims and bystanders
- Ensuring those who report incidents of harassment, hate crime or sexual offences are believed
- Recording and responding to all reports
- Designing public spaces and workplaces with women’s safety in mind
Hammersmith BID, along with other organisations across Hammersmith town centre, including All Bar One, Boots, Eventim Apollo, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, PureGym, Riverside Studios and Tesco, has made a commitment to these pledges.
We continue to attend regular Lunch ‘n’ Learn sessions and summits delivered by the Women’s Night Safety Charter, to ensure we are working effectively to make Hammersmith town centre safe.
Find out more about how to join.
Hammersmith BID – Women’s Safety Forum
We’ll also be hosting several events for Women’s History Month in March. Please sign up to our newsletter for the latest, and if you wish to find out more information from us directly, you can reach out via email.
Every woman has a right to feel safe in her city