Safety: Patrols are clamping down on bus thefts and violence

Bus crime increased by nearly a fifth in Barking and Dagenham in the last year to April, figures reveal.

Passengers and drivers dealt with 482 crimes including 143 instances of violence, 176 thefts and 76 reports of criminal damage.

But the statistics show that bus crime fell by four per cent and transport crime by seven per cent overall in the capital.

The Lib Dem group sitting on the London Assembly argued the London-wide figures quoted by Transport for London were “misleading” and risked damaging public trust in statistics.

Lib Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon said: “It is simply wrong to suggest that bus crime is falling across the whole of London, when in fact in more than one third of boroughs it is increasing and in some boroughs significantly.”

TfL said that Barking and Dagenham Safer Transport Team was working to bring down bus offences in particular thefts, which account for more than half the increase.

A spokesman said: “Officers undertake high visibility patrols on the bus network every day, carry out targeted policing operations to deal with issues like theft and engage with passengers around crime prevention advice.”