LEYTONSTONE had the highest number of recorded crimes for Waltham Forest underground stations in the last year.

The Tube stop on Church Lane had 48 crimes committed, closely followed by Leyton Underground Station, on High Road, Leyton, with 33.

Victoria line stop Walthamstow Central, in Selborne Road, Walthamstow, saw 32 offences committed between August 2010 and July 2011 while 20 crimes were recorded at Blackhorse Road.

Fifteen violent crimes occurred at Leytonstone station, along with one sexual offence, five cases of theft from a passenger, eight cycling crimes, two cases of robbery and seven drug-related offences.

Woodford Underground station, in Charteris Road, Woodford Green, also came high locally with 28 crimes recorded.

These include nine violent crimes, two cases of criminal damage, six cycle offences, two drug-related offences and one case of robbery.

Hainault recorded 19 crimes, Wanstead Tube Station 14, while South Woodford and Snaresbrook had 10 and nine respectively.

Debden station had Epping Forest’s highest amount of crime with 22 separate cases. Six of these were violent crimes,nine were cycle offences, two were cases of criminal damage while there was also three cases of theft of railway property.

Epping station had 20 crimes, Loughton had 18 while Theydon Bois had just seven and Chigwell just two.

Stratford Underground station had 42 violent crimes committed.

Victoria had the most reported cases of pickpocketing with 80, closely followed by Oxford Circus, heavily used by tourists, with 72 and Piccadilly Circus with 59.

A spokeswoman for the British Transport Police (BTP) said: “Overall from the year 2005/06 to the year 2010/11 crime on the Tube has actually decreased by nearly 10 per cent. This shows that the Tube is a safe environment and getting safer.

“The reduction in crime is due to the highly-visible policing style that BTP operates on the Tube and the use of intelligence and crime pattern analysis to ensure that officers are deployed to the stations and locations where they are needed most.

“In addition, the Tube network is covered by more than 12,000 CCTV cameras which are invaluable to BTP in investigating crime.”

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