See it, say it, not sorted. I was let down when I reported my train sexual assault

By Olga Sawczuk Published 27 June 2026, 01:34 BST Updated 1 minute ago At about 11pm on a Saturday night a couple of weeks ago, Esme Rice was on the Elizabeth Line that runs across London. She was travelling home after dinner with friends in Farringdon when two men boarded the busy carriage she was in. "One of the men tried getting my attention," Esme says, "but I ignored him and waited for my stop." As the train was pulling into Stratford station, one of the men stroked Esme's back. The second man stood in her way as she tried to get off, and as she hurried past him, Esme says he groped her. "It all happened so quickly it took a moment for my brain to catch up," she says. "I turned towards them and they were grinning, like it was a joke. Then, they were gone. "I stood on the platform feeling stunned, afraid and violated." It was a typical lively Saturday evening with plenty of people around, but no police officers. Then words Esme had heard many times on trains and at stations suddenly echoed in her head. "See it. Say it. Sorted." She texted the British Transport Police (BTP) on 61016, the dedicated line for reporting non-emergency incidents on the rail network. The BTP say they will respond to any crime - from antisocial behaviour to terrorism - within their jurisdiction, which covers more than 10,000 miles of track and roughly 3,000 stations. An automated reply came back which said Esme's report mattered and that someone would call her "shortly". Then Esme was asked via text message to provide more detail, so she sent descriptions of what had happened, when and where, and waited for their call. Going public with the assault But 13 hours after being sexually assaulted on one of the country's busiest transport networks, Esme still had not heard back from anyone. So she decided to post about her experience on social media. "I recorded myself with my phone, describing the incident, saying how frustrated I was about the lack of response, and included a screenshot of the message I'd received from police," she says. Esme posted the videos onto her Instagram and TikTok accounts and within an hour, they had been viewed thousands of times. She says there were hundreds of comments, including messages from women who said they understood exactly what she was talking about. "Not long after that I received a call from the BTP," Esme says. "They told me they had opened an investigation and arranged a time to take my statement." Details of help and support with sexual abuse or violence are available at BBC Action Line BTP told the BBC their call that day had not been prompted by Esme's video. "But I couldn't ignore the timing," she says. "I had reported the assault privately and heard nothing. "I spoke publicly, and suddenly there was urgency." A day later, a comment from BTP's official social media account appeared among the hundreds of others alongside Esme's video. "We're sorry you have been subjected to this awful behaviour on the railway. We treat all rep