‘Staggering’: NSW Police hunt raft of alleged public transport offenders

A ‘staggering’ number of public transport workers are being assaulted in Australia’s biggest city, police say.

Sydney transport workers have been subjected to an onslaught of recent alleged violent attacks, police say, as a string of CCTV images are released in hopes of making arrests.

On Friday, NSW Police released images of 15 people they are looking for, who were allegedly involved in incidents dating back to November.

The 15 incidents involve Transport for NSW staff and members of the public allegedly being hit, kicked and spat on, exposed to sexual acts, and an adult allegedly directing a child to swipe a workers bag before stealing a phone.

Alleged offenders who NSW Police are searching for. Picture: NSW Police

“A staggering number of violent offences my officers respond to are against Transport for NSW staff,” transport police unit Detective Superintendent Andrew Evans said.

“These are hardworking people just trying to keep our trains, buses and light rails running and they don’t deserve this treatment.”

The list of 15 incidents where police are yet to make an arrest date back to November 13, and span Sydney’s train and bus networks. In that November 13 incident at Central Railway Station, a man without a ticket was asked to leave, but allegedly returned to the train and assaulted a worker and pushed them to the ground.

In February, a bus driver was allegedly punched in the head for not taking a man directly home. The incident happened on a bus travelling on Alcoomie Street in Villawood, about 5.30pm on February 24. A man wanted the bus driver to skip stops and take him straight home, and then assaulted the driver.

Police released images of 15 people on Friday. Picture: NSW Police

On a Monday morning train ride, police say a man “performed a sexual act” in the presence of a woman. The incident happened between Central and Bondi Junction stations, about 9.20am on April 7.

On April 17 at Lidcombe Station, police say a man directed a child to steal a transport worker’s bag, before the man took the worker’s phone.

NSW Police’s transport unit is conducting a dedicated operation to arrest these and other alleged public transport offenders.

“The goal of this operation is to arrest, charge and prevent these offenders from abusing further workers,” Superintendent Evans said.

“During this operation we plan to lockdown high traffic areas on our transport network, conduct multiple firearm prohibition order compliance checks and saturate the network with officers to weed out these offenders.”

Originally published as ‘Staggering’: NSW Police hunt raft of alleged public transport offenders