MORE than three-quarters of all London Underground workers have been verbally abused by passengers in the past year, a survey by the RMT transport union reveals today.

A fifth of these workers say they have experienced abuse more than 20 times a year.

Over a third of this abuse related to race, while one in 10 of the involved involved sexual harassment.

The RMT survey also reveals that almost one in five (18 per cent) of Tube staff have been physically assaulted in the past year.

Workers also pointed out that management’s failure to recruit new station staff has led to increased passenger anger at ticket barriers, as people vent their frustrations on workers who have often been left to cope on their own.

One comment from a worker that was submitted to the survey said: “There is a culture at London Underground where we are just expected to accept personal attacks and abuse as part of the job.”

Black and ethnic minority workers said some abusive passengers had told them to “go back to where they come from,” while others accused them of supporting terrorists or uttered racist slurs.

Workers also described being punched, spat at, slapped, headbutted, having knifes pulled on them and even passengers trying to push them in front of incoming trains.

The statistics were released to coincide with today’s Transport for London summit to discuss the growth of violence on the capital’s transport system.

The RMT is demanding “concrete action” at the summit.

General secretary Mick Cash said: “There is a growing tide of violence across the London transport network and RMT members are the sharp end on a daily basis.

“It is time for the employers to end the warm words and take decisive action to protect both their workforce and the travelling public.

“That means more staff, making the objective of ‘zero tolerance’ a reality rather than just a slogan, ensuring that decisive action is taken against those responsible for verbal and physical assaults and that those cases are well publicised to deter others.”