Sex pests are on the rise on the capital’s transport systems, a London Assembly member warned yesterday.

According to Labour group police and crime spokeswoman Joanne McCartney, sexual harassment across Transport for London services has increased by nearly a third in the last 12 months.

“A 29 per cent increase over the last four years is not just down to more people coming forward,” said Ms McCartney.

“It’s because sexual harassment is clearly becoming more of an issue.”

Transport unions lamented the new figures and argued that more staff needed to be made available to prevent these situations.

“There needs to be lot more staff on stations to act as both a deterrent and to provide assurance for female travellers,” rail union TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes told the Star.

“As a first step, the mayor should scrap his plans to close all Tube ticket offices, which we think will act as a green light for more crime and unsocial behaviour on the network.

“Then he should sit down with the unions and engage in serious talks about increasing staff on platforms and trains to make the Tube a safer place for all passengers.”

Ms McCartney has praised London Mayor Boris Johnson’s announcement of a new harassment awareness campaign, but deplored the delay in action.

“I am disappointed it has taken this long for the mayor to take notice,” she said.

Responding to Ms McCartney’s address to the assembly this week, Mr Johnson was only able to assure a “very pro-active” poster campaign to deal with the problem.