Female passenger groped on Tube by two men 'waited 13 hours for police to respond to her call for help'

Published: 11:18, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 11:27, 18 June 2026 A female passenger groped on the Tube by two men claims she waited 13 hours for police to respond to her call for help.  Esme Rice, 31, said she was sexually assaulted by the men - who she believes to be buskers - while alighting an Elizabeth Line train in Stratford station, east London, at around 11pm on June 6.  Ms Rice, from Hackney Wick, then proceeded to text the British Transport Police (BTP) on 61016 within two minutes of the alleged attack, however, said officers did not respond until midday the next day. The marketing agency founder said she feels 'massively let down' by how the incident was handled, and has since shared her story on social media to raise awareness. BTP said all reports of sexual offences are taken 'extremely seriously' by the force and that 'time and time again,' it has assisted in bringing people to justice. Ms Rice, who had been out to dinner with a friend before getting on the Tube at Farringdon station, said the two men got on the line at either Liverpool Street station or Whitechapel station. Describing the alleged assault, Ms Rice said: 'They immediately started trying to get my attention. One of them was playing music on a violin within inches of my face. I was just ignoring them. 'I was groped by two men. I was getting off the train at the time that it happened, so I had no opportunity to process this before the doors were shut and they were already gone.  Esme Rice (pictured) claims she waited 13 hours for police to respond to her call for help after being sexually assaulted by two men on a Tube Ms Rice said she was sexually assaulted by the men while alighting an Elizabeth Line train in Stratford station  'I really just wanted to get out of there and get home.' Two minutes after the alleged attack, Ms Rice texted 61016 - the dedicated text service for BTP. She said she then 'waited up for hours' for a call back from the force, but did not hear back from them until 13 hours later - when they then asked her to speak with them that Monday to give a statement.  She described the experience as 'harrowing' - but said it was made worse by the lack of action from the BTP.  Ms Rice said: 'I was really scared. It is just harrowing and you feel so unsafe. I know that I can't fight anyone off, I am not going to get physical with anyone. 'You just feel uneasy knowing that the safety blanket that you think is there of the officers is not there. 'It is shocking because those men stayed on that train and could have continued assaulting people. 'I texted and I knew exactly where they were at that time, and if police had come at that moment on that train they would have been caught and stopped. It just feels very disappointing.'  Ms Rice said she feels 'massively let down' by how the incident was handled However, Ms Rice said she does not place blame on BTP for the slow response time, but rather cites what she believes it is their lack of funding and resources. An appeal has since been issued for the two men related to the reported assault. Ms Rice said: 'I feel massively let down. It has been very impactful.  'You get sexually assaulted and then there is a second wave of realising that it is going to go nowhere. Nobody is going to come and help you. 'Me coming out and saying this is not against the BTP. They do not have the resources or structure currently to support against the amount of sexual assaults that are actually happening.' After sharing her experience online, Ms Rice said she received an outpouring of messages from women who have been through a similar thing. She said:  'I am just angry. I just feel like this has happened to me so many times. 'I am equally saddened as I am empowered to use my voice and try to do something about it because it just feels like unless we speak up about it we don't know what is actually being done. Ms Rice shared her story online, where she received an outpouring of messages from woman with similar experiences 'My biggest thing is the amount of people who have resonated with it. Every hour I am receiving messages, DMs, comments, of someone else sharing their story of this happening to them.' A spokesperson from the BTP said dealing with sexual offences on their railway is a 'force priority'. They said:  'We're tireless in our efforts to raise public awareness of when and how to report crime, such as using our discreet text-to-report service.  'No report is too small or too trivial - every single sex offence reported to us is taken extremely seriously and we will always do everything in our power to bring predatory sex offenders to justice. 'The 61016 number receives over a quarter of a million texts every year - and this figure continues to rise as confidence grows among passengers in reporting historically underreported crimes, such as sexual offending. 'This isn't misplaced confidence, as we've shown time and time again that we won't stop until we've caught offenders, put them before the courts, and secured justice for victims.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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