We’re going on a Virgin Voyages cruise in a few weeks and embarkation is out of Portsmouth, in the U.K. Although my husband Joe had been to London for about a day and a half last year, as part of his trip to Portmeirion (Fun Fact! he was offered an escort in London!), I hadn’t been to jolly ol’ England since before the pandemic – so I’m itching to go back. And we’re cruising with some friends of ours who’ve never been to England. So we decided we HAD to spend a few days in London and take part in some touristy goodness.
Because of how our travel plans are working out, it makes the most sense for us to store our luggage for part of a day. Joe had used Bounce, with great success, during his trip to the UK in 2024, so I was checking out their website. While there, I found a blog post of theirs, from February of this year, that showed their research into which train station had the most incidents of pickpocketing.
How they got the info
Just like in the U.S., UK citizens are allowed to request certain information held by public authorities. It’s called the Freedom of Information Act 2000, or FOI for short. In January, 2025, Bounce submitted an FOI request to the British Transport Police, asking for:
The number of theft from the person (including pickpocketing) offences (HO class: 39 as outlined by the Home Office https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk…) recorded at each rail station of all services under the jurisdiction of BTP during the 2024 calendar year (1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024).
And they used that information to determine which train stations had the most incidents of pickpocketing.
The stations with the most pickpocketing incidents
All told, there were just under 14,000 pickpocketing offenses in rail stations that were recorded in 2024. The stations that had the most were:
- King’s Cross St. Pancras (506 pickpocketing offenses) – Of course, as a particularly busy train terminal (it’s one of London’s busiest) it stands to reason that pickpockets would be very successful there.
- Oxford Circus Underground Station (467 pickpocketing offenses) – Oxford Circus is in London’s busiest shopping districts and is always chock full of commuters, shoppers and tourists.
- Finsbury Park Railway Station (433 pickpocketing offenses) – Bounce says, “This station is a major interchange for National Rail, the Underground, and several bus routes, meaning thousands of people pass through daily. With so many commuters switching between services, it’s easy for pickpockets to blend into the crowd.”
- Euston Railway Station (424 pickpocketing offenses) – Euston is another railway stop where several trains, both local and to far-out destinations, intermingle. This makes for more people and more opportunities for pickpocketers to do their thing.
- Tottenham Court Railway Underground Station (347 offenses) – This stop is near Oxford Street, Soho and the West End – popular shopping and entertainment areas. With people carrying shopping bags, cameras or phones, it’s a popular place for pickpocketers to go “shopping,” too, if you know what I mean.
How to not be a victim of pickpocketing
There have been plenty of places that have written how to avoid being pickpocketed. Here are a few good ones:
- WikiHow: How to prevent being pickpocketed
- Rick Steve’s Europe: Outsmarting pickpockets and thieves
- Center for Security: 8 tips to protect yourself from pickpockets
- LifeHacker: How to not get pickpocketed
- Allianz Global Assistance: How to avoid being pickpocketed
What we do
Joe and I use a smart combination of certain behaviors, plus specific equipment to help decrease our chances of being pickpocketed. As all the websites above suggest, we carry as little as possible. We don’t keep our phone, money or other valuables out for extended periods of time. And, of course we’re hyper vigilant.
We’re written in the past that we use a PacSafe portable safe for our computers, etc., when we’re not in our hotel room. We’ve also both purchased anti-theft PacSafe backpacks for when we’re traveling from hotel to hotel, so our computers, passports, etc. remain safe (PacSafe backpacks have slash-resistent stramps, a metal mesh interior, and complicated zipper locks designed to slow a potential pickpocket down.
For this upcoming trip, I’ve also gotten a smaller backpack that will be able to hold small essentials but have the same anti-theft technology as our “hotel to hotel” backpacks.
AND to protect my phone from someone who may want to grab it out of my hand, I’ve gotten a PacSafe cut-resistant lanyard that I’m going to attach to my phone.
Hopefully all our planning will keep our stuff safe in London. Fingers crossed!
Feature Photo: Public Domain
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2 comments
Why are the posts not appearing in my rss feeder? Did something get messed up on the site? Thanks.
Hi! We tried to email you directly regarding your question but the email bounced back “because the address couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail.”
Anyway, we sometimes (typically on weekends, but also sometimes when or both of us are out of town on business), republish posts to the site, as “In Case You Missed It” entries. When we do, those posts don’t show up in our RSS feed.