Almost 1,000 abusive incidents have been recorded against railway staff this year.

Southeastern - which provides services across the county and into London - revealed on average, its staff were abused 250 times a month last year.

The figures, given in a Freedom of Information request, include physical attacks, spitting, verbal abuse, and hate crime.

Most recently-available statistics show that between January and May this year, there have been 986 incidents, 544 of which were verbal but non-threatening.

Exactly 3,000 reports were made by Southeastern staff last year, which is 21% more than in 2019, the last year timetables were not affected by lockdowns.

In 2021, there were 2,419 reports of both threatening and non-threatening verbal attacks, and 385 physical attacks.

In the same year, spitting accounted for 75 incidents and hate crime 121.

Over the last three years, Southeastern has seen an average of 30 physical attacks on its staff a month.

The worst recorded month for all types of abuse against train staff was October 2021 in which 300 incidents occurred.

Reacting to the stats, Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary who lead a walkout of thousands of train staff on Wednesday, said: "These stats are dreadful and show an unacceptable rise in attacks on railway staff.

"It is incumbent on Southeastern to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our members.

"The employer has a duty of care to their staff, including seeking prosecution of those individuals who abuse and assault railway workers.

"RMT will defend its members safety by any means at its disposal and does not rule out taking industrial action if the situation does not improve."

In response to the figures, Southeastern said they have mental health support for all members of staff, are funding patrols from British Transport Police (BTP), and have 1,000 body worn cameras to give out to staff who feel they need them.

A joint statement from the company and the force issued in response to the figures said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding any abuse of our colleagues who are simply doing their job.

"Working closely with the British Transport Police, Southeastern will always prosecute those who are abusive, and so our message is clear: any attack on our staff will be dealt with under the full weight of the law.

“We have put in place robust measures from offering body-worn video (BWV) to any of our frontline colleagues who request it, making would-be attackers think again, and we’ve put in place additional staffing on gatelines, to protect everyone who uses the railway."

Any passengers who see inappropriate behaviour whilst travelling are encouraged to text BTP on 61016.