Activists say UK government-backed proposal places onus on women to safeguard themselves rather than address societal problems
Labour and campaigners have criticised a government-backed proposal for a service to protect women travelling alone as “a sticking plaster solution” that fundamentally misunderstands the problem of violence against women.
The proposal by BT, which has reportedly received backing from the home secretary, would involve people calling or texting 888 to enter an estimated journey time before making a trip. The journey time would then be tracked by the phone’s GPS, with the app sending a message to check whether the user had got home and triggering calls to emergency contacts and to the police if the person failed to respond.