Pickpocketing on the Underground has doubled in the last two years, new figures have revealed.

Theft from passengers on the Overground and DLR has also increased, though on buses it has gone down.

There were 5,128 reported snatches on the Tube in 2018/19, compared with 3,485 the previous year, and just 2,532 the year before, after Sadiq Khan took office.

That was down on the figure under Boris Johnson, with 3,034 pick-pocketing offences the year he left City Hall.

Crime on the Underground remains low overall, with just five reported thefts for every one million journeys last year.

But Conservative assembly member Susan Hall, who requested the figures from the Mayor, warned the pattern of growing crime was worrying.

She said: “With the number of pickpocketing offences across the transport network doubling since 2016, it is clear that Sadiq Khan’s crime epidemic is spreading underground.

“This eye-watering surge will have a devastating impact on hardworking Londoners, with the theft of items such as wallets and phones costing victims hundreds of pounds and causing serious disruption to people’s lives.

“Sadiq Khan’s approach to London’s soaring crime rates has been shockingly complacent.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor said keeping residents and visitors safe while travelling in London is Mr Khan’s top priority. There are 3,000 transport police in the capital.

The spokesperson said: “Officers are targeting the known organised criminal networks operating in busy places and making arrests, but with about 11 million journeys every day on public transport, it remains safe and has relatively low crime.

“We’re not complacent as one crime is one too many and we are working to reduce crime, which has been made far harder by nine years of damaging cuts to police budgets.”