British Transport Police: Alternatives to Prosecution
(asked on 27th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the twenty most common offences dealt with by the British Transport Police through (a) community resolutions and (b) conditional cautions were in the most recent year for which data is available; and how many offences were dealt with through each disposal for each offence.
The British Transport Police (BTP) have provided the following data for the previous calendar year.
Community resolutions
The 20 most common offences dealt with by BTP through community resolutions in the last year (28th Oct 2025 to 27th Oct 2026) and the number of offences dealt with via this method.
Offence Type | Community resolution |
Cannabis possession | 545 |
Theft - by shoplifting | 80 |
Common assault/battery with no injury | 50 |
Public order - harassment - causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | 30 |
Other drugs class B possession | 20 |
Cocaine possession | 19 |
Assault - assault occasioning actual bodily harm | 10 |
Public order - fear or provocation of violence | 9 |
Possession of nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation | 7 |
Other drugs Class A possession | 6 |
Other drugs Class C possession | 6 |
Possession of a controlled drug Class A MDMA (Ecstasy) | 5 |
Police - assault without injury on a constable (police officer or PCSO) | 4 |
Graffiti | 4 |
Theft - personal property | 4 |
Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control | 3 |
Having an article with blade or point in public place | 2 |
Forgery - currency offence tender counterfeit currency as genuine | 2 |
Damage build/works | 2 |
Possess offensive weapon | 2 |
Conditional cautions
The 20 most common offences dealt with by BTP through conditional cautions in the last year (28th Oct 2025 to 27th Oct 2026), and the number of offences dealt with via this method.
Offence Type | Conditional caution |
Common assault/battery with no injury | 37 |
Cannabis possession | 34 |
Public order - harassment - causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | 22 |
Police - assault without injury on a constable (police officer or PCSO) | 15 |
Cocaine possession | 14 |
Assault - assault occasioning actual bodily harm | 12 |
Public order - fear or provocation of violence | 7 |
Possession of a controlled drug Class A MDMA (Ecstasy) | 7 |
Damage build/works | 6 |
Other drugs Class B possession | 6 |
Having an article with blade or point in public place | 5 |
Criminal damage other | 4 |
Theft - by shoplifting | 2 |
Other drugs Class A possession | 2 |
Sexual assault on a female aged 13 and over no penetration | 2 |
Possess offensive weapon | 2 |
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a constable (Police Officer or PCSO) | 2 |
Theft - Pedal Cycle | 2 |
The time period the data covers is 28 October 2025 to 27 October 2026. Please note that these figures, provided by BTP, could be subject to revision as a result of future reconciliation between systems and retrospective data quality work.