Predatory men are increasingly targeting women at the gym with figures showing incidents surged by more than a third in a year.
The number of women harassed, assaulted or stalked at fitness centres last year was 173 – 40% more than in 2022.
Stalking accounted for half of reports, while sexual assaults made up more than a quarter, according to police data this newspaper obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
London’s Met Police recorded 92 offences in 2023 – with 65 women harassed, 12 assaulted and eight stalked. And forces in Northamptonshire and Cleveland came close behind, with a combined 36 reports in the same year.
The incidents happened at a range of popular fitness clubs, including David Lloyd, Pure Gym, Virgin Active and Nuffield Health.
Some – such as PureGym – are open through the night and do not always have staff on site, using remote CCTV monitoring and emergency call systems.
Just half of England’s 39 police forces responded to our requests, so the true number of incidents could be higher.
Last year, a Cambridge man was jailed for 18 weeks after grabbing a woman and kissing her multiple times at a gym in Cambridgeshire. Hernando Ferraro-Córdoba, 60, was ejected but later approached the victim in the car park.
Meanwhile, gym-goer and student Milly Rose, 21, says coping with “creepy men” while working out has become a “daily occurrence”. She said: “A day does not go by when I don’t have unwanted sexually motivated contact from a man when working out.
“Whether it be approaching me asking for my number, watching me walking between workout stations or touching me when pretending to assist with weights, it’s happened countless times.
“British gyms have a massive problem, and it’s not just gym users – one girl I know is regularly followed into the changing rooms by a personal trainer. It’s all very strange and it needs to stop.”
The figures come after police vowed to clamp down after a surge in reports of female joggers being abused. Some 97% of women aged 18 to 24 have been sexually harassed, according to research by charity UN Women UK.
The End Violence Against Women Coalition’s Andrea Simon said: “Women have the right to occupy space on the same terms as men, without fear of harassment and assault. It is crucial that we listen to women and take their reports seriously.”
The Met, Northants and Cleveland police forces were asked for comment.
ukactive, the UK’s trade body for the physical activity sector, said: "We promote safe and inclusive practices among all ukactive’s members, and we want all gyms to provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.
"Any form of harassment in gyms is totally unacceptable and we expect operators to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and assault.
"Our nation’s gyms, pools and leisure centres supported more than 9.5 million women to be active last year."