Police in Bradford inundated with female runners' abuse stories

Keen runner Safya Khan has been on the receiving end of harassment when running

Police in Bradford say they have been inundated with women sharing their experiences of the abuse they have received while out running. As a crackdown on the behaviour continues, officers have vowed to stamp out the unwanted attention for good.

Safya Khan has been running for many years but says she has some strict "dos and don'ts" to help her feel safe.

"I only run in the park and don't go out on an evening.

"If I need to do a longer run then I'd go out early morning and avoid when there's lots of traffic around, so there's less chance of people beeping their horn at you or shouting things."

Mrs Khan, who ran the London Marathon in 2022, said she had spoken to many women who had experienced similar abuse

The 45-year-old says she has been on the receiving end of harassment several times, including unpleasant comments and passing jeers.

According to West Yorkshire Police, she is not alone.

Last month, in partnership with the city council and other agencies, the force launched Bradford's JogOn campaign - aimed at creating a city where women can "run freely without being concerned".

Since its inception the force said many more women had come forward with their stories.

Supt Beth Pagnillo, who herself has experienced catcalling while out running, is leading the police response.

She said: "One lady I spoke to said she was running, it was slow moving traffic, and she got continual abuse from this male in a vehicle.

"When she caught up with him at the lights she knocked on the door and said 'do you have something to say to me?'

"At that point he gave her a barrage of abuse so she carried on running and he turned the same way. We don't know if he was following her, but she said afterwards she felt really terrified.

"Her husband said she shouldn't have knocked on the door, but she was so enraged she wanted to take that engagement on.

"And that's the type of behaviour we're saying, 'no, no, no, that's totally unacceptable'."

Supt Beth Pagnillo said police would investigate any harassment and abusers could face a public space protection order fine

The Bradford campaign was started following the findings of a report by Manchester University which looked into the issue.

It found that more than two-thirds of women surveyed had experienced some form of abuse but had not reported it to police.

One of the report's authors Caroline Miles, a senior lecturer in criminology, described the behaviour as a "hidden form of gender-based violence and abuse".

Supt Pagnillo said it was the first time women in Bradford had been encouraged to come forward to report this kind of abuse and the aim was to stop it for good.

"This comes under the umbrella of supporting our work to stop violence against women and girls, because while this may seem lower level and not important, one behaviour can lead to another.

"Ultimately we want to stop this type of behaviour so people actually say, 'no it isn't just a but of fun and we're not going to do it anymore'."

Involving the council and NHS as well as police, part of the work is to educate people on how they can play a role in ending harassment and to encourage anyone who witnesses it to call it out.

Abusers are also being warned that where necessary enforcement action will be taken, with offenders facing fines of up to £1,000.

The 45-year-old said running was vital for her mental health

"We've been attending Parkruns and running events to explain what we're doing and talking to men to make them allies of it," Supt Pagnillo said.

"Turning a blind eye to unacceptable behaviours is not what anyone should be doing and as a collective we need to put an end to it."

While Mrs Khan, who has run the Berlin marathon as well as London, has welcomed the campaign as much-needed she said more education was needed in some communities to tackle what she called a "cultural stigma around Asian woman seen out running."

The mother-of-three says much of the harassment she had faced came when she was out running in her hijab.

"There's the funny looks and this perception that as a woman in a hijab, I should be at home practising my faith or I should be running in a gym."

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She says the impact of this can be damaging, negating the physical and mental health benefits of why many women run in the first place.

"I think there is a responsibility for police to go into different community settings and lay out the law that catcalling and harassing women like this is an offence and that there are repercussions around their behaviour," she says.

Meanwhile, police said harassment of any kind needed to be stopped and they wanted all communities to feel reassured.

"The campaign addresses harassment being unacceptable regardless of gender or ethnicity," Supt Pagnillo said

"The full success of this operation will come from the fact that anybody can go out for a run and not be abused and that's what we're hoping to achieve."