Female runners urged to report sexual harassment to police

Faye Grundy has not been deterred from running, despite being sexually harassed

A woman who has been sexually harassed by men while out running has encouraged others to report similar behaviour to police.

In two of the incidents, men followed Faye Grundy in their cars and stared at her, making her feel intimidated.

Ms Grundy said she was not going to report these incidents, but did so after being encouraged by a friend who was a former police officer.

She said the positive police response was then "a bit of a lightbulb moment".

'Dial 999'

Ms Grundy, from Nottingham, said: "When I was reporting my incidents to the police, I was halfway through the first incident and the police officer stopped me and he said, 'Faye if this happens to you again you dial 999 straight away, do you understand?'

"For me that was a bit of a lightbulb moment because I didn't realise I could dial 999.

"Even if it's whistling or beeping or shouting at the end of the day that's classed as harassment, it's an offence so I would encourage women to report it."

A third of female runners have experienced harassment while exercising alone, according to England Athletics.

But despite what happened to Ms Grundy, she has not been deterred from running.

"It does make you feel a little bit uneasy but at the same time, why shouldn't we be able to go out running?" she said.

Ch Insp Louise Clarke, of Nottinghamshire Police, echoed Ms Grundy's advice.

"The most important thing is to not accept this unacceptable behaviour and not let it hide within our communities. Report it. By reporting it, we can stop it," she said.

In 2016 Nottinghamshire Police became the first police force to introduce a "misogyny hate crime" policy.

This means misogynistic behaviour is recorded as either a hate crime or hate incident, depending on whether or not the behaviour is criminal.

Ch Insp Clarke added: "Whether you are a victim of hate crime, or have witnessed a hate crime incident in Nottinghamshire, we would urge you to report it, no matter how insignificant it may seem."