Heathrow Airport might not immediately spring to mind if you were asked to name areas plagued by yobs.
But MailOnline can today reveal that the neighbourhood comprising Europe’s busiest airport is the nation’s anti-social behaviour capital.
Police statistics show 1,236 anti-social crimes, such as being obscenely drunk in public, trespassing and littering, were reported last year within that district, which also engulfs Heathrow’s surrounding villages of Longford and Harmondsworth.
According to our in-depth analysis – available to view in our interactive map below – this equates to a rate of 612 crimes per 1,000 population.
This figure, the highest in England and Wales, is massively inflated by Heathrow’s 84million-a-year footfall.
But Heathrow’s crime rate is still double that of the UK’s second-busiest airport, Gatwick, which logged 284 anti-social crime reports in its neighbourhood against 40m passengers last year.
Using official crime figures collated by police forces, the maps break down crime rates by local neighbourhoods – so-called ‘Lower layer Super Output Areas’ (LSOAs) – of roughly 1,000 to 2,000 people.
Each area is rated by offences per 1,000 population, so you can see exactly where your area stands on anti-social crime.
To find your district, simply select your local police force from the dropdown list and zoom into wherever you want to search.
Districts are named by the electoral ward within an authority, meaning bordering areas may appear with the same name but have different statistics. That is because each ward may have numerous LSOAs.
By tapping or hovering over the area in the map, you can also see the total number of drug crimes logged, as well as the crime density (reports per square mile). The statistics include all alleged crimes reported and given a crime number, regardless of the outcome of any investigation.
No data is available for Greater Manchester Police because it has not updated its figures since July 2019.
Our analysis also excludes crimes committed on trains or at train stations because they are dealt with by the British Transport Police, rather than the local force.
It comes after ex-Page Three model Samantha Fox was last year convicted after her ‘drunken bust up’ grounded a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Hamburg on December 3, 2023.
The incident, where the 58-year-old told a police officer ‘I know where you live’ and threatened to knock his teeth out, stopped the flight from taking off.
Heathrow Airport (pictured) is the number one hotspot for anti-social crime in England and Wales
Samantha Fox (centre) leaves Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, where she was handed down a 12-month community order, including a £1,000 fine and up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirement last September
The model featured as a model on The Sun’s Page Three from 1983, when she was 16 years old, until 1986
Fox pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly and using threatening behaviour, causing harassment, alarm or distress to a police constable during a court hearing last April.
The flight, carrying 162 adults and four children, was delayed 12 hours until 7.30am the next day. Forty-two passengers claimed compensation, the court heard.
Judge Mr Ikram sentenced Fox to a 12-month community order, including a £1,000 fine and up to 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has made repeated calls for a hard two-drink limit to be introduced at airport pubs and bars and on flights.
The airline, which does not operate from Heathrow, said a policy like this would result in ‘a safer travel experience for passengers and crews’. Mr O’Leary told Sky News last September that would be ‘happy to [introduce the limit] tomorrow.’
He said: ‘If the price of putting a drink limit on the airport, where the problem is being created, is putting a drink limit on board the aircraft, we’ve no problem with that.
‘The real issue is how do we stop these people getting drunk at airports particularly as, like this summer, we’ve had a huge spike in air traffic control delays.
‘They’re getting on board with too much alcohol in their system. If we identify them as being drunk on board, we don’t serve them alcohol. But that doesn’t solve the problem.’
However, Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin hit back at the airline magnate, saying that travellers are getting drunk on the flights, as opposed to while they’re waiting to board.
He also said his airport pubs had stopped offering ‘shooters’ and ‘double up’ deals, which he claims are still offered on flights. Sir Tim told MailOnline last August: ‘We have had no complaints about our pubs from the airport authorities or airlines, that I’m aware of, in recent years.’
It was reported last June that families living near Heathrow living in fear of ‘nightmare’ private hire taxi drivers are causing bedlam by urinating in the streets, parking in disabled bays and ‘intimidating’ locals.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary (left) has said he would be ‘happy’ to introduce a two-drink limit on his company’s flights, but Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin (right) has slammed the idea
Residents in Stanwell Moor, a village located just two miles from Terminal 5, say cabbies use the area as a ‘free’ place to wait for jobs
Residents of Stanwell Moor, a village just two miles from Terminal 5, say cabbies use the area as a ‘free’ place to wait for jobs. But it was claimed that drivers engage in anti-social behaviour, which has become ‘a real problem’ for the neighbourhood.
Taxi drivers have been spotted urinating behind shops and even defecating on dog walking trails, locals claim.
And others allege drivers become ‘aggressive’ when confronted.
One resident claimed a cabbie ‘squared up’ to him when he asked him to leave his disabled parking bay. Another woman described a ‘frightening’ experience in which a driver trailed her friend on her walk home.
Heathrow Airport and the Met Police have been contacted for comment.
More than 1m anti-social crimes were logged in England in 2024, according to ONS data, the lowest since records began in 2013.
But a record 24 per cent of people believe that anti-social behaviour is a very or fairly bad problem, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
Violent scenes as a fight breaks out as revellers in Newcastle city centre take part in the Black Eye Friday celebrations on December 22, 2023
Following Heathrow in the standings is Newcastle upon Tyne city centre, specifically a part of Grainger Town which includes Monument and is just outside Central Station.
There were 1,070 anti-social crimes in the area last year, which gives a rate of 518 per 1,000 population.
Northumbria Police announced a project to tackle the epidemic last May.
The City Safe Project, based at the City Library, involves police officers working with street rangers to identify and target prolific offenders.
Key offenders will be targeted with a view to obtaining orders to prevent them from committing offences in the city.
In third and fourth are two neighbouring regions of Talbot, in Blackpool, Lancashire.
The area which includes Blackpool Tower and the Promenade saw 781 anti-social crimes last year (507 per 1,000) and the area to the east stretching to Church Street saw 616 (490).
