42% of UK teenage girls 'feel unsafe at night' out of their houses

About 42% of teenage girls in some of the Britain’s biggest cities feel unsafe to go out their houses after evening, according to study by children's charity Plan UK.

According to the BBC, the same percentage of 600 teenagers in between the age group of 13-18 years said they knew someone who had been assaulted.

In the survey, teenage girls in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Coventry, Glasgow, and Edinburgh said that they want more police on the streets to make them feel safer, while 91% said better street lighting would make a big difference.

"It is unacceptable that in cities all over the world, including the UK, girls are often scared to go out. Poor street lighting, overcrowded housing, and harassment on public transport all contribute to the very real risks that girls face - these are issues that must be tackled,” one of the respondents said.

In London, more than half of those questioned said crime in their local area had gone up in the past few years, while 10% of those living in Birmingham, Leicester and Coventry said they knew someone who had been assaulted in their neighbourhood in the past six months.