Tracker service proposed for lone women walking home alone

Southport residents of all genders are being encouraged to lend their support to plans for a tracker service aimed at protecting women walking home alone,

Plans for a phone service aimed at protecting lone women walking home have been set out by BT in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard.

“Walk Me Home” would allow users anywhere in the country to opt in to a GPS tracking system and an alert would be triggered if they did not reach their destination on time.

The phone service, which is in the early stages, would be activated by calling a preset phone number.

Users of the service – which could be accessed by any network – would be able to enter their home address and other regular destinations into the mobile phone app.

Before walking the user would start the app, or call or text 888. This would give the expected journey time and begin the GPS tracking.

A message would be sent to the user at the time they were predicted to arrive at their destination. A failure to respond would issue calls to emergency contacts and then the police.