Rail Safety Week 2024: GTR invests £2.5 million to tackle antisocial behaviour on trains

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has announced a £2.5 million investment to combat abuse and disorder on its network through a new Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan. This comes after a concerning rise in staff assaults, with verbal abuse increasing by 23% and physical assaults by nearly 10% in the past year.

Under the plan, GTR will double the number of Travel Safe Officers who work alongside the British Transport Police as well as equipping staff with 1,500 body-worn video cameras.

As well as also equipping staff and bolstering numbers of officers working on GTR routes, the operator will also develop an educational programme and enhance staff training and aftercare.

GTR has already seen positive results from piloting these measures, achieving a 13% reduction in staff assaults and a near 60% drop in antisocial incidents. This follows on from a trial of the concept which took place in the West Coastway area in the last three months of 2023.

The plan also recognises that verbal abuse is the most common form of assault, with 80% of staff reports mentioning threatening behaviour and foul language. To address this, GTR is working with BTP to support staff who experience any kind of workplace violence.

It has also pledged support for the "Service with Respect" campaign, which promotes better support and stronger policies to tackle customer service abuse across various industries.

Samantha Facey, Health, Safety and Security Director at GTR, said: “The rise in antisocial behaviour is being felt across industries and communities nationwide. Whilst we cannot solve the problem on our own, we hope that with increased tools and resources, as well as closer working with other industry partners, we can begin to turn the dial on this kind of behaviour.

“Everyone travelling with us deserves to get home safely, and our colleagues deserve to be treated with respect; physical or verbal abuse of any kind will not be tolerated. Our Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan not only demonstrates that we are serious about tackling this issue, but we are also seeing positive results since its launch.”

Chief Superintendent Chris Casey of BTP echoed this sentiment, highlighting their ongoing efforts alongside GTR to create a safe and pleasant environment for passengers and staff.