Bus Crime Stories All Come At Once

This week free bus passes for under 16s come under scrutiny

Bus crime has yet again hit the headlines as new figures have emerged on the staggering rise in crimes committed by youths.

Reported youth crime on buses has shot up by 55% since the introduction of free bus travel for under 16s according to figures obtained by the BBC.
Transport for London statistics show there were 5,701 reports in the year since the scheme began in September 2005 compared with 3,666 in the previous
year.

Tom Scanlon, of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said youngsters had lost respect for bus drivers and fellow bus passengers. "There is anassumption that because travel is free, they can get on and off a bus and they are answerable to no-one.  It has an effect on ordinary passengers."

This website reported on the extent of the problem: 'Theft from the person' offences, which range from theft of/from a bag (dipping) to items stolen directly from the person, have gone up 18.5% since 2003/04 from 18,380 to 21,794 in 2005/06. The numbers show that Ealing Borough has had the biggest increase with an increase of 50.5%. Neighbouring boroughs, Harrow and Brent, have also seen big rises.

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Ealing Central and Acton, Angie Bray, gave her reaction to EalingToday.co.uk:

"These figures demonstrate a problem we have been trying to get the Mayor, Ken Livingstone, to focus on for a long time now," she said. " It is simply not acceptable for London's travelling public to have to put up with this huge increase in anti-social behaviour.  Mr Livingstone claims those that cause trouble get their free travel passes removed but in fact figures we obtained show that only a miniscule 167 passes have been permanently withdrawn which hardly encourages confidence. Instead of attacking those of us who are urging a review of this policy, Mr Livingstone should himself be leading the review in the best interests of all Londoners who just want their journeys by bus to be as easy and incident-free as possible."

After figures reported on this website revealed that Ealing had topped the league for an increase in bus thefts, the Police announced the formal launch of their Safer Transport Team, a dedicated police team which aims to improve safety on and around public transport.

A Safer Transport Team has begun work in Ealing Borough this month in an effort to combat crime on public transport. The team is currently made up of seventeen Transport for London community support officers who will work alongside local police officers to provide a familiar, visible and accessible uniformed presence across the borough’s transport network.

It is hoped that this presence on the network will increase the public's confidence and safety as they travel on the network, as well as detecting and preventing crime and disorder across the borough.

May 31, 2007