Rail staff deplore culture of abuse from passengers

British Transport Police have attended 1,438 incidents in Scotland involving violent behaviour towards railway staff since 2014/15. Picture: John Devlin

Saturdays were the flashpoints for incidents over the past five years, with union chiefs voicing concerns that attacks are increasingly been seen as the norm.

But ScotRail bosses insist safety is a “priority and the situation in Scotland is not as bad as the rest of the UK”.

British Transport Police have attended 1,438 incidents in Scotland involving violent behaviour towards railway staff since 2014/15, according to figures which were obtained through Freedom of Information by the Liberal Democrats.

In four out of the last five years, the number violent incidents has been highest on a Saturday night.

Mick Cash, general secretary of rail union the RMT, warned of a “culture of violence and abuse” on the railways.

“These shocking figures show just how dangerous the job is for our members on ScotRail,” he said.

“We have warned that there is a danger of abuse and assaults being seen as the norm by private rail operators like ScotRail and it is about time these companies took their duty of care seriously and started protecting their staff from this vicious crime wave.”

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Mike Rumbles called for action to address the situation.

“Having a wild one at the end of the week is no excuse for intimidation and violence,” he said.

“Hardworking staff should not expect to have to deal with railway users behaving badly on such a regular basis.

“SNP ministers and rail bosses need to review the safeguards that are currently in place to identify where improvements can be made.”

Official figures produced by British Transport Police show there were 453 crimes of “violence against the person” recorded by the force in 2018/19, down by ten on the previous year.

However, the number of common assaults rose by four to 341 – while the number of assaults on police officers was up by 19 to 54.

Public disorder offences also fell by 9 to 21, according to the 2018/19 statistical bulletin produced by the force.

A ScotRail spokesperson said: “The safety of our people and customers is our number one priority, and any physical or verbal violence towards either is completely unacceptable.

“Recent figures from the British Transport Police show that reported crimes in Scotland dropped 6 per cent in the past year, with violent crime on Scotland’s Railway lower than anywhere else in the UK.

“We will continue to work closely with the British Transport Police to clamp down on unacceptable behaviour and prosecute offenders.”