| In a hard-hitting day of action, on Friday, March 18, 2005 , 25 police officers worked with staff on the city's NCT bus and NET tram lines in a co-ordinated effort to prevent fare avoidance, bus lane offences, anti-social behaviour and other crimes.
The operation, titled Operation Start (Safe Transport and Respect for Transport), funded by the Home Office Anti-Social Behaviour Unit was extremely successful and resulted in 9 fixed penalty £30 tickets for bus lane violation, 20 people being checked on the police national computer, 1 arrest, the removal of 2 drunken passengers and someone being reported for a minor assault incident on the tram.
In addition, the police are now pursuing a gang of youngsters who have been causing problems in the Sneinton area on Colwick Road , disrupting service, abusing drivers and causing damage to buses, they are planning to follow up these offenders this week.
Many, instances of fare evasion or travelling on invalid tickets were also detected, with passengers being asked to pay the correct fare or leave the vehicle.
There were many other softer benefits derived from this exercise on several levels as follows:
The gateway checks sent out very positive messages to staff and passengers, that the transport operators and police are serious about eradicating anti social behaviour and bus lane abuse in Nottingham . NCT drivers involved in this exercise have reacted very positively to the gateway checks and most customers also supported this activity.
The day proved to be an extremely valuable bonding exercise between transport operators and police, who worked well together addressing the day to day issues that operational staff have to face, appreciating the problems each other face from a different perspective.
The exercise also highlighted some ticketing issues and operational practices which will be investigated and modified to prevent future fare evasion and other problems faced by drivers, conductors and inspectors.
Mark Fowles MD for NCT stated “We are very encouraged by the results of this gateway check, we believe that it has sent out a strong message to the public that it is not acceptable to abuse those people who are providing them with a public service. NCT will continue to work with the police using information captured on our CCTV systems to prosecute all offenders, making travelling on public transport an even safer and more pleasurable experience”. He continued “NCT will also be discussing with the police how more of these Gateway checks can be implemented in the near future”
All the results from Operation Start are being brought together by the Respect for Transport partners (Nottingham City Council, NCT, NET, JD Decaux, Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership's the Big Wheel and Nottinghamshire Police) after which new plans to continue this programme will be developed for implementation later in the year.
Back to news items
|
