Nottinghamshire Police and NCT staff joined forces again to clamp down on crime across Nottingham’s public transport system last week.
In a second hard-hitting day of action, on Wednesday, May 11th, 2005, 4 police officers worked with NCT Inspectors and Customer Service Auditors in a co-ordinated effort to prevent fare avoidance, anti-social behaviour and other crimes on the buses.
The operation, titled Operation Start (Safer Transport and Respect for Transport) stopped passengers at ‘Gateways.’ on the following routes:
• Carlton Road/Porchester Road (outbound) &Carlton Road/Cardale Road (inbound)
• Clifton Bridge South (outbound & Inbound)
• Turneys Quay (outbound) & Embankment (inbound)
All passengers were requested to show their tickets and anyone without a valid ticket was requested to buy one or leave the bus. The teams also be demonstrated a zero-tolerance attitude to anti-social behaviour such as abusive language or wrongful alcohol use.
The day was extremely successful, with several passengers found to be over-riding, having bought an 80p ticket and travelling further than its valid area, another problem detected was the abuse of the child rider ticket where children transfer this ticket to their friends.
Barrie Burch Commercial Manager for NCT said “This day proved to be very valuable in three ways, firstly it sent messages to passengers regarding the necessity of buying the correct value ticket for the distance they wish to travel and, the importance of retaining it throughout their journey. More importantly however, the day continued to strengthen the links between NCT & the Police, it also provided reassurance to passengers & drivers alike that it is safe to travel on public transport and that action will be taken against offenders”
Operation Start is part of the Respect for Transport campaign, which is improving the safety of public transport in Nottingham and is backed by Nottingham City Council, NCT, NET, JD Decaux, Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership’s the Big Wheel and Nottinghamshire Police.
The Respect for Transport partnership is currently planning an extensive programme of gateway & bus lane checks across the city at all times of the day, to ensure this message reaches all users of public transport throughout the year. Making Nottingham, a safer and more pleasant city to travel around.
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