POLICE are hoping to catch out bus ticket fraudsters in the latest Gateway drive against crime on Nottingham’s public transport network.
The operation, which will see police officers working alongside Nottingham City Transport inspectors, will take place on Wednesday, May 10.
For obvious reasons, the exact time and location of the check are not being announced in advance.
This Gateway, the seventh to take place in 2006, will again target crime and anti-social behaviour on Nottingham City Transport buses.
However, officers and inspectors, acting on intelligence, will be specifically looking for passengers who are using forged tickets.
PC Derek Pickering, Transport Beat Manager for Nottingham, said police believed that a level of organised ticket forging was taking place.
“The information we’re getting from various sources is that there is involvement of students from a school or university,” he said. “There is also a suggestion that a ticket template may be being used. It isn’t just the users of forged tickets I want to catch – it’s the people who are printing them.”
In March, one man was arrested and bailed in connection with the creation of forged bus passes. Computer equipment was seized for analysis.
PC Pickering is confident he can prevent the fraud problem from growing, repeating that anybody caught with a forged or altered ticket or pass will be liable for prosecution.
As well as ticket forgeries, police and NCT staff will be hoping to identify and prevent violence and abuse towards staff and passengers, anti-social behaviour and any other offence which disrupts the smooth running of the city’s buses.
Officers will also be on the look out for motorists who contravene bus lanes. Any caught will be issued with Fixed Penalty Notices.
Further Gateway operations are being lined up for May. The last event, on March 20, saw 44 buses and over 500 passengers checked on Carlton Hill.
The operation is part of the on-going Respect for Transport campaign, which is backed by Nottinghamshire police, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham City Transport, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham Express Transit, JC Decaux, British Transport Police and Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership’s The Big Wheel.
|
