BRITISH Transport Police (BTP) is cracking down on vandalism on the railway during Easter by targeting hotspot locations.
The holiday is traditionally a time when incidents increase, with children off school and the onset of light nights.
On March 11 BTP received reports traffic signals had been vandalised in Boughton and parts from the signals thrown on to railway lines.
The two-week holiday initiative will involve officers patrolling locations with a mixture of high-profile and plain-clothes operations.
Education is a further part of the process and whenever youths are stopped on the railway officers will find out which school they attend to see if that school has a particular problem.
Trained schools liaison officers will then visit the schools to educate children of the dangers and consequences of their actions.
Inspector Sonja Simister of BTP said: “During the Easter holidays we have traditionally seen an increase in vandalism and stone-throwing offences on the railway. We are hoping that this year, by targeting the hotspot areas and through the education work we have already done, we will reduce the number of incidents and deter the majority of youngsters from messing about on the railway.
“People who trespass or commit crime on the railway are putting their own lives at serious risk as well as the lives of all the staff and passengers travelling on trains. It is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or even killed as a result of one of these incidents.”
Anyone with information about a crime on the railway should call BTP on Freephone 0800 405040 or Crime- stoppers on 0800 555 111.
