GTR invests £2.5 million to combat rising antisocial behaviour towards staff

Credit: Govia Thameslink Railway

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has announced that it has unveiled a £2.5 million Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan aimed at addressing a concerning rise in verbal and physical assaults on its staff. This initiative follows a 23% increase in verbal assaults and nearly 10% rise in physical assaults over the past year within GTR’s network.

The plan, developed through extensive consultations with stakeholders including local schools, police forces and trade unions, outlines several key commitments. These include deploying over 1,500 new Body Worn Video cameras for frontline staff, doubling the number of Travel Safe Officers across their network, implementing an education programme for schools, enhancing staff training and support, as well as increasing staffing in their safety division. Additionally, GTR plans to collaborate more closely with law enforcement to remove offenders from the railway.

Already yielding results, the initial phase of the plan in the West Coastway area led to a notable 60% reduction in antisocial behaviour incidents. This success has prompted GTR to expand the initiative across its entire network. To further support staff affected by assaults, GTR is working with the British Transport Police’s Workplace Violence Coordination Unit and introducing new roles dedicated to security and wellbeing within the company.

Samantha Facey, Health, Safety and Security Director at GTR, said: “Everyone travelling with us deserves to get home safely, and our colleagues deserve to be treated with respect; physical or verbal abuse of any kind will not be tolerated. Our Antisocial Behaviour Improvement Plan not only demonstrates that we are serious about tackling this issue, but we are also seeing positive results since its launch.”

In alignment with broader industry efforts, GTR has also endorsed the ‘Service with Respect’ campaign by the Institute of Customer Service. This campaign aims to foster collaboration among UK companies to address staff abuse issues and enhance support systems.

Chris Casey, Chief Superintendent at British Transport Police, said: “We are focused on ensuring stations and trains remains a safe and pleasant environment for the travelling public and for railway staff.”