Teens on trains 'transport trouble' to coast
SuppliedMore needs to be done to stop gangs of youths using trains and "transporting" trouble to the coast, a councillor says.
Marske independent councillor Dr Tristan Learoyd said an understaffed rail network was allowing youngsters to dodge fares on rail services across Teesside.
He also said he had accounts shared with him of train conductors being sworn at and spat at and in some instances assaulted.
In a response received by Learoyd, regional stakeholder manager with Northern Alex Jarvis said: "We have acted on the information you have shared with us and have increased our travel safe officer patrols at stations and on the line."
Learoyd said teenagers were "transporting their anti-social behaviour along local lines, facilitated by an understaffed rail network and free mobility due to fare avoidance".
He said services should be safe for passengers and staff, and "fare-avoiding troublemakers should not be allowed to travel on the line causing problems from Saltburn to Middlesbrough and the wider Teesside area" - according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Learoyd said in recent weeks a schoolgirl had been beaten up in Chapel Street, Marske and police had also tried to stop youngsters congregating in Valley Gardens – which is on a route to the beach.
Drones deployed
He said some of those involved in anti-social behaviour had travelled from elsewhere.
Last week the half-term school holiday and soaring temperatures led to thousands of people heading to the Cleveland coast, with fighting and anti-social behaviour also being reported on or near to Majuba Beach in Coatham, Redcar.
This prompted Cleveland Police to apply a two-day dispersal order in the area to stop large groups of teenagers congregating, while also deploying drones to track troublemakers.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has approached Northern, fellow train operator TransPennine Express and the British Transport Police for comments.
Cabinet member for transport, Labour Councillor Carl Quartermain, said its community safety team was working with partners to address anti-social behaviour regardless of where offenders were travelling from.
He also said the Tees Valley Combined Authority was also establishing a new transport safety and security partnership.
