Our priority is always the safety of our customers and staff. Unfortunately, sometimes people are aggressive towards our staff and other customers, and when this happens, it can cause delays as we try to keep everyone safe.
Violence on our trains against both staff and other customers caused 4592 minutes of delays and 141 train cancellations in 2019.
What can go wrong?
- If our staff are busy managing the situation and can't safely dispatch a train, this causes delays
- If a customer is aggressive or acting very alarmingly on a train, threatening other customers, trains will be delayed whilst we look after the welfare of customers and take action against the person behaving inappropriately
What we’re doing to help
- Staff will try to prevent aggressive customers from boarding the train and request help from the emergency services
- Our station teams are wearing body-worn cameras to record any instances of verbal or physical abuse
- If the incident occurs on the train, the driver will take the train to a suitable place to stop, which is usually the next station. They will call ahead to be met by the police. Whilst this might cause delays, the safety of our customers is our top priority