Bodycams lead to major reduction in attacks on Virgin Trains staff

Virgin Trains has rolled out bodycams to all frontline staff
PA
Isobel Frodsham17 October 2018

Attacks on rail staff have more than halved since an operator introduced body worn cameras, new figures show.

Virgin Trains said the number of assaults on its employees has fallen month by month following the introduction of 275 cameras in February to ensure all frontline workers are covered.

Incidents dropped from 20 in March to six in September.

Footage from the cameras has led to one conviction, when a man pleaded guilty to a public order offence following an incident on a train at Wolverhampton in April.

Research across the rail industry found that attacks on staff at station barriers fell by 47 per cent when they were wearing the cameras during a pilot last year.

Lewis Komodromou, a revenue protection team leader for Virgin Trains, said he feels safer with a bodycam after previously being assaulted by a passenger with an invalid ticket at London Euston station.

The 26-year-old, who suffered a shoulder injury, recalled: “I was extremely shocked after the ordeal. I hadn’t really been in that type of situation before so I didn’t know how to react.

“Since the bodycams have been introduced it has stopped lots of situations that could otherwise get out of hand.”

British Transport Police recorded 6,960 incidents of assault against rail staff in 2015/16, although many attacks are believed to go unreported.

Chief inspector Lorna McEwan said the cameras will provide the force with “vital evidence”.

She added: “Being assaulted or verbally abused simply for doing your job is completely unacceptable.”

Paul Plummer, chief executive of industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: “One assault against a rail worker is one too many. We’re now working together as an industry to develop plans to roll out this technology nationwide."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT