Wednesday 3 May 2006
AMIR KHAN BACKS RAIL SAFETY CAMPAIGN TO GET KIDS ON THE RIGHT TRACKS
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National
strictly embargoed until 0001hr Wednesday 3 May 2006
Boxing hero Amir Khan today launched No Messin’ Live! – a national campaign by Network Rail to tackle the number of deaths and injuries affecting young people on Britain’s railway tracks.
Up to 60 people are killed, and hundreds more are injured on the railway every year, either crossing the tracks, taking short cuts, messing around or playing ‘chicken’.
No Messin’ Live! is a series of free-to-attend events across England, Wales and Scotland this summer, offering young people the chance to try out many new activities as an alternative to putting their lives at risk on the tracks.
Amir Khan said: “There’s no excuse for mucking about on train tracks. You may think you’re clever and fast but a train is quicker and what’s clever about getting yourself killed? No Messin’ Live! is a great way of finding a better way to spend your time, whether it’s trying out new sports, like boxing, or skills such as mixing and have a laugh with your mates too.”
The tour kicks off in July and runs throughout the summer holidays. Each two-day event is free to enter for all local children aged 10 to 16. The road show will be centred around three zones: sport, games and music. Young people will have the chance to try out a range of activities from DJ lessons to skateboarding to martial arts and the latest computer games.
All the activities will be run and managed by local clubs, and attendees will be encouraged to continue anything they enjoy after the tour has moved on.
Network Rail spokesman Chris Rumfitt agreed: “It’s a sad fact that many young people use the railway as their playground because they’ve got nothing else to do. Network Rail is committed to preventing pointless tragedies and No Messin’ Live! aims to get young people discovering better ways to spend their time.”
No Messin’ Live! will be coming to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Rochdale, Crawley, Wolverhampton, Stockton, Gorton, Wandsworth and Enfield. For more information and to sign up for email updates, log on to
www.no-messin.com
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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