Media centre

Friday 15 Feb 2008

CLEANING UP THEIR ACT IN SHEFFIELD

Region & Route:

Two young offenders caught vandalising the railway in Sheffield have been back to clean up the graffiti they left behind. On 14 February the teenagers, who cannot be identified, spent four hours cleaning up the bridge at Woodhouse under the supervision of Youth Offending Service (YOS) workers and staff from Network Rail. Kevin Preece, area general manager for Network Rail, said: “We were delighted to work with the YOS team to get these teenagers to complete their reparation work cleaning this bridge. We take a very tough line on graffiti and consider it to be a very serious offence. Not only is it an anti-social crime, it costs the railway industry millions of pounds every year, diverting valuable resources away from improving the railway. “Some may think graffiti is a bit of harmless fun, but in reality it's a serious blight on the local environment and, in many cases unpleasant for passengers and local people to look at. Our maintenance crews fight a constant battle to remove graffiti, which in some cases appears almost as soon as it’s cleared away. In addition to the unsightly disadvantages of graffiti, anyone trespassing on the railway is literally playing with their lives as they could be hit by a train or electrocuted. They are also trespassing and could face a substantial fine. “We have a team of Railway Crime Education Managers who work with young people to highlight the dangers of misusing and trespassing on the railway.” Andy Peaden, Sheffield Youth Offending Service Manager added: "Direct reparation is a great example of how Sheffield YOS is committed to ensuring young people make amends for their actions, direct to the people and communities they're offence has affected. "A lot of work we do with young people goes unseen by the general public but reparation is different - it is young people out in the community making a positive impact on areas affected by crime. The Network Rail project is a fantastic example of this."