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Wednesday 4 Feb 2009

RAILWAY VANDAL SCRUBS UP

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

A young vandal is scrubbing the slate clean by helping to clean up a railway bridge in Edinburgh after being caught red handed.

John, 16, spent a weekend (Jan 24/25) painting over the ugly graffiti in the Meadowbank area as part of an innovative restorative justice scheme pioneered by Network Rail.

John was charged by the police in late 2008, when he was caught throwing objects into a fire near the track in Rutherglen, Glasgow.

Due to the nature of the offence, the procurator fiscal decided to offer him the opportunity of an alternative to prosecution by diverting the case to the restorative justice service run by South Lanarkshire Council. He acknowledged his disruptive behaviour and expressed regret before volunteering to get involved in a Network Rail led clear-up of mess left by other vandals.

Mark Henderson, community safety manager for Network Rail in Scotland, commented:

“The restorative justice programme aims to help young people understand the dangers of misusing the railway and the true cost of the damage they cause. In 2007, railway crime cost the railway industry an estimated £264m. This unnecessary cost is a massive drain on our society and is obviously preventable. In Scotland alone, the railway has to employ the equivalent of six full-time members of staff to continually clean graffiti from the railway.

“Every year, dozens of young people are killed or injured accessing the tracks to spray graffiti and damage property. In many cases, restorative justice is not an option, we will simply ask British Transport Police to prosecute offenders. Graffiti and vandalism on the railway is regarded as a serious crime by the courts and frequently results in prison sentences for offenders.

“John has clearly learned a valuable lesson from this incident and I was impressed by his positive attitude when we took him out and about. We even received a couple of ‘thank yous’ from local residents in the Meadowbank area and I think he really valued that.”

Network Rail has been involved with a number of similar schemes across the country. In November 2008, two teenagers caught painting graffiti in Inverkeithing were given a restorative justice task painting over graffiti in Glasgow’s west end.

ENDS