Media centre

Friday 7 Apr 2006

SCARECROWS COMBAT RAILWAY CRIME THIS EASTER

Region & Route:

With the Easter holidays fast approaching, Network Rail is warning young people to stay away from the railway and stay safe. To reinforce this warning Network Rail has employed ‘Operation Scarecrow’ to take to Leicester’s railways to deter young people from vandalising and trespassing on the railway. Tom Birch, Network Rail’s Area General Manager for the East Midlands said: “We implore parents and guardians to make sure their children understand the dangers of playing on the tracks. We don’t want any child to die as a result of playing on the railway this Easter”. “There were 264 incidents of trespass and vandalism in the Leicester area over the last year, and alarmingly seven of those were very serious near misses. The scarecrows are apart of our efforts to help to combat rail crime in the area”. The ‘human scarecrows’ are Network Rail operations staff who will patrol the rail crime hot spot areas in Leicestershire throughout the Easter holidays. Their role will be to deter people from trespassing onto the railway and reacting quickly to reports of vandalism. Based on the premise that many young people are tempted to play on tracks because of boredom and a lack of anything else to do, Network Rail and its industry partners have developed a ‘No Messin’!’ campaign. The aim of ‘No Messin’!’ is to get young people to engage in a range of fun and safe activities rather than to playing on the railway, as well as spreading the ‘No Messin’!’ on the railway message. Tom Birch adds: “As owner and operator of the rail network, we have a responsibility to spread the message that the railway can be a dangerous place. You wouldn’t try to use a motorway as a short cut or a place to hang out - so why the railway? Our message is clear: ‘No Messin’!’”.