Media centre

Monday 17 Oct 2005

THE WRITING’S ON THE WALL FOR RICHMOND RAILWAY GRAFFITI

Region & Route:

| Southern: Wessex

| Southern

The writing’s on the wall for vandals in the Richmond area following a joint campaign between Network Rail and Richmond upon Thames Council to clear the railway of graffiti. The campaign has seen the council’s Street Scene Enforcement officers team-up with Network Rail’s lineside management team to paint over large areas of trackside graffiti stretching from Twickenham to Richmond stations. Mortlake station, a particular hot-spot for graffiti, was also targeted in the three month campaign. Network Rail’s Route Director, David Pape, said: “Graffiti is an anti-social crime that affects the rail passengers and staff who travel and work on the railway every day. This campaign is major step towards stamping out graffiti in the Richmond area and I would like to thank Richmond upon Thames Council for helping us bring about these improvements to the railway.” Leader of Richmond Council and Cabinet Member for Combating Crime, Cllr Tony Arbour, said: “Graffiti is a real blight on neighbourhoods, creating a threatening environment for residents and visitors as well as being a major environmental eyesore. We are determined to stamp out this scourge and punish those responsible. The collaboration between the Council and Network Rail has produced excellent results, not only in removing large swathes of graffiti but also in terms of arresting the culprits.” The clearance work took place during daytime and overnight periods with the team taking full advantage of planned engineering work to access the railway and clear the lineside areas of graffiti and litter. The extensive work at Mortlake station included cleaning graffiti from the station canopy, platform footbridge, station level crossing, and other track-side areas. The campaign also led to the arrests of several vandals including prolific graffiti artist Frazer Howie, whose graffiti tag ‘Boom’ had plagued trains, stations and other parts of the railway across Richmond for several years. Following a joint investigation involving Network Rail and the British Transport Police, Howie faced Richmond magistrates in August and was hit by a lengthy Anti-social Behaviour Order (ASBO) and ordered to pay £1,400 in compensation. David Pape added: “These arrests send out a clear message to vandals that graffiti will not be tolerated. Dealing with graffiti diverts valuable resources away from improving the railway so we will continue to do all we can to bring offenders to justice.” Cllr Tony Arbour added: “Under our Business Pride initiative, we are calling for the public to come to us if they have information which could lead to the arrest and conviction of a graffiti yob, and you could collect a reward of up to £1,000. A number of public-spirited citizens have come forward and I would again remind people of the number to call – 020 8891 6334. All calls are treated in strict confidence.” Network Rail and Richmond upon Thames Council are continuing to identify other areas of graffiti to be tackled throughout Richmond. Both parties are also working with the British Transport Police to share intelligence about graffiti vandals in the area to help catch other offenders.