Monday 20 Mar 2006
WYCOMBE FOOTBALL FANS GIVE RAILWAY CRIME THE RED CARD
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Southern
Hundreds of young Wycombe Wanderers fans joined forces with Network Rail this weekend to help kick railway crime into touch.
Wycombe’s match with Torquay United on Saturday 18 March was sponsored by Network Rail’s No Messin’! campaign – a safety initiative aimed at educating young people about the dangers of playing on the railway. Some 2000 free match tickets were given out to local children and their families who turned up in force at the Causeway Stadium to cheer Wycombe on and learn more about rail safety.
Network Rail’s Route Director Peter Strachan said: “Every year hundreds of people risk their lives by trespassing on the railway and unfortunately Wycombe is a real problem area. The No Messin’! campaign is a great way for us to encourage young people to get involved in healthy activities, such as football, instead of risking their lives on the railway. It was great to see so many young faces at the game and I hope everyone who attended will help our fight against railway crime by passing on the No Messin’! message to their family and friends.”
A special No Messin’! marquee was set up outside the ground before the game giving young football fans the chance to win No Messin’! prizes including t-shirts and kit bags. Football ‘Freestyler’ Colin Nell was also on hand to entertain the crowds with his array of football tricks. Both teams trained in No Messin’! tops prior to kick off and the matchday programme also included a page outlining the dangers of railway crime.
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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