Rail passengers can text about trouble on trains
Rail passengers in the strath can now report incidents of anti-social behaviour on trains by text.
A new non-emergency text number launched by British Transport Police (BTP), 61016, gives passengers an additional tool to report incidents in real time wherever there is a mobile phone signal.
The number is designed to capture low-level, non-emergency incidents, similar to the non-emergency 101 phone number used by local police forces.
Deputy Chief Constable, Paul Crowther said: “BTP aims to be as open and responsive as possible and this is the next logical step for us. Text messaging is a quick and everyday way to communicate and we know passengers want to be able contact us this way.
“By encouraging passengers to also report incidents via text, we hope we’ll get a more complete picture of the sort of low-level but all too common incidents that affect people’s journeys across the network.
“However, text messages should never be sent in an emergency situation as there are no guarantees that they send correctly or are received promptly.”
The 61016 text number will be monitored around the clock and whilst it is not for reporting emergencies, there will be the capacity to send police in response if required.
DCC Crowther added: “Low-level anti-social behaviour, which we know occurs on trains often later at night and when people have been drinking, is undoubtedly under-reported. Passengers tend to accept or ignore the minority who make the journeys unpleasant for everyone else.
“We hope that the ease of being able to send a quick text message will encourage more passengers to report incidents when they occur. By building up a more accurate picture we can better focus our resources.”
