18 January (Part 1) - Police: Bexley’s biggest transport problem is “kids in the Broadway”
Two
Metropolitan Police officers from The Safer Transport Team attended the
Transport Users’ Sub-Committee meeting this week,
basically they do for buses what the British Transport Police do for the
railways. They said that Bexley is at the lower end of the scale for transport
related crime and over the past three months it has reduced further. Since 1st January there
had been only three reported crimes on buses, most bus crimes are pushing,
shoving and verbal abuse.
The mains problem In Bexley is “kids congregating in the Broadway. They do not
always realise that their behaviour can be intimidating”. Low level bus crime by
children will usually result in a letter to the parents and repeat incidents a
home visit. In the worst cases TfL is asked to withdraw the free travel passes.
In Bexley there have been 28 withdrawal requests in the past three months alone.
There have been attempts to interest school teachers in the ‘Broadway child
terrorism’ problem and with some degree of success but their unions are pulling
in the other direction. It is “Bexley’s biggest transport issue”.