A partnership initiative which was aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour by offshore workers travelling on trains to and from Europe’s oil capital has been successful.
BTP officers based in Aberdeen have been monitoring the conduct of passengers from the offshore industry arriving and departing from the city’s railway station and their behaviour on the trains they travelled on.
More than 350 train journeys were monitored between Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of the initiative, which began last year.
Police, trade unions and train operators said progress had been made following a rise in unsavoury incidents and concerns raised by rail staff.
Industry workers were reminded that under Railway Byelaws, they must be fit to travel and conduct themselves in an acceptable way.
Sergeant Ashley Forbes of BTP, who co-ordinated the initiative, said: “BTP officers travelled on 350 trains to monitor more than 2,000 workers on services between Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as cross-border services as far as Newcastle.
“There is no doubt that the conduct of those from the offshore industry using the rail network has noticeably improved since the joint problem solving plan commenced last year.
“It is pleasing that the warnings issued by BTP and the train operators appear, in the main, to have been heeded.”
A spokesman for Virgin Trains East Coast said it had been encouraged by the results and would continue to work with the involved partners to improve results further.
Willie Strang, of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers trade union, added: “The RMT has proactively worked with British Transport Police by highlighting the issue of anti-social behaviour in union journals which are sent to members in the rail and offshore sector.
“We have also seen some positive change in the attitudes from offshore workers towards us and hope this continues.”
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