Station taken out by yobs

[AlastairFraser]

I used the Newcastle metro for the first time this week. Didn't see anything remotely anti-social, but was a bit surprised by the security guards travelling in groups of 4! I could only assume there was a good reason for needing those numbers

I would assume it's for safety reasons if they nick a scrote and said scrote attacks.

 

[jamesst]

Wonder if it'll be the same when the Class 555s come in?

Yep

 

[Tetchytyke]

Have recently moved into the area, there are more rough areas than good areas.

That's a bit melodramatic. Most of the city is absolutely fine and always has been. The rough bits have always been rough, but they are small areas.

 

[bramling]

That's a bit melodramatic. Most of the city is absolutely fine and always has been. The rough bits have always been rough, but they are small areas.

The “properly rough” bits seem to be round Byker and Meadowwell (formerly Smith’s Park). But there’s certainly plenty of areas plagued by anti-social behaviour: Gateshead Stadium to Pelaw, Fellgate to Seaburn, Park Lane to South Hylton, Byker to North Shields seem worst, I gather Regent Centre to Fawdon also but personally I’ve always found the Airport branch pretty quiet. So essentially virtually all of the system barring the more well-to-do bit around Jesmond / Gosforth.

 

[Rich McLean]

Well I have moved to Benwell, but, I am south of the grave yard just off Buddle Road in an isoated estate. People have told me its rough, but vendors never had any trouble (well they would say that). I brushed it off, I have lived in areas such as Chelmsley Wood and Stockland green in Birmingham, so this area going by the crime figures is tame in comparrison.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The “properly rough” bits seem to be round Byker and Meadowwell (formerly Smith’s Park). But there’s certainly plenty of areas plagued by anti-social behaviour: Gateshead Stadium to Pelaw, Fellgate to Seaburn, Park Lane to South Hylton, Byker to North Shields seem worst

The rough areas are Walker and Scotswood/Elswick/Benwell/Cruddas Park south of Elswick Road (though oddly the bit around Buddle Road, sandwiched in the middle, is absolutely fine) in Newcastle, and Meadow Well (nee The Ridges, the station was Smith's Park) and Shiremoor in North Tyneside. South Tyneside is horrible around Tyne Dock. Sunderland is horrible around Pennywell, which is just up the road from South Hylton.

The ASB tends to be around the slightly more isolated stations. Gateshead Stadium and Pelaw are very secluded, so is Northumberland Park in North Tyneside, so the bother tends to happen there more than anywhere.

Looking at old photos of Smith's Park shows that nothing much has changed!

 

[Paul_10]

The “properly rough” bits seem to be round Byker and Meadowwell (formerly Smith’s Park). But there’s certainly plenty of areas plagued by anti-social behaviour: Gateshead Stadium to Pelaw, Fellgate to Seaburn, Park Lane to South Hylton, Byker to North Shields seem worst, I gather Regent Centre to Fawdon also but personally I’ve always found the Airport branch pretty quiet. So essentially virtually all of the system barring the more well-to-do bit around Jesmond / Gosforth.

From my experience your more likely to get trouble on the yellow line with the Byker to North Shields section being particularly rough with obviously certain stations worse than others. The Pelaw to South Shields section do tend to attract its fair share also with again certain stations worse than others(Tyne Dock and Chichester probably the worse).

I do find the main core of the system more trouble free though, probably because of the higher frequency and more passengers in general.

Really do hope with the new fleet, the windows will be almost impossible to be kicked out, all these windows being kicked out must be costing Nexus a fortune and money is tight as it is.

 

[DanNCL]

Anti social behaviour is sadly now commonplace across the entire Metro network. There are hotspots, particularly on the North Tyneside Loop and the Sunderland line, but the whole network suffers to some extent. Unless you’re incredibly confident and able to defend yourself, almost all of the Metro network away from the central core (Pelaw - South Gosforth) could now be considered no go areas after dark. It never used to be like this.

In addition to this example from Tynemouth, a few weeks ago two unrelated assaults took place at the same time on the North Tyneside Loop. One of the victims was an innocent teenager who had been celebrating his 16th birthday when attacked by a group of strangers.

It is at the point where staffing presence needs to be increased drastically. That will mean recruiting significant numbers of additional staff, both at Metro and Northumbria Police. The Metro Police unit in 2019 had just 4 officers, and with the way police funding has been in recent years I’d be very surprised if it’s increased since. It’s simply not good enough.

 

[railfan249]

Yep

Arguably worse. If the groups of kids are prepared to sit on old 40 year old metro cars with no bells and whistles, they’ll be beside themselves when USB, air conditioning and wifi turns up.

 

[Paul_10]

Anti social behaviour is sadly now commonplace across the entire Metro network. There are hotspots, particularly on the North Tyneside Loop and the Sunderland line, but the whole network suffers to some extent. Unless you’re incredibly confident and able to defend yourself, almost all of the Metro network away from the central core (Pelaw - South Gosforth) could now be considered no go areas after dark. It never used to be like this.

In addition to this example from Tynemouth, a few weeks ago two unrelated assaults took place at the same time on the North Tyneside Loop. One of the victims was an innocent teenager who had been celebrating his 16th birthday when attacked by a group of strangers.

It is at the point where staffing presence needs to be increased drastically. That will mean recruiting significant numbers of additional staff, both at Metro and Northumbria Police. The Metro Police unit in 2019 had just 4 officers, and with the way police funding has been in recent years I’d be very surprised if it’s increased since. It’s simply not good enough.

Would not necessary go that far apart from seemingly the Percy main to Shiremoor section which seems a hot spot for crime. Elsewhere you may get more minor/nuisence behaviour but apart from slightly unnerving feeling if noisy teens(etc) jump on board however it's not as serious(most of the time).

One downside to the new units though is being in all one carriage there is no real escape from them as any trouble tend to occur more in the rear carriage than the front.

The issues are nothing new though and travelling on the metro after dark/late evening has always has that different feeling even if the journey is non eventful.

I would love too see the men and women in those blue uniforms to be assisted by the police so we don't have this nonsence that any troublemakers can't be dealt with physically if needs too.

 

[DanNCL]

Would not necessary go that far apart from seemingly the Percy main to Shiremoor section which seems a hot spot for crime. Elsewhere you may get more minor/nuisence behaviour but apart from slightly unnerving feeling if noisy teens(etc) jump on board however it's not as serious(most of the time).

The issues are nothing new though and travelling on the metro after dark/late evening has always has that different feeling even if the journey is non eventful.

It definitely feels worse now than it used to, even on the busier central core.

One downside to the new units though is being in all one carriage there is no real escape from them as any trouble tend to occur more in the rear carriage than the front.

On the flip side, the lack of a seperate back carriage as such could deter such behaviour. It's so common in the rear carriage as the driver can't easily get to them, that won't be the case on the new units.

 

[pinkmarie80]

The rough areas are Walker and Scotswood/Elswick/Benwell/Cruddas Park south of Elswick Road (though oddly the bit around Buddle Road, sandwiched in the middle, is absolutely fine) in Newcastle, and Meadow Well (nee The Ridges, the station was Smith's Park) and Shiremoor in North Tyneside. South Tyneside is horrible around Tyne Dock. Sunderland is horrible around Pennywell, which is just up the road from South Hylton.

The ASB tends to be around the slightly more isolated stations. Gateshead Stadium and Pelaw are very secluded, so is Northumberland Park in North Tyneside, so the bother tends to happen there more than anywhere.

Looking at old photos of Smith's Park shows that nothing much has changed!

I grew up in Cowgate and that wasn’t exactly paradise. It’s pretty empty now though I gather.
My family moved to Gosforth and mam now lives near Fawdon Metro. I do worry about her using the Metro later on at night, although she’s had problems in the day around Regent Centre as well.

 

[DanNCL]

There has been a very visible security presence on a lot of Metro trains today.

 

[DH1Commuter]

The Metro is savage. Probably due to larger numbers of passengers and more staff, even the rougher bits of the tube/overground (Victoria line around Brixton and then Finsbury park at the other end, overground between New Cross and Whitechapel, Central line east of the City) feel a lot safer. Anywhere east of Manors or Gateshead stadium feels distinctly dubious in the evening.