Witton station rape

[AlterEgo]

Sorry but on the railway that is pretty much exactly what they are there for.

They chose to go from having a manned station from an unmanned station, evidently without making any appropriate safeguards to allow it to be a safe place to be.

The fact they made that choice means they should, if appropriate, be made to answer for it.

While I think staffed stations would reduce the likelihood of these kind of attacks, the fact is they will happen elsewhere.

People trying to blame London Midland for a rape/sexual assault need to have a look at themselves.

 

[ChrisHogan]

London Midland certainly do have a case to answer. If Govia wasn't such an appalling company that was obsessed with making staff cuts then this station would have been far safer. Any station which goes from being staffed from first train to last train to being completely unstaffed is of course going to see a huge reduction in safety. If London Midland had kept this station staffed from first train to last train then this may never have happened and it may have discouraged these types of people from the area.

Sorry but is nonsense. There is no evidence that London Midland has been obsessed with making staff cuts. Centro wanted stations staffed first to last in section 20 days and paid for it. Fair enough. OPRAF let the same staffing requirement carry forward to the CT franchise because it was short of time and didn't want a hostile Centro screwing up the progress. The LM franchise was awarded on the basis that the DfT didn't want to pay for ticket office clerks at stations where they added no value to franchise or were not justified because of the tiny amount of business conducted at stations, particularly in the evenings.

It needs to be remembered that ticket office clerks are not security guards and are not expected to intervene in criminal behaviour. All they can do is to call the BT Police and report the problem. This is the exactly the same as someone monitoring the station from the CCTV centre in Birmingham could do, although media reports say the first assault place in a "secluded spot" on the station (and the second was off the railway completely).

The other issue is a practical one. CT found it very difficult to recruit clerks to cover the first to last shifts, and many found the late turn soul destroying because they were cocooned in a ticket office in a deserted station for hours, and then had to make their way home after the last train. Many ticket office clerks are female, of course, and are probably at greater risk than members of the public when they leave the station and make their way home.

No doubt lessons will be learned from this incident (more CCTV in wherever the first attack occurred) but I doubt whether restaffing Witton will be a priority in the WM franchise.

 

[swt class 450]

There is also a help point on the station.

Which goes through to National Rail Enquiries in Mumbai in India. There is not much they would be able to do. A help point is not a suitable replacement for staff.

 

[ChrisHogan]

Which goes through to National Rail Enquiries in Mumbai in India. There is not much they would be able to do. A help point is not a suitable replacement for staff.

It doesn't go to Mumbai. I think it goes to a Control Point at Crewe.

 

[Steddenm]

Which goes through to National Rail Enquiries in Mumbai in India. There is not much they would be able to do. A help point is not a suitable replacement for staff.

The help point actually goes through to the control room (for London Midland) in Crewe or in Birmingham depending on the time of day. There they can log in to view the CCTV remotely and contact the police on your behalf.

Some have three buttons on them -

RED - Emergency services call
GREEN - London Midland control room/help
BLUE - National Rail Enquiries / Automated Announcement on Demand (think... "The next train from Platform 2 is the 1338 London Midland service to Walsall, calling at...".

 

[Robertj21a]

Which goes through to National Rail Enquiries in Mumbai in India. There is not much they would be able to do. A help point is not a suitable replacement for staff.

My understanding is that that's a load of rubbish.

 

[AlterEgo]

Someone called Khurram Rami has been charged with the rape of the girl. I understand he is the first rapist.

 

[richard1976]

Someone called Khurram Rami has been charged with the rape of the girl. I understand he is the first rapist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-40769454

 

[Spineynorman]

I very occasionally travel through Witton station late at night and, in fact late at night on various lines. There are several factors that make stations late at night feel uneasy to me. 1) Unstaffed (I can't say I'd fancy staffing some of them though), 2) The platforms accessible only from one entrance and not visible from the surrounding area, 3) In an area with little "footfall" late at night, 4) few services stopping. Baglan near Neath is one I sometimes use that doesn't feel "good" late at night. Witton, being raised up from the surrounding ground level is a bit more exposed than some but, although residential areas are nearby, it is quiet late at night unless there's a match on at Villa Park.

You can wait at some stations sometimes and think, if a couple of dubious characters appeared, what could you do, where could you even try to go ? We don't know the full details of what happened but that is irrelevant in some ways as I think this sort of terrible incident and publicity will just encourage less use of public transport, especially late at night.

Do we want a railway system that is effectively a no-go area in certain areas after dark ? I don't think it has changed much to be fair and I don't have the answers but I do worry that, in an ongoing desire to get more to use train services, we may end up with many just thinking no thanks I'll drive.