T&W Metro - antisocial behaviour

[Bletchleyite]

I was in Newcastle last night and had a brief ride (midweek early evening), and was quite shocked at just how lawless and unsafe the system felt. Gatelines were left open, one train stank of weed, a dodgy looking bloke playing punchbag with a hanging strap and a general air of neglect and dilapidation. It felt far more unsafe than Metrolink, and that's saying something.

How have things been allowed to get this bad while at the same time they're threatening people with Court for going down the escalator the wrong way?

I wonder if maybe a Merseyrail style enforcement officer approach is needed - and recruit some gateline assistants so they can be kept closed. Even if they're just manned by security guards who can do nothing but let you through if you say you don't have a ticket it's still a deterrent. The city itself doesn't have that feel (indeed I really quite like the feel of it - big and bustling yet very friendly), but the Metro sadly does.

(Side note, I found the system quite confusing in terms of signage etc, not unlike Istanbul's system - perhaps a tidy up would help, and be more specific rather than saying trains are "to the Coast" and stuff).

 

[Adtrainsam]

Longstanding issue on the metro I'm afraid. I can't remember things this bad 10 years ago though, so something must have changed between then and now. Covid probably played a major part in the increasing amounts of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) on the network.

I believe it's been discussed before on here, but there are security teams that patrol the metro at night. Sometimes, there'll be a very heavy Security/CSA/Police presence, usually as part of 'operations' by Northumbria Police, mainly during weekends/school holidays. When these operations aren't on, the metro does feel pretty lonely and has an almost eerie atmosphere. The trains are a warm invite for ASB too.

It also depends where you were travelling, the section through Newcastle City Centre fairs better than the outer sections near the coast.

 

[Paul_10]

Longstanding issue on the metro I'm afraid. I can't remember things this bad 10 years ago though, so something must have changed between then and now. Covid probably played a major part in the increasing amounts of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) on the network.

I believe it's been discussed before on here, but there are security teams that patrol the metro at night. Sometimes, there'll be a very heavy Security/CSA/Police presence, usually as part of 'operations' by Northumbria Police, mainly during weekends/school holidays. When these operations aren't on, the metro does feel pretty lonely and has an almost eerie atmosphere. The trains are a warm invite for ASB too.

It also depends where you were travelling, the section through Newcastle City Centre fairs better than the outer sections near the coast.

Nexus has always went on about for years how ASB has been reducing on the system but I don't know how you can record stats like in all honesty. There be plenty of incidents which don't get reported or have an impact on the service.

That said, the feeling of being unsafe is no doubt mostly a psychological one, travelling at night can increase anxiety, less passengers around so it feels more eerie and going through areas which are less than glamorous let's say would increase anxiety no doubt.

What I'm finding dissapointing is Nexus going on about increased security yet the reports do seem to suggest there presense is no deterrent as they don't act as probably because they are powerless in what they can actually do.

 

[DanNCL]

As someone who's used the Metro their whole life, I can't say I've ever known ASB on Metro be as bad as it is now. I personally feel less safe on Metrolink late at night, but that might be because I'm much more familiar with my surroundings in the North East than I am in Manchester.

I believe it's been discussed before on here, but there are security teams that patrol the metro at night. Sometimes, there'll be a very heavy Security/CSA/Police presence, usually as part of 'operations' by Northumbria Police, mainly during weekends/school holidays. When these operations aren't on, the metro does feel pretty lonely and has an almost eerie atmosphere. The trains are a warm invite for ASB too.

These 'operations' almost entirely focus on the coast and the South Hylton branch. You hardly ever see them in Newcastle City Centre or on the Airport branch, despite it being needed on both.

Nexus has always went on about for years how ASB has been reducing on the system but I don't know how you can record stats like in all honesty. There be plenty of incidents which don't get reported or have an impact on the service.

Probably based solely off the number of recorded crimes, which is an unreliable marker as it relies entirely on people reporting incidents to the police, something people increasingly aren't doing as they know the police won't do anything.

What I'm finding dissapointing is Nexus going on about increased security yet the reports do seem to suggest there presense is no deterrent as they don't act as probably because they are powerless in what they can actually do.

As far as I'm aware the security personnel on Metro have the same powers as an RPI. They can (and regularly do) issue penalty fares to people without tickets and boot them off trains.

 

[Segedunum]

The issue is that even when there's staff present, most "problematic" individuals are basically impossible to control. You need a greater Police presence, essentially.

There is a dedicated "Metro Police Unit", but this is/was known amongst staff as the "Missing Police Unit". Make of that what you will.

There was a plan, back in 2021, to have every gateline staffed from essentially first til last train. The issue was that staff couldn't physically get in or go home by public transport (eg. if you live south of the river, you can't go home if you're stuck at North Shields til midnight). A great idea in theory of course.

Nonetheless it was split up and you'd have those in pink hi-vis and blue hi-vis. Pink would stick to gatelines and blue would be out on trains. This at least meant that city centre gatelines would stay staffed much later than previously - as it used to be normal for 7pm to hit then staff were re-deployed. The likes of Chichester, North Shields and so on haven't had any "scheduled" changes to staffing times IIRC.

Unfortunately staff retention was apparently so poor that having enough people to fulfil both roles was bordering on impossible.

There is a view amongst a significant minority who use the system that they can do whatever they want and that they shouldn't have to pay. It isn't as simple as confronting them - as staff do get assaulted/threatened and in times past have even had threats made to them while not on duty.

In a nutshell - it's a cultural problem and it's dragged on for so long that it needs radical action. The question is where the money comes from to hire so many staff to achieve this, and how you keep them.

Day-to-day, staff do their best but they can't be everywhere and they can't risk putting themselves in danger.

 

[bramling]

I was in Newcastle last night and had a brief ride (midweek early evening), and was quite shocked at just how lawless and unsafe the system felt. Gatelines were left open, one train stank of weed, a dodgy looking bloke playing punchbag with a hanging strap and a general air of neglect and dilapidation. It felt far more unsafe than Metrolink, and that's saying something.

How have things been allowed to get this bad while at the same time they're threatening people with Court for going down the escalator the wrong way?

I wonder if maybe a Merseyrail style enforcement officer approach is needed - and recruit some gateline assistants so they can be kept closed. Even if they're just manned by security guards who can do nothing but let you through if you say you don't have a ticket it's still a deterrent. The city itself doesn't have that feel (indeed I really quite like the feel of it - big and bustling yet very friendly), but the Metro sadly does.

(Side note, I found the system quite confusing in terms of signage etc, not unlike Istanbul's system - perhaps a tidy up would help, and be more specific rather than saying trains are "to the Coast" and stuff).

It’s always been like that. Essentially, that’s how it is. Sadly, it’s reflective of the area it serves, and the lack of ticket gates at every station means the system acts as an extension of the street, which is different to something like LU.

To be fair during the day is generally okay, Monday to Friday at least, but after about 1600 it goes seriously downhill.

As you say, strange priorities, as you’re likely to be challenged by staff if seen taking photos, albeit for that to happen you have to encounter staff in the first place. I spent most of today photographing stations on the South Shields branch as it happens, and apart from at South Shields itself the only staff I saw all day were the drivers. There is a revenue presence though, they pick a station and “storm” each train en masse, but it seems there’s only ever one or two teams working at any one time, and I’ve not seen them in the evenings.

 

[DanNCL]

There is a dedicated "Metro Police Unit", but this is/was known amongst staff as the "Missing Police Unit". Make of that what you will.

"Metro Police Unit" only has two officers and they're expected to handle everything. It's no wonder they're referred to as the "Missing Police Unit".

Nonetheless it was split up and you'd have those in pink hi-vis and blue hi-vis. Pink would stick to gatelines and blue would be out on trains. This at least meant that city centre gatelines would stay staffed much later than previously - as it used to be normal for 7pm to hit then staff were re-deployed. The likes of Chichester, North Shields and so on haven't had any "scheduled" changes to staffing times IIRC.

Unfortunately staff retention was apparently so poor that having enough people to fulfil both roles was bordering on impossible.

The underground stations have to be staffed whilst open to comply with fire regulations. So unless Nexus are failing to comply with the law, the city centre stations are staffed even when the barriers are open.

Staff retention remains incredibly poor as morale is extremely low. Unless there's drastic change at Nexus, that won't change anytime soon.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 May 2023 ==

(Side note, I found the system quite confusing in terms of signage etc, not unlike Istanbul's system - perhaps a tidy up would help, and be more specific rather than saying trains are "to the Coast" and stuff).

There's many signs on the system that are out of date, some by more than 30 years. The term of "The Coast" is on signage as that's how the locals have always referred to it. When talking about trains from P2 in the City Centre we always mention Airport trains and "Coast" trains, rather than St James trains. Platform screens used to say "The Coast" too but it was changed a few years ago, first to the false destination of Whitley Bay then when that unsurprisingly caused confusion it was changed again to St James.

 

[Paul_10]

It’s always been like that. Essentially, that’s how it is. Sadly, it’s reflective of the area it serves, and the lack of ticket gates at every station means the system acts as an extension of the street, which is different to something like LU.

To be fair during the day is generally okay, Monday to Friday at least, but after about 1600 it goes seriously downhill.

As you say, strange priorities, as you’re likely to be challenged by staff if seen taking photos, albeit for that to happen you have to encounter staff in the first place. I spent most of today photographing stations on the South Shields branch as it happens, and apart from at South Shields itself the only staff I saw all day were the drivers. There is a revenue presence though, they pick a station and “storm” each train en masse, but it seems there’s only ever one or two teams working at any one time, and I’ve not seen them in the evenings.

Admittedly because I don't live in the area anymore and only come up on visits my trips on the metro is much more limited but I don't think it's probably as bad as it makes out. No doubt the coast section is probably the worse especially during the summer season but I've travelled on other sections of the system after dark and not encounted anything too serious. Maybe I'm fortunate but whilst you see some reports on the twitter page of ASB affecting service, it is fairly rare. The petty ASB like loud youths or the drunken/drugged up passenger can be unnerving but again it's psychological and aslong as you don't interact with them then usually there is no issues and you get to your destination without any trouble.

I think the general rule has always been the Green line is the least troublesome and the yellow line is the most likely where you could encounter some unwanted drama but it's all pot luck really.

 

[bramling]

Admittedly because I don't live in the area anymore and only come up on visits my trips on the metro is much more limited but I don't think it's probably as bad as it makes out.

I suspect the answer to that is it depends. There are a lot of teenager types who hang around in groups, but to be fair most of these don’t seem to go looking to make trouble, and beyond irritants like playing music out loud or making a noise are fairly harmless. However there are a core of proper wronguns to be found at times for sure, and these come from the whole age spectrum. I’d say it’s no worse than what one might find in parts of Kent, but compared to much of England it’s pretty bad.

Parts of Tyne & Wear are extremely rough, and it naturally follows that people from these areas use the metro - it’s as simple as that. It is often said that the worst part of Tyne & Wear is actually to the west of the city around Scotswood and Elswick, where there is no metro. However if you’ve been out at somewhere like Meadow Well or Byker then one can straight away see it’s pretty rough.

No doubt the coast section is probably the worse especially during the summer season but I've travelled on other sections of the system after dark and not encounted anything too serious.

It has come up before that the worst parts are
* Byker to North Shields
* Gateshead to Pelaw
* Pelaw to South Shields
* Most of Pelaw to South Hylton
* Regent Centre to Fawdon

That doesn’t really leave much! On top of that, the coast imports trouble from elsewhere, whilst being reasonably okay in itself.

Maybe I'm fortunate but whilst you see some reports on the twitter page of ASB affecting service, it is fairly rare. The petty ASB like loud youths or the drunken/drugged up passenger can be unnerving but again it's psychological and aslong as you don't interact with them then usually there is no issues and you get to your destination without any trouble.

I think the general rule has always been the Green line is the least troublesome and the yellow line is the most likely where you could encounter some unwanted drama but it's all pot luck really.

I wouldn’t say the latter really holds true. The Sunderland route can be pretty rough too.

Is it all exaggerated? Again depends on what one is used to. For those used to the metro, this is how it is, and it’s not a new thing (though possibly has got a bit worse since Covid). If you’re from somewhere like London then it’s a bit of an eye-opener, though London has its issues it’s a different form of anti-social behaviour in T&W.

 

[Segedunum]

The underground stations have to be staffed whilst open to comply with fire regulations. So unless Nexus are failing to comply with the law, the city centre stations are staffed even when the barriers are open.

The only station where this applies is Central. All other sub-surface stations require regular safety checks but not a permanent staff presence.

There was always a keenness to make sure these checks were done - and from experience even when staffing was down to the bare minimum a couple of years back, they'd still be done.

Like I said though, changes to the staffing arrangements mean that (in theory) the likes of Haymarket and Monument should be staffed later all of the time by now.

 

[Class142sbad]

I have put elsewhere on this forum about ASB but the main problem seems to be the coast. From drunken women dancing in the middle of day, to wheelies at North Shields or that video I've seen of "GET OF THE METRO NOWWWW". I mean I have experienced a homeless person get on and shout at everyone at Fawdon then got kicked off at South Gosforth or kids doing wheeelies at Monument. I have seen more checkies recently at Central and North Shields.

 

[Segedunum]

I have put elsewhere on this forum about ASB but the main problem seems to be the coast. From drunken women dancing in the middle of day, to wheelies at North Shields or that video I've seen of "GET OF THE METRO NOWWWW". I mean I have experienced a homeless person get on and shout at everyone at Fawdon then got kicked off at South Gosforth or kids doing wheeelies at Monument. I have seen more checkies recently at Central and North Shields.

Monument is a favourite spot for ASB. Especially as its so large that staff can easily be given the run around.

Central, as I said above, should be staffed basically all of the time with minimum three CSAs during the day.

North Shields had/has unusual staffing hours to say the least (naturally won't elaborate on a public forum) but it's a common one to also run a barrier with a load of staff in the evenings. Of course it doesn't stop the hardened fare-evaders who will climb over the disused ramped exit on Platform 2 and even run onto the tracks if they're on Platform 1.

I could write a book about the things I've seen, as I'm sure many others could

There was even talk a while back of installing more gatelines, but I think that quickly died a death. Plus they're hardly a deterrent - the gates at North Shields and Chichester for example are in an awful state from being kicked/jumped over so many times.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Doesn't help that they've installed quite fragile gatelines and not the more or less standard and quite hefty ones used in the South East.

 

[johntea]

(Side note, I found the system quite confusing in terms of signage etc, not unlike Istanbul's system - perhaps a tidy up would help, and be more specific rather than saying trains are "to the Coast" and stuff).

Funnily enough I got so confused by the signage a few years ago (and I've travelled on many systems in my time!) I had a hotel booked in Whitley Bay and didn't work out there was no more service there at whatever time I ended up on the network so I ended up at god knows which unstaffed station quite late at night and a taxi company eventually picked me up...nearly 2 hours later!

 

[Volvictof]

Funnily enough I got so confused by the signage a few years ago (and I've travelled on many systems in my time!) I had a hotel booked in Whitley Bay and didn't work out there was no more service there at whatever time I ended up on the network so I ended up at god knows which unstaffed station quite late at night and a taxi company eventually picked me up...nearly 2 hours later!

Probably Benton?

 

[Segedunum]

Funnily enough I got so confused by the signage a few years ago (and I've travelled on many systems in my time!) I had a hotel booked in Whitley Bay and didn't work out there was no more service there at whatever time I ended up on the network so I ended up at god knows which unstaffed station quite late at night and a taxi company eventually picked me up...nearly 2 hours later!

Not helped by the last trains around the coast being advertised as "Manors" or "Monument"...even at Monument!

 

[bramling]

Not helped by the last trains around the coast being advertised as "Manors" or "Monument"...even at Monument!

At Tynemouth trains are shown on the indicator as “Whitley Bay”, announced as “Newcastle via the coast”, and the front of the train shows “South Shields”. So nothing like consistency. People seem to manage though.

 

[kez19]

I witnessed a couple of anti social behaviour incidents on my visits to Newcastle (my examples was a couple years ago and happened during the day)

A guy held the Metro up I think it was at the Pelaw junction (ended up a guy in a business suit telling him to either stay onboard or get off... he got off!), I can't remember where I was coming from but it'll be either North Shields or Sunderland to Newcastle

The other incident was with schoolchildren (more the older end) causing havoc - I got off at Kingston Park but they seemed to be creating noise as I left as they headed to the Airport.
Just to add in both incidents it seemed to me as if the locals may know some but just ignore them (not saying this as a negative but if it gets rid of them).

I do wonder if the CCTV works on their vehicles and that if people are eventually caught? (I am saying this as just a visitor to Newcastle-surrounding areas)

 

[Segedunum]

The Regent Centre kids are well known for causing havoc. There's a specific duty that involves supervising them when the schools kick out but kids are well known for using the station (and adjoining car park) as a social club.

My most bizarre encounter was kids somehow managing to jam up an escalator there by getting a basketball stuck under the handrail.

As for CCTV - it does work. Specific units even have extra cameras for when they'd be used on Tyne-Wear Derby football specials.

 

[LowLevel]

What it needs is for the ferals to be dealt with accordingly, rather than feeling they can act with impunity. Act like a ****, get locked up. Give them a beating. Who cares. The same problem applies in my area. The only way to score a point is to physically block them from boarding trains on the network with tooled up security or police and strand them. Make the environment utterly hostile to them.

 

[bramling]

What it needs is for the ferals to be dealt with accordingly, rather than feeling they can act with impunity. Act like a ****, get locked up. Give them a beating. Who cares. The same problem applies in my area. The only way to score a point is to physically block them from boarding trains on the network with tooled up security or police and strand them. Make the environment utterly hostile to them.

In the case of Tyneside and Wearside, I genuinely don’t know where one would start. The whole area is pretty feral, it isn’t just a Metro problem.

We were walking around Sunderland earlier, and frankly parts of the place felt like being in the middle of a travellers site, it really is that bad. Whilst the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham (etc) have their bad parts, Tyneside and Wearside has comparatively many more of them, so it tips the scales heavily. I can honestly say I’ve never been to anywhere else in Britain where the atmosphere is generally so bad.

 

[2392]

Longbenton is/was problematic specially when the local Catholic Comprehensive finished. There regularly both the Police and school staff at the station. Though once on the train it'd been a case of seconds out round two and the rioting would start again. What's more there'd be barely a word of English amongst the [not so] little darlings, with most speaking Arabic/middle eastern langauge.

 

[kez19]

The Regent Centre kids are well known for causing havoc. There's a specific duty that involves supervising them when the schools kick out but kids are well known for using the station (and adjoining car park) as a social club.

My most bizarre encounter was kids somehow managing to jam up an escalator there by getting a basketball stuck under the handrail.

As for CCTV - it does work. Specific units even have extra cameras for when they'd be used on Tyne-Wear Derby football specials.

At the time for me I was surprised how rowdy they were compared to the schoolchildren coming from Illford Road/Gosforth junctions (I kinda of got use to the lines and system).

Its good to know CCTV works!

 

[DustyBin]

We were out and about on the system yesterday and it was thoroughly antisocial! Most of it was alcohol induced, but there were also the usual feral youngsters. There were actually delays “due to antisocial behaviour” so the extent of the problem wasn’t just perceived, it really was particularly bad (I’m well used to the usual levels!).

A teenager actually asked politely if he could sit with us as he felt intimidated by a group of middle aged men (who were particularly loud and foul mouthed it has to be said). I’m not sure what was going on to be honest, but I suspect the warm weather had brought all the idiots out!

 

[Class142sbad]

Feral kids in gateshead interchange running amok and some drunks weeing outside of sunderland university station are some things I seen yesterday

 

[Bletchleyite]

A teenager actually asked politely if he could sit with us as he felt intimidated by a group of middle aged men (who were particularly loud and foul mouthed it has to be said). I’m not sure what was going on to be honest, but I suspect the warm weather had brought all the idiots out!

You do get that, on genteel Chiltern I had a woman come over to me and say "do you mind having a quick chat so those blokes over there leave me alone?"

Sad that it comes to that...

 

[DanNCL]

The only station where this applies is Central. All other sub-surface stations require regular safety checks but not a permanent staff presence.

There was always a keenness to make sure these checks were done - and from experience even when staffing was down to the bare minimum a couple of years back, they'd still be done.

Like I said though, changes to the staffing arrangements mean that (in theory) the likes of Haymarket and Monument should be staffed later all of the time by now.

The latest I've seen is that the ORR want Central, Monument, Haymarket, Jesmond, St James, Manors, Gateshead and Park Lane all staffed for the entire time that they're open to passengers. Monument is especially important with the vast size of it, you need staff there in case of an evacuation.

If Nexus think that it only applies to Central then no wonder the ORR aren't happy...

Probably Benton?

I think it can only be Benton unless it was under an amended timetable. There's definitely nothing booked to terminate at Shiremoor, not sure if there's any Monkseaton terminators late at night or not.

Not helped by the last trains around the coast being advertised as "Manors" or "Monument"...even at Monument!

I think this is a case of if it isn't broke don't fix it. Advertising the trains as "The Coast" on screens and announcements at Monument P2 might not have been strictly accurate but people understood what it meant. Indeed the map still does indicate, albeit maybe not as clearly as it could do, that "The Coast" is Whitley Bay, Cullercoats and Tynemouth.

The other incident was with schoolchildren (more the older end) causing havoc - I got off at Kingston Park but they seemed to be creating noise as I left as they headed to the Airport.
Just to add in both incidents it seemed to me as if the locals may know some but just ignore them (not saying this as a negative but if it gets rid of them).

I do wonder if the CCTV works on their vehicles and that if people are eventually caught? (I am saying this as just a visitor to Newcastle-surrounding areas)

The Regent Centre kids are well known for causing havoc. There's a specific duty that involves supervising them when the schools kick out but kids are well known for using the station (and adjoining car park) as a social club.

My most bizarre encounter was kids somehow managing to jam up an escalator there by getting a basketball stuck under the handrail.

As for CCTV - it does work. Specific units even have extra cameras for when they'd be used on Tyne-Wear Derby football specials.

Longbenton is/was problematic specially when the local Catholic Comprehensive finished. There regularly both the Police and school staff at the station. Though once on the train it'd been a case of seconds out round two and the rioting would start again. What's more there'd be barely a word of English amongst the [not so] little darlings, with most speaking Arabic/middle eastern langauge.

There are definitely more problematic schools than others. The two especially bad ones are Gosforth (Regent Centre) and St Mary's (Longbenton), but there's others too including Whitley Bay and Benfield (Walkergate).

What it needs is for the ferals to be dealt with accordingly, rather than feeling they can act with impunity. Act like a ****, get locked up. Give them a beating. Who cares. The same problem applies in my area. The only way to score a point is to physically block them from boarding trains on the network with tooled up security or police and strand them. Make the environment utterly hostile to them.

There's a much better solution which is to give the kids something to do that isn't disruptive. They end up feral because the parents don't want them in the house and there's nothing for them to do now that all the Youth Clubs have gone and any other organised social activities for teenagers are virtually nil. It wasn't remotely this bad on Metro before the youth clubs closed, it was when that happened that this all kicked off.

In the case of Tyneside and Wearside, I genuinely don’t know where one would start. The whole area is pretty feral, it isn’t just a Metro problem.

We were walking around Sunderland earlier, and frankly parts of the place felt like being in the middle of a travellers site, it really is that bad. Whilst the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham (etc) have their bad parts, Tyneside and Wearside has comparatively many more of them, so it tips the scales heavily. I can honestly say I’ve never been to anywhere else in Britain where the atmosphere is generally so bad.

Wearside I'll agree but Tyneside really isn't any worse than Liverpool, Manchester etc. Metro happens to serve some of the worse areas ie Byker, Meadow Well etc, whilst a lot of the better areas such as Chapel Park, Whickham, Low Fell etc aren't on the Metro network.

We were out and about on the system yesterday and it was thoroughly antisocial! Most of it was alcohol induced, but there were also the usual feral youngsters. There were actually delays “due to antisocial behaviour” so the extent of the problem wasn’t just perceived, it really was particularly bad (I’m well used to the usual levels!).

Anti social behavior does cause delays but I wouldn't believe Nexus every time they blame that for disruption. The trains are falling apart, they're by far the biggest cause of delays even if Nexus won't publicly admit it.

A teenager actually asked politely if he could sit with us as he felt intimidated by a group of middle aged men (who were particularly loud and foul mouthed it has to be said). I’m not sure what was going on to be honest, but I suspect the warm weather had brought all the idiots out!

You do get that, on genteel Chiltern I had a woman come over to me and say "do you mind having a quick chat so those blokes over there leave me alone?"

Sad that it comes to that...

Happens quite often both on Metro and on buses up here. Really sad it comes to that, and sad that it's such a common occurrence that anyone is used to that.

Feral kids in gateshead interchange running amok and some drunks weeing outside of sunderland university station are some things I seen yesterday

The kids at Gateshead are known, there's one small group of them who persistently cause trouble both there and in Newcastle City Centre. They're on the radar and are (supposedly) being dealt with.

 

[DustyBin]

Anti social behavior does cause delays but I wouldn't believe Nexus every time they blame that for disruption. The trains are falling apart, they're by far the biggest cause of delays even if Nexus won't publicly admit it.

Absolutely, however it was believable yesterday with the number of incidents we witnessed. Their was an inevitability that something fairly serious would happen at some point. It wasn’t great, and as I said I’m familiar with what’s (sadly) “normal”.

 

[Segedunum]

The latest I've seen is that the ORR want Central, Monument, Haymarket, Jesmond, St James, Manors, Gateshead and Park Lane all staffed for the entire time that they're open to passengers. Monument is especially important with the vast size of it, you need staff there in case of an evacuation.

If Nexus think that it only applies to Central then no wonder the ORR aren't happy...

I think this is a case of if it isn't broke don't fix it. Advertising the trains as "The Coast" on screens and announcements at Monument P2 might not have been strictly accurate but people understood what it meant. Indeed the map still does indicate, albeit maybe not as clearly as it could do, that "The Coast" is Whitley Bay, Cullercoats and Tynemouth.

Central being staffed longer was to do with (so I was told when I was trained) it being connected to Network Rail property and different legislation and so-on applying. On paper Monument only needed two staff - but it was extremely unusual to only have two as if a train came in on P3 at the same time as one on P1/2 it quickly became unmanageable.

St James/Manors being staffed late - you'd want more than two staff at first as many see these as the "free" entry/exit to the system and I'd expect a lot of aggro at first.

In an ideal world you'd put gates at Park Lane. It's staffed for most of the day but naturally no revenue duties, only customer service.

Reference to displays on platforms mostly refers to the last trains which terminate at Manors or Monument Platform 3. The Monument one is advertised as "Monument" (even at stations before Monument P2 IIRC) making it very confusing.

 

[Tetchytyke]

How have things been allowed to get this bad

tl;dr Northumbria Police are rubbish.

Yes, there are many reasons why they are rubbish, but the reason why ASB is an issue is because the police are rubbish. Never to be seen, and not just on the Metro.

What's more there'd be barely a word of English amongst the [not so] little darlings, with most speaking Arabic/middle eastern langauge.

I used to live at Shiremoor/Northumberland Park, and that’s not true at all. There were plenty of scrotey kids from plenty of the schools round there, but most of them spoke with a beautiful Geordie lilt whilst they were calling each other ****s.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 May 2023 ==

The only station where this applies is Central. All other sub-surface stations require regular safety checks but not a permanent staff presence.

I don’t doubt you, but I’m very surprised fire regulations aren’t stricter, given they are on London Underground. Certainly at Monument, St James, Gateshead, and Haymarket. They’re not even “sub-surface”, which you could easily argue Jesmond and Manors are, they’re properly underground.

ETA The 2009 Regulations appear to dictate there should be two members of staff in every underground railway station. These don’t have to be on barriers or in public areas, they can be in an office, but they do need to be there. I wonder if Nexus have interpreted Metro as not a railway? I sense a FOI request coming on.