Out to stop abuse of rail staff (From Warrington Guardian)

Out to stop abuse of rail staff

VIRGIN Trains is joining forces with other rail companies in a drive to protect staff from assaults, threats and abuse this Christmas.

In 2003, 3,500 assaults were reported by front-line staff throughout the industry - an 18 per cent increase from the previous year.

The figures show that 345 of the assaults were on West Coast Main Line services.

Director of security at Virgin Trains, Paula Durrans said: "These numbers may appear high, but we encourage our staff to report every incident so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

"An increase in assaults involving spitting led to the issue to all our front line staff of DNA swab testing kits which are used by British Transport Police to identify and prosecute offenders."