‘Ban off their heads beggars from trams’
ACOUNCILLOR has called for an end to aggressive beggars ‘off their heads on drugs’ bringing ‘dirty blankets’ onto the Metrolink and bothering passengers.
Coun Phil Burke said that homeless people acting in an antisocial manner on the network was an issue that needed to be tackled ‘instead of sweeping them under the carpet.’
The concerns were shared with Greater Manchester’s transport committee in light of the stabbing at Manchester’s Market Street tram stop, which came about after a feud between rough sleepers.
Metrolink has also been used to peddle Spice across the city-region, with drug users travelling to the Chadderton stop in Oldham to pick up the drug.
Coun Burke said a reduction in antisocial behaviour on the Rochdale line had been ‘short-lived’ as there were still issues when trams cross into Oldham and onto Manchester.
The Rochdale councillor said on Friday: “We’ve got major problems which noone seems to be addressing.
“And that is with the homeless community getting on the trams with dirty blankets, taking drugs and off their heads, counting the money they’re earning, and affecting our people coming from Rochdale through these areas.
“We had a serious incident at Market Street the other day and if that happened on the tram then we would have had serious problems, innocent people would have been caught up in it.
“We really need to address these issues instead of sweeping them under the carpet.”
Coun Burke praised Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham for working to reduce the levels of rough sleepers on the streets through his A Bed Every Night scheme.
But the Labour councillor said: “We need to address these aggressive beggars which are getting on and off the tram for free and affecting people travelling to and from the city centre.”
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) says there was an overall six per cent reduction in crime and antisocial behaviour incidents on Metrolink in 2019 compared to 2018.
This has been driven by the number of on-tram incidents falling by 27pc, with incidents at tram stops also dropping by two per cent.
Alex Cropper, head of operations at TfGM, told the committee that Greater Manchester Police’s new transport unit has also helped tackle the issue since launching last
November. He said: “I know there’s been a significant increase in the number of coincidental homelessness/drug arrests on the Metrolink network.
“I think [GMP] are starting to have an impact with the new transport unit but that’s certainly one I’ll feedback [to the committee] in terms of keeping that momentum going.”