Teenage tram yob went on a reign of terror ‘More than 200 reports’ made to transport bosses
ATEENAGER’S 10-month campaign of harassment and criminal damage on the trams led to ‘more than 200 reports’ to transport bosses.
The behaviour of just one 15-year-old singlehandedly trebled the number of incidents recorded at Rochdale interchange compared to the previous year.
Tram bosses say they were even driven to hire an outside security firm to ‘reassure’ staff and passengers around the behaviour of the youth, whose rap sheet ranged from verbal abuse and harassment to criminal damage and carrying weapons.
Other reports included breaking and entering, pulling brakes on trams and venturing on to the bus interchange to ‘turn off engines’. They sometimes acted alone but also had ‘followers-on’ as their behaviour had a tendency to ‘draw a crowd’. Some of the incidents took place late at night, sparking ‘safeguarding’ concerns.
Kate Green, Travelsafe boss, told the Observer the ‘extreme’ case was the ‘worst she’d seen’ on the network. It also forms part of a bigger picture which shows a sharp uptick in youth anti-social behaviour across the board, thought to have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Chief Insp Ronnie Neilson, who leads GMP’S transport unit, described the case - and a ‘chronic and acute’ increase in youth offending generally - as a ‘symptom not a cause’ of a lack of engagement and provision for young people.
The youth in question, who cannot be named due to their age, is now understood to be getting the support they need to address their behaviour.
Kate Green described
Police were deployed on trams as part of a four-month operation to reassure passengers and staff on the Metrolink in Rochdale how the individual would ‘target’ staff members for abuse. In some cases, passengers tried to intervene.
She added: “One of the biggest concerns was the impact on staff who were there to do a job and support people who were legitimately trying to use the network.”
As well as action from Metrolink, police and the council, a dedicated security team was hired to reassure staff and customers around this anti-social behaviour in Rochdale for four months.
The Observer has asked Transport for Greater Manchester (TFGM) how much it cost to hire this firm, which is still in use to help bosses deal with issues across the network.
The bill for this financial year, including extra support for security on the transport network during football matches, came to £400,000.
The offender initially came to the attention of police and the Metrolink’s Travelsafe Unit in December 2020 following a spate of incidents around Rochdale. In January 2021, staff requested that security bosses remove the teenager’s pass but following consultation with police and the local authority, it was decided they should be issued with an Exclusion Notice instead.
This is a civil order banning access to a specific site.
However, their behaviour continued so in February, a multi-agency meeting was held to discuss the case.
Further incidents in March led to a ban from Rochdale town centre.
The following month, the youth was found to be in possession of blades and, appearing before a court in May, was given a Youth Rehabilitation Order. The youth was back on Metrolink that same day.
In June, the teenager’s behaviour toward staff was said to ‘escalate’ and a Travelsafe Unit plain clothes operation led to their arrest.
On September 20, a judge sentenced the youth for a range of charges - two of harassment, assault of an emergency worker, and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.
They were handed down a 15-month Youth Rehabilitation Order, a 12-month restraining order and a 12-month Criminal Behaviour Order.
The CBO included a ban on climbing, walking, crawling, hanging or being on the outside of or on top of any building, street furniture or manmade structure anywhere in Greater Manchester, unless it has been specifically designed for climbing, they have the written permission of the owner and appropriate safety equipment is used. The order also prohibits them from riding on top of or outside of any bus or tram.
Chief Insp Neilson said the case raises some big questions about young people and youth engagement in Greater Manchester.
“This is more complicated than just ‘ young people are out of control,” he said. “We need to be looking at what is there for young people to do?
“How are partners engaging and what are the changes that need to be made to youth provision?
“At the end of the day they are young people, they make mistakes.
“That’s part of growing up and I don’t think the criminal justice system is the best solution for them, and that wider issue needs some exploration.
“How do we respond to complex social needs?
“A lot of anti-social behaviour is a result of issues at home or elsewhere. And that’s what we are dealing with. It’s about what the best outcome is.
“Success is not arresting somebody, success is getting young person in a secure safe environment and then they can go on to learn, grow and develop.
“What we are dealing with as an outcome is a lot of anti-social behaviour and traditionally people want to see people arrested but that unfortunately is not a solution.”
Lucy Kennon, Head of Resilience and Business Continuity at TFGM, said youth offending was being felt ‘across the piece’, while Kate Green said they had learnt lessons from the case and were now ‘much more agile’ when it came to offences like this.
She said they could take away passes, exclude offenders from interchanges, and ultimately look to enforce civil injunctions.
She added: “We will use all the tools we’ve got, while accepting that, particularly with juveniles, we do need local partners around the table to support us.”
The Rochdale and Oldham line has suffered the most ‘higher impact’ crimes during 2021, with incidents including assaults, robberies and thefts.
There has been a 45 per cent increase in youth and young person-related incidents. In 2019, youth incidents made up 24pc of the total, increasing to 35pc in 2021.