Transport ban for repeat offenders

Staff on buses and trains report getting daily abuse

REPEAT offenders should be banned from public transport, SIPTU has said.

The Oireachtas Transport Committee heard from public transport workers who reported daily abuse and antisocial behaviour at the hands of passengers.

They also called for a dedicated transport policing service to be established.

Drivers reported passengers openly ‘shooting up’ on public transport with ‘no deterrent’ for anti-social behaviour due to the lack of gardaí patrolling the services.

John Murphy, Transport Sector Organiser with SIPTU, said there should be a ban on passengers who are ‘repeat offenders’ from using public transport.

The union is calling for the immediate establishment of a National Transport Authority Advisory Council. Mr Murphy said he wants that council to ‘have powers’ to bar repeat offenders.

‘There are known repeat offenders out there across all networks,’ he said.

A recent SIPTU survey of 600 workers found that over 80% of transport workers have experienced abuse at work, with over half saying it has worsened in the past year.

Mr Murphy said SIPTU represented around 3,500 transport workers, and of the 600 surveyed, 21% said they faced anti-social behaviour daily, while 30% said it was a weekly occurrence.

‘Many frontline staff have suffered physical abuse. Furthermore, minority community staff stated they believed abuse at work was a greater issue for them.’

Mr Murphy said a dedicated uniform policing unit for Public Transport would ‘act as a significant deterrent’ to anti-social behaviour.

SIPTU said they welcomed the Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s commitment last weekend for a dedicated transport police to be established.

The union said it was the first time any government leader has given a

Open drug use on buses

commitment for transport policing.

‘Crime and anti-social behaviour can be a particular problem on public transport, and we believe a targeted approach is needed,’ he said at his party’s Ard Fheis.

The 2008 Dublin Transport Authority Act provided for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority Advisory Council, but this has never happened.

Stephen Millane, Dublin Bus representative from SIPTU, said that open drug use on buses ‘has become the norm’.

He added: ‘If drivers were to stop and report everything there would be buses on the side of the street all the time.’

He said there are some ‘brazen’ users who openly take drugs downstairs on the bus, but usually it’s upstairs.

‘They are rolling joints, they’re shooting up. Albeit the driver has access to the camera to see it, you’re driving the vehicle, you’re watching road users and passengers. It happens so regularly, and that is on top of the anti-social behaviour,’ he added.

Mr Millane said that the perspex screens around bus drivers were not installed for anti-social behaviour – originally it was to protect against theft and robbery as buses used to have more cash on board.

‘Now, because nearly all the buses are cashless, it’s all Leap [cards] and tickets and the amount of cash is very little, the screens were kept up because the robberies were replaced with anti-social behaviour to protect the staff.’

Tommy Wynne, Irish Rail Driver Representative from SIPTU, said Irish Rail were able to enforce a temporary bar on a passenger after an incident in the Mid-West recently.

‘The person was removed from the train, he got on to the platform and started causing even more trouble. A staff member on the platform tried to calm him down but was chased into an office and had his jaw broken.

‘It was a local person, and the staff member was a local person as well so you’d imagine the staff member trying to avoid places that person was in,’ Mr Wynne said.

He said Irish Rail brought the offender to court, and managed to get him barred from the station and the service for a number of months, however Mr Wynne said the barring lapsed.

‘The staff member was out sick for a number of months with his physical injuries and then mentally, he could not go back to that station, we had to move him somewhere else.’

Mr Wynne said it was a ‘big win’ for Irish Rail to get a passenger barred, but usually people are just removed from the service they are using.

SIPTU is also calling for a Transport Charter to be introduced which would outline what is and is not acceptable behaviour towards Public Transport staff. ‘The Transport Charter could and should be used to highlight the problems experienced by staff (and indeed passengers) and help to educate everyone on the acceptable standards that must apply in Public Transport,’ SIPTU organiser Mr Murphy said.