Police probing Metro trolley incident
NORTHUMBRIA Police have launched an investigation after a shopping trolley was thrown towards a Metro line, forcing services to be brought to a halt.
On Saturday, April 30, services were stopped at around 10.30pm between Four Lane Ends and Tynemouth and remained suspended for the rest of the night after a group of youths threw a shopping trolley at a moving train from the footbridge at Monkseaton Metro station in North Tyneside.
The incident caused significant travel disruption as services were busy due to the Newcastle United match earlier on in the afternoon. Passengers were urged to find alternative transport as the disruption remained overnight. Engineers were called to remove the trolley and carry out repairs ahead of the start of the Sunday service. On Tuesday, Nexus and Northumbria Police released a statement on the incident. Chief Operating Officer at Nexus, Martin Kearney, said: “It was a dangerous act and lives were undoubtedly put at risk as the trolley could have gone through a window or caused a derailment. We are working closely with Northumbria Police to pinpoint the offenders so that they can be brought before the courts.
“The incident was more evidence of a problem with anti-social behaviour that goes wider than just Metro. It is affecting communities, and some of that offending is in areas where we run our services.
“We are doing all we can to deter disorder on Metro, which is fundamentally a safe transport system for people to use.
“Nexus expects to spend £1.5m on a dedicated security team to deter troublemakers, and we have invested £4m in new and improved CCTV across the network. We have stepped up visits to local schools to highlight the dangers of misbehaving on the railways and to encourage kids not to get involved in crime and disorder. Every year we see in the region of 16,000 young people across hundreds of local schools.
“We have a number of enquiries under way to identify those responsible, and we would urge anyone with information to come forward.”
Anyone who has any information in relation to the incident should contact Northumbria Police, online through their website or by calling 101 quoting reference NP-20220501-1120.