Rail employees may refuse to work on companies between Balloch and Glasgow which were blighted with unruly behaviour.
RMT regional organiser Mick Hogg issued the warning, as he outlined fears that it may solely be a matter of time earlier than a member of Scotrail employees is severely injured or killed on account of thugs utilizing practice companies.
Earlier this yr we reported how the variety of crimes reported at West Dunbartonshire practice stations have rocketed by nearly 50 p.c.
Throughout the world 92 offences have been reported to British Transport Police (BTP) within the yr as much as November 2021, with felony harm and fire-raising, violent or sexual offences and thefts all widespread.
Whereas the variety of passengers dropped dramatically throughout the pandemic, the variety of crimes elevated from 62 in November 2019 to 92.
And final week a member of Scotrail employees stated that she had been left traumatised after making an attempt to take away brawling thugs who boarded a service in Alexandria.
The employees member noticed a gang of youngsters assault a youthful boy with a bottle, and feared for her personal security as she tried to interrupt up the combat when the practice reached Renton.
And Mick stated that her expertise was not an uncommon one on native routes.
He advised the Lennox: “One among our members was subjected to a terrifying incident when members of a infamous younger staff boarded the practice at Alexandria.
“She managed to take away them from the practice at Renton after which block the doorways as the motive force closed them, but it surely left her traumatised and fearing for her security at work.
“That simply provides you a flavour of what’s going down frequently. And nobody is listening.
“If no one listens then we’ll instruct our members to not work on the impacted routes.
“I’m unhappy to say that somebody can be severely injured or, god forbid, finally ends up dropping their life. And I don’t need to have to show spherical and say ‘advised you so’.”
Earlier this yr Scotrail confirmed it might proceed with plans to chop staffed hours at stations throughout the world - together with Alexandria, Balloch and Dumbarton Central.
This prompted outrage from councillors, with Mick including that he fears it may make points worse.
He continued: “There’s an actual worry from probably the most weak in society who can be reluctant to make use of trains. Notably if the cuts to station employees go forward.
“Unstaffed stations and an absence of employees on trains is an absolute magnet for the thugs to make use of Scotland’s trains to trigger havoc.”
He added: “If we will ban individuals from buying centres and soccer grounds, then why can’t we ban these individuals from Scotland’s railways?
“Give them lifetime bans. We have to do one thing. There’s no incentive to cease this thuggery.
“Beneath public possession you’d hope for a extra strong strategy. It’s a shambles.”
Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton constituency MSP, stated: “No-one ought to really feel unsafe when they're at work. I commend the RMT for standing by their members and passengers as that is fully unacceptable.
“I might urge anybody who witnessed this incident or who is aware of the youths concerned to contact the British Transport Police so strong motion may be taken.
“My ideas are with the ticket examiner who was clearly extraordinarily traumatised by this incident. I hope classes may be discovered from this for the security of each employees and passengers.
“There may be clearly a necessity for extra British Transport Police to be on our railways. Incidents like this strengthen the argument as to why we'd like stations that are correctly staffed relatively than ticket places of work in our space being stripped again.
“With ScotRail now beneath public possession, this ill-thought out plan must be reversed and extra assets are wanted for the police.”
A BTP spokesperson stated: “By partnership working with ScotRail and Police Scotland, we’re working tirelessly to discourage criminality and anti-social behaviour on the railway community, and we've been growing patrols on the Balloch line utilizing focused operations to discourage offending.
“The place offences involving youths happen, we recurrently interact with faculties and campus officers to determine these accountable and cope with them accordingly.
“We are going to take motion because the railway must be a secure place for everybody utilizing it.”
ScotRail safety and crime supervisor Stephen Elliot stated: “The security of our clients and workers is our primary precedence.
“Anti-social behaviour, whether or not that’s bodily violence, verbal abuse, or some other kind, is totally unacceptable.
“Everybody has the appropriate to go about their day in peace, so we’ll proceed to work with the authorities to make sure that anybody chargeable for anti-social behaviour is delivered to justice.”
A spokesman for British Transport Police stated: “We have been referred to as to Alexandria railway station at 5.07pm on Sunday Might 1 following experiences of an assault on-board a practice.
“Enquiries into this incident are ongoing and officers are interesting for witnesses or anybody with data to return ahead. You possibly can to this by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 378 of Might 1. “By partnership working with ScotRail and Police Scotland we’re working tirelessly to discourage criminality and anti-social behaviour on the railway community, and we've been growing patrols on the Balloch line utilizing focused operations to discourage offending.
“The place offences involving youths do happen we recurrently interact with faculties and campus officers to determine these accountable and cope with them accordingly. We are going to take motion because the railway must be a secure place for everybody utilizing it.”