Helicopter used to patrol Rochdale railway lines

Date published: 04/09/2007

Officers from British Transport Police teamed up with Network Rail yesterday, Monday 3 September, to patrol from the skies as part of a crackdown on rail vandals. 

A BTP ’air observer’ was deployed in the Network Rail helicopter to patrol over Rochdale looking for yobs who throw stones at trains, place objects on the tracks, and trespass on the railways.

The helicopter patrol comes after a Northern Rail driver was showered with glass after vandals threw a large stone smashing a train window in the Smithy Bridge area of Rochdale on 11 August.

During the operation "air observer’, PC Tony Banks, was in communication with colleagues on the ground directing officers to locations where incidents were occurring on the railway.

At approximately 13.15hrs reports came in of youths trespassing in the Cop Road area of Oldham, walking towards Shaw. The helicopter was quickly dispatched to the area directing officers on the ground who detained five youths in the Shaw area.

The youths were three girls aged 12 and two boys aged 11 and 12, all from Oldham. They were detained and returned to their home address and will be spoken to by officers at a later date in the presence of their parents.

Inspector Tom Naughton of British Transport police said. "We were delighted to have this opportunity to work alongside Network Rail and take advantage of all the benefits the helicopter gives us. It is a fantastic resource which assisted our officers on the ground in targeting areas where recently there have been a number of incidents.

"It is vitally important that youngsters understand the dangers associated with "stone throwing’ and trespassing on the railways. It is not only their own lives they put at risk but also the lives of the passengers and rail staff on board the trains.

"I would call upon parents and adults, if you live near to the railway, to educate youngsters about the dangers and ask yourself if you know where your children are playing."

Greg Goddard, Network Rail’s air observer said of the partnership: "We use the helicopter for carrying out a variety of tasks such as track inspections, looking at fencing problems, collapsed troughing and cable defects.

"The helicopter carries sophisticated camera equipment worth £250,000. Even flying at around 1,000 feet the camera is so sensitive it can pick out identification plates on the side of bridges. While we are flying the helicopter it makes sense to offer the "spare seat’ to our colleagues in the British Transport Police to help them crack down on railway crime. Anything we can do to help them ultimately helps the travelling public."