Give Centro powers to ban, urges commissioner

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, is calling for London style banning orders for persistent criminal offenders on the region’s public transport network. Currently, transport authorities in the West Midlands have to apply for separate injunctions for each local authority. This means a criminal could be banned from using buses in Walsall but not in Birmingham. Although total recorded crime on public transport in the West Midlands fell by 7.5% between 2011 and 2014, research carried out by independent watchdog Passenger Focus shows a correlation between antisocial behaviour (ASB) and passengers’ perception of personal safety.

David Jamieson said, ‘The current Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014) gives only Transport For London (TFL) the ability to use Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) to ban people, who persistently commit criminal acts on the region’s transport, from using it. It makes no sense that these powers are not available to the authorities here in the West Midlands. Frankly, if it’s good enough for London then it’s good enough for our region too. The public are quite right to expect that they should be able to travel on our buses, trams and trains without fear for their safety. Giving the West Midlands the ability to apply for one CBO covering its entire network is a key tool.’