Railway Stations: Crime

Mr. Burrowes
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects of staff presence at rail stations on rates of (a) ticket fraud and (b) other crimes at stations.

Paul Clark
Whether and how to staff stations are primarily matters for individual operators. The Department for Transport has not therefore carried out any recent study of the effect of staffing on crime. However, the National Passenger Survey includes a question about how safe passengers feel when using stations. In the most recent survey, in autumn 2008, only 8 per cent. of those questioned were dissatisfied with station security.