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No prosecutions in a third of racist incidents on trains

RACISTS are getting away with abuse and attacks on railways in more than a third of incidents reported in England and Wales.

British Transport Police (BTP) failed to prosecute or even identify a culprit in 37 per cent of reports of racially aggravated abuse, Home Office figures revealed yesterday. 

BTP, along with forces across England and Wales, has suffered years of Tory funding cuts and subsequent job losses, mirroring the dwindling numbers of station staff and attempts of rail operators to remove guards from trains.

Rail union RMT condemned the government for creating a situation where more than one-third of racially aggravated incidents on the rail network went unprosecuted.

BTP has the third-worst record among police forces in England and Wales for failing to apprehend racist offenders.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “These latest figures come the day after RMT released shocking statistics and evidence of racially-motivated assaults against staff on London Underground and contribute to the overall picture of violence spiralling out of control on the transport network while staffing levels are hacked back to the bone.

“The government should be hanging it head in shame. On [the Tories’] watch more than a third of those thugs engaging in racially motivated hate crimes on the services covered by the BTP are getting away with it.

“This culture of violence, abuse and assault on the transport system has to stop and that means making the resources available to turn the tide. These shocking figures are the result of years of austerity and cuts driven by pig-headed political ideology.”

Yesterday, the Star reported that more than three-quarters of London Underground workers surveyed by RMT said that they were verbally abused by passengers in the past year while one in five said they had been physically assaulted.

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