Transport police cuts 'will cost lives'

TSSA transport union general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust has called on transport secretary Mark Harper to halt an instruction to the British Transport Police (BTP) to make “catastrophic” savings that will affect the safety of passengers and staff. The only way £5 million worth of savings by the end of the financial year can be made would leave BTP short of 274 rail safety specialists, she said.

“At a time when the train operating companies are planning to reduce staffing in ticket offices, and the Metropolitan Police are choosing not to attend mental health incidents, cutting BTP officers will mean more deaths on the lines,” she told Harper.