Business Travel
Body-worn cameras help reduce assaults on staff
Virgin Trains has become the first UK train operator to provide body-worn cameras to cover all of its frontline people – resulting in assaults on staff falling by more than half. Following a pilot scheme, Virgin
‘My colleagues have said they feel much safer wearing the bodycams and have more confidence’
Trains rolled out 275 cameras across the entire network. Since this was completed in February 2018,
assaults on Virgin Trains staff have reduced month by month, from 20 in March to six in September. Results from a survey revealed that more than 80
per cent of staff felt safer at work while wearing bodycams and nearly 90 per cent would recommend them to colleagues. In another first for the rail industry, Virgin Trains
has given the British Transport Police direct access to footage from the cameras, if needed, thanks to a state-of-the-art cloud-based system that allows them to view the footage when the cameras are docked – speeding up investigations and possible prosecutions. The introduction of bodycams on Virgin Trains has
already led to one conviction, where a man pleaded guilty to a public order offence following an incident on a train in Wolverhampton. Research across the rail industry showed that
when rail employees at station barriers wore bodycams as part of a trial last year, physical
assaults against those wearing the technology fell by almost half (47 per cent) and assaults against all employees fell by 26 per cent. This trial was commissioned as
part of the rail industry’s commitment to continually improve security and was
conducted by the University of Cambridge with five train operators, including Virgin Trains, the British Transport Police (BTP) and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the rail industry. Work is now underway between rail companies
and the BTP to develop a joint rollout of the technology across the country. Lewis Komodromou, a revenue protection team
leader for Virgin Trains, was assaulted by a passenger with an invalid ticket at Euston station. He was shoved, subjected to verbal abuse and threatened. His colleagues intervened, and the man was arrested. The 26-year-old suffered a shoulder injury in the assault. He said: “I was extremely shocked after the ordeal.
I hadn’t really been in that type of situation before so I didn’t know how to react. Luckily my Virgin Trains colleagues were there to make sure I was okay. “My colleagues have said they feel much safer
wearing the bodycams and have more confidence in situations which could escalate. The response has been really positive.”
Corporate Travel Plus is an independent travel management company that specialises in effective, efficient and stress-free business travel provision.
We strive to provide a quality of service that’s second to none, guaranteeing professionalism, dedication and the relentless pursuit of the best value for money.
Our objective is to make the business of travel simple, stress-free and cost-effective for everyone involved. So we offer a comprehensive portfolio of services to meet every need:
• Air Travel • Hotel reservations • Car hire reservations • Domestic rail • European rail • Eurotunnel and ferry reservations • Door-to-door transfers
• Foreign currency and travellers cheques • Travel insurance • Visa and health requirements • Passport and visa procurement • 24-hour out-of-hours contact • Groups, conferences, events, hospitality and incentives • Leisure travel
Sword play: Paul Harley (left) and Mike Robinson of the BSC
Safety award for National Express
The Sword of Honour, awarded by the British Safety Council (BSC), was bestowed to National Express for its national white coach operation and for National Express West Midlands buses. It’s the fourth year in a row that
the coach division has won this prestigious award, and the third consecutive year for the buses. The award recognises
commitments to excellent health and safety management standards. Tom Stables, Managing director
National Express UK, said: “We believe that safety is everyone’s business, so I’m very proud that the hard work done by every single one of our employees has been publicly recognised like this.”
Sector Focus
We go further for your business Call: 01283 792979 /
www.corporatetravelplus.co.uk
December 2018/January 2019 CHAMBERLINK 63
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