GLASGOW PROTESTS IN SUPPORT OF DISABLED PEOPLE’S ACCESS TO RAIL TRAVEL

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2017 :: RMTnews 20 T he safety and security of rail workers and passengers will be put at greater risk if MSP's do not oppose the Scottish Government’s legislative plans to abolish the British Transport Police RMT warned ahead of a Stage 1 debate of the Railways Policing (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament this month. The union has also pointed to the near universal opposition to the proposals from rail workers, the police and train companies and said this means MSP's “must put aside ideology and party loyalty and oppose the Scottish Government’s proposals”. In a briefing to MSPs the union has also warned that: • By abolishing the BTP in Scotland and absorbing it into Police Scotland, we will lose specialist skills and identity in policing passenger rail services in Scotland, accrued over many years. • The loss and erosion of specialist rail policing skills and expertise will result in an inferior service, adversely impacting on the safety and security of rail workers and passengers, particularly on Driver Control Operated services and at unstaffed stations. • These proposals will require rail service operators on both sides of the border, particularly where the service crosses the border to have the same operational agreement with two separate police forces, where currently only one Railway Policing Agreement (RPA) is required. This will have a negative effect on the co- ordination of policing crime and anti-social behaviour on cross border rail services, as well as confusing lines of responsibility, including around the additional administrative costs created by this move. RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said that MSPs needed to be clear that if they do not oppose this Bill it will increase the risk to the safety and security of rail passengers and workers. “The loss or erosion of specialist skills provided by the British Transport Police is opposed by rail workers, rail employers and the police federation. “The Scottish government’s consultation failed to include any alternative approach to that in the Bill. “That is not a sensible, proportionate or safe way to proceed, as four MSPs on the Justice Committee looking at this Bill have recognised. “MSP's must put aside ideology and party loyalty and oppose this Bill in the interests of safer Scottish rail services,” he said. R MT and Disabled People Against Cuts Glasgow held protests this month for the rights of disabled people to have a fully accessible and safe rail service. Joint protests and leafleting took place outside Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen Street stations. Parliamentary answers in 2016 revealed that 214 of Scotrail’s 346 stations are unstaffed, over 30,000 trains currently run as Driver Only Operated trains and nearly two thirds of stations have no staff available at all. RMT also produced figures in July 2016 to show that the annual number of ScotRail services that went into service from April 2015 onwards, without a second member of staff on board when there should have been one present, was running at anything from 5,700 to 7,300 a year. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that RMT had consistently has asked what happens to a disabled person trying to access or exit a train, at an unstaffed station with only the driver on board? “How can disabled people in Scotland really travel unobstructed if the support and staff necessary to access rail travel services are not available? Will they even want to try and attempt a journey if there is no guarantee of being able to get on off the train? “We are sending out the message that disabled people should be able to travel without discrimination and for that to happen both trains and stations needs to be properly staffed,” he said. GLASGOW PROTESTS IN SUPPORT OF DISABLED PEOPLE’S ACCESS TO RAIL TRAVEL SOLIDARITY: RMT members are joined by campaigners from Disabled People Against the Cuts outside Glasgow Central Station this lunchtime in the fight for Safer Scottish Trains OPPOSE SCOTTISH TRANSPORT POLICE PROPOSALS