A TRANSPORT union is warning that plans for the breaking up of the British Transport Police will endanger passengers on Scotland as they handed over a 11,500 strong petition to ministers calling for the plans to be stopped.
TSSA which represents force support staff believes that plans to merge BTP into Police Scotland are also unnecessary and will not be a cost effective use of Scottish taxpayers money., They say the move means safety standards are "being imperilled, passengers lives toyed with" as the important business of how best to keep rail lines open and running smoothly is being "undermined".
It came as Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins told the Scottish Police Authority that the public would not see any difference when the changes go through.
In June MSPs passed legislation aimed at merging railway policing north of the border into Police Scotland.
The Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill is the first step towards the national force taking on the role of the BTP.
There had been a lengthy debate over the plan, with police bosses warning it could be "massively complicated" and "a real challenge".
ACC Higgins said he had held open door events attended by over 70 police officers and other staff so far and said there was "no obvious resistance to the change".
He added: "I didn't get the sense that they were all running for the door. I got a sense there was an acceptance they will transfer over on April 1 (2019).
"I am confident that on April 1, 2019, the rail providers and the travelling public will not see any difference to the services they receive, other than the officers will be wearing a different cap and they will be a driving a different marked up vehicle.
"Because the reality is that those that deliver the services on March 31 will be the same officers that will be delivering services on April 1 and what we are doing is looking beyond 2019 about how we maintain that railway policing unit and ensure the 234 officers that are currently within that unit can be maintained. Because there will be natural attrition through retirement, resignation etc."
He said the railway railway policing specialism will be "future-proofed" by means of a revised training programme within Police Scotland, which will see legal and safety aspects of working on the rail environment integrated into the 11-week probationer course at Scottish Police College.
All other Police Scotland officers, including senior officers, will receive "additional upskilling".
ACC Higgins said that although railway policing will be integrated into Police Scotland’s command and control structures, "it is intended that officers affiliated to this specialism will not be routinely deployed to incidents or events outwith the rail environment or supplement divisional resources, other than for matters where there is a threat to life or at the discretion of the Chief Constable".
He spoke after petitioners met outside the Scottish Parliament to call on the Scottish government to reverse the decision.
A TSSA spokesman said: "Along with the huge public support, TSSA's campaign to retain independent BTP is backed by supported other rail unions and the BTP Federation.
"It is understood none of Scotland’s train operating companies believe the merger is wise and even Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) have described the SNP decision as “entirely” a political decision and did not include a detailed business case."
TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes added: "Axing BTP in Scotland is an act of major folly that will play havoc with the security of Scotland's 10,000 mies of railways track, its stations, depots and of course most importantly the passage safety of passengers. We've chosen Halloween to hand the petition in to highlight the real-life horror story the SNP's plans to do away with our railways' own police force will bring.
"The risk to passenger safety and the likelihood of increased delays in journey times are being increased by the nnationalist rather than rationalist politics behind this decision short-sighted decision and we hope that reason will still prevail and BTP will be given a stay of execution."
Neil Bibby MSP, Scottish Labour's transport spokesman added:"The SNP's merger of the British Transport Police into Police Scotland is a merger that workers do not want and passengers do not need. With over 11,500 people objecting to the merger it is clear there has been an enormous backlash against the SNP's Railway Policing Bill since it was passed.
The Scottish Government said it is committed to working with the TSSA to ensure a “strong and robust future” for railway policing.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Ministers have given a triple-lock guarantee to secure the jobs, pay and pensions of railway policing officers and staff in Scotland, and Police Scotland is committed to maintaining a specialist railway policing function following the merger.
"Integration will provide a single command structure for policing in Scotland with seamless access to wider support facilities and specialist resources, providing an enhanced service to the rail industry and travelling public."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article