Transport security officers 'spat at and abused'

Security officers who have begun patrolling trams and buses in Nottingham and the surrounding areas say they have been racially abused, spat at, and even threatened with being stabbed.

The five-strong team has been hired from Nottingham-based Octavian Security to deter trouble and make passengers feel safer.

They are acting as "eyes and ears" on the travel network and will tackle anti-social behaviour, such as loud music and smoking, or children obstructing them.

A senior police officer said he was appalled the SafeTravel officers had been targeted, adding the force would work with transport companies to identify those responsible.

Ibrahim Jalloh told the BBC that his team, which started patrolling the travel network three weeks ago, was targeted after telling a passenger he was not allowed to eat his fish and chips on the tram.

"He told me 'I will stab you', that's what he said first, then he starts spitting on us... it's horrible for someone to spit on you," he said.

His colleague, Danial Avia, added the man had also threatened to call other people to come and fight the officers.

He said: "We are trying to tell them what to do, and what we are doing... they are fighting back."

Their three colleagues - who are originally from West Africa and Pakistan - also said they had been racially abused by passengers they had confronted.

Faris Javed said he applied for the security job after completing a master's degree in information technology at the University of Derby.

"The good thing is the UK has good laws and rules people need to follow," he added.

"Mostly I faced racist comments."

Supt Chris Pearson, from Nottinghamshire Police, said the assaults and threats directed at the new officers were "appalling".

He added: "What it does is show exactly what members of the public have been enduring on our transport network.

"I'm very clear that we are working together with NET [Nottingham Express Transit] trams and Nottingham City Transport to identify who those individuals are and we will take appropriate action."

East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, whose office funded the year-long pilot, said the abuse against the new staff showed why it was important to gather evidence against troublemakers.

"We need to say we want a zero crime, zero anti-social behaviour approach here in the city," she added.

"We know that if they're capturing this information they can then take that back into policing.

"And they can then start to look for those people to apprehend them in the future if they aren't able to catch them at that moment."

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