An SR News investigation has revealed that Byker has the most crime-ridden station across the Metro network.
Figures released by Northumbria Police, via a Freedom of Information request, showed 67 crimes had been investigated at the station since January 1 this year.
Among these, 21 were for ‘violence against the person,’ 14 for ‘criminal damage’ and 14 for ‘public disorder’ offences.
Across the entire network there were 1,215 crimes investigated by Northumbria Police.
Elsewhere on the Metro network, Gateshead saw 64 crimes investigated at the station, including 25 for ‘public disorder’ offences, and Pelaw ranked third with 62: over a third of those for were for ‘criminal damage’.
Monument (60) and Wallsend (47) round out the top five.
There was good news for the people of Woolsington, however: their nearest station, Callerton Parkway, is the safest station on the Metro network – with only one public disorder offence and one theft investigated at the station this year.
Police stress the stats need to be viewed in context, with the worst stops on the list being major stations which see thousands of people passing through them every day.
Sergeant Tim Hand, who is part of the Metro Neighbourhood Policing Team responsible for the North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead stations said: “We work very closely with our partners at Metro, and I attend a tasking and coordination meeting on a regular basis with members of Nexus security staff to discuss emerging crime/disorder and from this, we deploy our resources to identified ‘hotspots’.
“We are a small team with a large area to cover, so we also work closely with our colleagues from the area command neighbourhood teams and the special constabulary in the relevant areas.
“From our TCG process my officers will be tasked to the problem areas to provide as much visibility and reassurance to the local residents and travelling public as possible and will work with Metro ticket inspectors at a variety of different locations to try and identify persistent offenders and take positive action against them where possible. We also have a Twitter account which is regularly updated with my officers’ movements and key messages to the travelling public.
“The system is covered by CCTV on both trains and stations which is used extensively by the police in order to identify suspects, whether this be and internal police identification or the circulation of a suspect to the wider public via the media.”
Sarah Sinclair, a regular user of the Metro network, said: “I get the Metro from South Gosforth station every day and have always felt very safe using it, so I was surprised to see the number of crimes that have taken place there.
“While these statistics wouldn’t stop me from using any particular Metro station, I would take extra care if I was travelling to those which have the higher crime rates, particularly if on my own at night.”