Cambridge North ‘worst station’ for crime (!)

[MikeWM]

A rather amusing article. Guess I’d better be more careful on my commute

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/north-station-bike-thefts-crime-17610453

Rail passengers were more likely to witness a crime at Cambridge North station than any other in the UK last year.

A total of 96 crimes took place there in the 12 months to last December, according to UK Police data.

When compared to the latest passenger statistics, that works out as 19.6 crimes for every 100,000 people entering or exiting the station - the highest figure in the UK.

 

[MarkyT]

A rather amusing article. Guess I’d better be more careful on my commute

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/north-station-bike-thefts-crime-17610453

Rail passengers were more likely to witness a crime at Cambridge North station than any other in the UK last year.

A total of 96 crimes took place there in the 12 months to last December, according to UK Police data.

When compared to the latest passenger statistics, that works out as 19.6 crimes for every 100,000 people entering or exiting the station - the highest figure in the UK.

Mainly cycle theft, not surprising in Cambridge, but also related to an apparent design flaw with the bike racks. Looking at the picture in the newspaper article, it appears each individual rack can be lifted quickly from its foundations, allowing expensive well-secured bikes to be removed along with the rack for separation later at leisure away from the public gaze. Looks like nuts on the ground bolts are far too easy to remove.

 

[jopsuk]

Network Rail and Greater Anglia were told, in no uncertain terms, that the problems that had been seen at Cambridge station would be repeated were the sheffield stands to be bolted to the ground rather than embedded. So they went ahead and bolted them down, with exposed hexagonal heads.

I think almost every single crime reported there has been a cycle theft, it's otherwise a safe station

 

[rower40]

Note to self: check how the Sheffield stand at my local station - where I've left my bike from 0830 to 1720 nearly every working day for the past two years - is attached to the ground.
Second note to self: check that the subscription to my bike tracker is up-to-date.
Third note to self: Ensure that I put the D-lock through the wheels as well as locking the frame to the Sheffield stand.

 

[MikeWM]

I think almost every single crime reported there has been a cycle theft, it's otherwise a safe station

Yes, I don't doubt it I've never seen anything untoward, but I suspect the relative isolation (for now!) helps bike thieves to operate with a lower possibility of detection.

I did think the article was a fairly fun example of 'don't just read the headline and assume you know what's going on'!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Note to self: check how the Sheffield stand at my local station - where I've left my bike from 0830 to 1720 nearly every working day for the past two years - is attached to the ground.

At Bletchley some of them are just bolted and some are bolted with thread-lock. This is beyond incompetent; what you're meant to do is bolt them in a dug-out and concrete or tarmac over the top.

Similarly it wouldn't be hard to remove a bike and "slider" from the double-deck racks, they are just bolted together.

Edit: Quick nose out of the window...at Wolverton they appear to be done properly!

 

[47271]

What's the world coming to? Bicycles abused in Cambridge, whatever next?

Joking apart, this looks like it could be easily avoided, but the newspaper story somehow doesn't quite hit the right note...

 

[Julia]

Bicycle theft in Cambridge happens on an industrial scale, near the stations or not. Another case of a credulous local journalist (and the CEN has plenty of those) making no effort to look behind a headline number.

 

[camflyer]

What's the world coming to? Bicycles abused in Cambridge, whatever next?

Joking apart, this looks like it could be easily avoided, but the newspaper story somehow doesn't quite hit the right note...

This is the Cambridge News we are talking about. It couldn't hit (or spell) the "right note" if it tried. Just this weekend it was complaining about the "chaos" of the Kings Cross engineering works despite it being advertised weeks in advance.

 

[jon0844]

This is the Cambridge News we are talking about. It couldn't hit (or spell) the "right note" if it tried. Just this weekend it was complaining about the "chaos" of the Kings Cross engineering works despite it being advertised weeks in advance.

Most stations were dead, so the message did get through. I did see someone rant on Facebook about travelling every day and not having been told, which I found rather odd as regular commuters couldn't have missed the posters even if they tried!

 

[eastdyke]

If just a small number of travellers make sub-optimal journey choices to avoid this 'gangsters paradise' then I jointly blame the Media (for lack of clarity) and GA (for lack of interest).

 

[MikeWM]

This is the Cambridge News we are talking about. It couldn't hit (or spell) the "right note" if it tried.

Indeed - it is very sad how pathetic local 'journalism' has become over the last couple of decades. 20 years ago it was a totally different beast (still with many issues, sure, but overall an entirely superior product to what it puts out today).

Just this weekend it was complaining about the "chaos" of the Kings Cross engineering works despite it being advertised weeks in advance.

In a 'live blog' that had, err, 2 entries in it, then they gave up

 

[dk1]

These statistics are so sensational yet have no substance. Norwich station was in the headlines a few years back. Turned out to be night owls from a nearby club (thankfully long closed) that caught taxis from the forecourt fighting & generally making a nuisance of themselves as unable to handle a shandy or six.

 

[eastdyke]

The Media, LOL.
I remember an attempted armed robbery at a PO, Plumstead Road, Norwich (PO now along with many others closed).
The Nationals got hold of it and it was 'close to one of the worst (redacted) estates in the country'.
It wasn't even one of the worst in Norwich.