Godalming station dispersal order?

[GodAtum]

Just saw this Tweet from the BTP https://twitter.com/BTPSurrey/status/1471415246732640256

There is a dispersal order in place for Godalming Railway Station every weekend until the end of December 2021. This is due to recent incidents of ASB and violence at the station. Officers will be patrolling the area and handing dispersal orders if required.

Anyone familiar with the area know if this ASB is quite common? I guess bored kids lurking around?

 

[evergreenadam]

Just saw this Tweet from the BTP https://twitter.com/BTPSurrey/status/1471415246732640256



Anyone familiar with the area know if this ASB is quite common? I guess bored kids lurking around?

Yes, ASB at Godalming has been mentioned on this forum before.

 

[DelW]

A week or two back it was reported one evening that trains weren't stopping due to a police incident. I didn't hear anything further about its nature.
A year or so ago there were repeated cases of ASB at Farncombe station, about 3/4 mile to the north.

 

[apinnard]

The area is well known for it. The scrotes used to harrass passengers and staff on trains, even breaking into the pa system and making “announcements” on trains.

 

[Stigy]

There’s been significant ASB at Godalming/Farncombe for a few years now. It got beyond minor offences a few years ago and commuters were being robbed etc. it was the usual suspects generally (not sure if this has changed though as it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been there).

 

[Bigfoot]

The station was closed recently due to someone being shot in the face by what turned out was an airsoft/bb gun. However still a serious issue. Guildford all the way to the Harbour regularly has youngsters causing problems.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Not to excuse people behaving badly, but in that part of Surrey trains, other than for the now very limited commute to London, are transport of last resort, and so there may well be no leavening of good people to make the more timid/led of the bad people think a little bit about their behaviour. Being less wealthy in a wealthy area can’t be fun and I wonder whether the youth clubs etc have shut down because of cuts or Covid. Trains, and more so stations are among the few public spaces left for those who don’t go to restaurants and have nice family homes.

 

[GodAtum]

Not to excuse people behaving badly, but in that part of Surrey trains, other than for the now very limited commute to London, are transport of last resort, and so there may well be no leavening of good people to make the more timid/led of the bad people think a little bit about their behaviour. Being less wealthy in a wealthy area can’t be fun and I wonder whether the youth clubs etc have shut down because of cuts or Covid. Trains, and more so stations are among the few public spaces left for those who don’t go to restaurants and have nice family homes.

I'm surprised, when I pass through the area on the train it looks very quaint and rural.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

There are pockets of deprivation everywhere.

 

[Meerkat]

Not to excuse people behaving badly, but in that part of Surrey trains, other than for the now very limited commute to London, are transport of last resort, and so there may well be no leavening of good people to make the more timid/led of the bad people think a little bit about their behaviour. Being less wealthy in a wealthy area can’t be fun and I wonder whether the youth clubs etc have shut down because of cuts or Covid. Trains, and more so stations are among the few public spaces left for those who don’t go to restaurants and have nice family homes.

How on earth have you come to this opinion? The trains through that area are fairly busy all day (outside Covid), all the through traffic to/from Portsmouth for a start.
Leisure trips to/via London, nights out in London/Guildford, lots of school and college travel etc etc. The residents may have big cars but the traffic in, and south of, Guildford can be a nightmare, and being wealthy the speed is good and they arent so bothered about the cost.
Farncombe is probably the issue. Some very deprived roads around there, a local teacher once told me that on one particular estate some of the families hadnt had anyone working since the generation made unemployed when agriculture disappeared/mechanised.

 

[MadCommuter]

Rather than issue a dispersal order, is not possible to arrest and charge those causing the trouble?

 

[221129]

Rather than issue a dispersal order, is not possible to arrest and charge those causing the trouble?

It is, however a dispersal order gives the power to move groups on, even with no offence committed.

 

[O L Leigh]

There are pockets of deprivation everywhere.

It's not always kids from deprived backgrounds that cause the problems. On the pre-TfL WA routes, you'd get more anti-social behaviour on the Hertford East branch than you did on the less affluent Southbury loop.

 

[Towers]

This was all well documented prior to Covid; the issues are believed to involve a particular gang from the area, who took a liking to targeting the railway for whatever reason. As well as general antisocial behaviour, the issues included certain individuals holding keys and accessing driving cabs, throwing equipment out of windows and allegedly vandalising driving controls. It came to a head when a driver subsequently discovered that he had driven a train in service from Waterloo to Portsmouth with items of emergency equipment missing, the train having been a victim of the gang on its previous journey into London.

Aslef had been unsatisfied with the response from the TOC, and were proposing next steps of refusing to stop there if it wasn't addressed properly. Requests had been made for security staff to be deployed, but no such steps had been taken. Covid then appeared, I was wondering when it would kick off again.

Previous thread availble here somewhere!

 

[Stigy]

Not to excuse people behaving badly, but in that part of Surrey trains, other than for the now very limited commute to London, are transport of last resort, and so there may well be no leavening of good people to make the more timid/led of the bad people think a little bit about their behaviour. Being less wealthy in a wealthy area can’t be fun and I wonder whether the youth clubs etc have shut down because of cuts or Covid. Trains, and more so stations are among the few public spaces left for those who don’t go to restaurants and have nice family homes.

These youths don’t do youth clubs…they’re feral.

 

[londonbridge]

There’s been significant ASB at Godalming/Farncombe for a few years now. It got beyond minor offences a few years ago and commuters were being robbed etc. it was the usual suspects generally (not sure if this has changed though as it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been there).

Yes, a few years back I went to a show at Farncombe St Johns church, when I went to get the train home there was a group of kids having a punchup outside the station.

 

[evergreenadam]

I have found that the potential for mindless thuggery and ASB in commuter belt towns in the south east is often greater than in London.

 

[75A]

Bet their Mum's love em & wont have a word said against them.