Scotland’s railways are gripped by a rising tide of anti-social behaviour which could be made worse by cuts to staffing at stations and on trains, unions have warned.

The RMT and ASLEF spoke out ahead of the second anniversary of ScotRail being brought back under public control.

“Anti-social behaviour is a growing concern that must be tackled”, Kevin Lindsay of ASLEF said in a written submission to MSPs this week.

“Staff assaults and assaults on passengers come against a context of cuts to British Transport Police (BTP) budgets over recent years, more lone working on trains and unstaffed stations.

“Already this year we know that the number of assaults on railway workers already exceed thresholds. We also know that passenger on passenger assaults are stubbornly high, as is general anti-social behaviour on trains.

“Considering these figures as a whole suggests that Scotland needs more BTP officers, more staff and every train having a safety critical guard on board.

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