South Western Railway staff to wear body-worn cameras

Customer and staff safety is behind the decision, the operator said

Body-worn video cameras are being rolled out across a rail network after a successful trial.

Guards, customer service assistants and other staff working for South Western Railway (SWR) will wear the cameras to deter assaults, threats and abuse.

It follows a trial for staff at its Fratton depot, launched in June 2021.

The cameras are now being introduced at Bournemouth, Richmond, Weymouth, Farnham, Woking, Eastleigh, Portsmouth, and Guildford.

They will soon also be worn by SWR staff working out of Salisbury and Basingstoke.

The company said they will be used alongside existing CCTV cameras to capture better-quality evidence for prosecutions and cases in court.

'Anti-social behaviour'

Christian Neill, SWR's customer experience director, said "customer and colleague safety" was the firm's top priority.

He said: "We are always looking for ways to help our customers travel with greater confidence and ensure that colleagues feel safer at work.

Body-worn cameras will be rolled out across the network after a successful trial in Portsmouth

"These body-worn cameras are designed to do just this, by deterring anti-social behaviour on our services and reducing the number of assaults our colleagues experience at work."

The NHS announced earlier last year that ambulance workers in England would be given body-worn cameras, after assaults against them went up by almost a third in five years.

The Northern and Southeastern rail companies already issue staff with cameras.