Leeds Station hosts safety sessions for school pupils

Leeds Station hosted rail safety events for 700 children

Pupils from 15 West Yorkshire primary schools have been taught rail safety following a spate of incidents involving young people.

Network Rail said 356 dangerous rail incidents had been recorded in the region since April last year - with 130 of those happening in Leeds.

They included children trespassing on lines and throwing stones at trains.

Interactive sessions held at Leeds Station taught around 700 pupils different aspects of safety.

Network Rail delivered the sessions, working with LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express, CrossCountry, British Transport Police and the Leeds United Foundation.

Year six students, from schools in incident hotspots, were taught how to safely navigate a station and tried their hands at LNER's train driving simulator.

Interactive activities included having a go on a train driving simulator and meeting police dogs

Chloe Creffield, community safety manager at Network Rail, told the BBC about incidents involving young people that were regularly occurring at nearby stations.

She said: "Some of them were throwing stones at the trains, they were sitting on the platform edge.

"Every single year, we have people getting hurt or worse through these type of actions, so it's all about them understanding their choices and the danger they're putting themselves in."

Gemma Sorensen, who is a teacher at Frizinghall Primary School in Bradford, said that the school's local station had lower-level platforms which were easy to access.

"So, it's really important that they (the students) stay aware of safety," she said.

A spokesperson for the participating rail companies said they were committed to making the railway a safer place and educating students on the importance of safety.