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Your safety and security

Travel safe

Everyone deserves to feel safe and comfortable at all times when travelling with us. Find out some of the ways we keep our passengers safe on our trains and in our stations.

See it, Say it, Sorted

If you feel unsafe for any reason when travelling with us, if you see something suspicious or if you witness a crime on any of our trains, contact the British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or text on 61016. It doesn't matter if it's rowdy party-goers or something more serious, they’re just a text message away.

If it’s an emergency, please call 999.

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British Transport Police

Avanti West Coast work closely with the British Transport Police across the West Coast Main Line to help keep our passengers safe, happy, and secure. That’s why you’ll often see officers at our stations and travelling on our trains.

We also run a range of safety and security events, pop-ups, and safety initiatives across our network in conjunction with the British Transport Police, so keep an eye out for updates at your station. 

CCTV

All our trains and stations are monitored by CCTV. You’ll also see some members of our staff wearing body cameras or ‘Body Worn Videos’. These measures are for everyone’s safety and security, allowing us to capture incidents on film so that we can deal with them when they’re reported.

Our stations

Our are all accredited by the Secure Station Scheme, which is run in conjunction with the Department For Transport and the British Transport Police.

All our car parks have been given Park Mark Safer Parking status from the British Parking Association. This means our car parks have better lighting, CCTV, and other measures in place to give them a high standard of safety.

Safeguarding on Rail

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility with the rail industry playing a vital role in protecting both children and vulnerable adults.

We undertake appropriate and important training, discussions and collaborate regularly with our industry partners including British Transport Police, Samaritans, and The Railway Children Charity, to enable our employees to identify those who are at risk and get them the support they need.

We are proud members of the Safeguarding on Rail Scheme to help keep everyone safe and secure. You’ll also see our safeguarding officers provided by our partner, Amulet, located in and around stations across the network and travelling on our trains.
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Change a vulnerable child’s journey

Every year thousands of children use the railway to escape their everyday realities, which can involve abuse, neglect, poverty, difficult family relationships, bullying or poor mental health.

Railway Children works to identify children at risk of harm, give them the support they need to bring them home or find a safe environment.

We’ve partnered with Railway Children to highlight the growing crisis of runaways and raise awareness of vulnerable young people on the rail network. 

Our short film, Your Presence Is Presents Enough, written and directed by BAFTA award-winning director, Daisy-May Hudson, aims to encourage you to look up during your journey, as well as help you spot the signs of a runaway child and what to do if you believe they may be at risk.

It raises awareness of Railway Children’s AT RISK acronym (Attitude, Time of day, Relationship, Instinct, Safety, Keeping a low profile), which outlines the signs to identify a vulnerable child on the transport network.

Drawing upon Daisy-May’s lived experience of homelessness, the film is purposely five minutes in length to reflect the rate at which a child runs away in the UK.

You can watch Your Presence Is Presents Enough below.

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Looking up could change a vulnerable child’s journey. If they seem AT RISK tell staff or text British Transport Police on 61016.

Here are the signs to look out for when travelling:

Attitude

Do they seem unsure of themselves and their surroundings?

Time of day

Are they travelling when they should be in school or maybe late at night?

Relationship

Is there something that doesn’t feel right about who they’re travelling with?

Instinct

Are there any signs telling you they could be scared or intimidated?

Safety

Are they putting themselves at risk in any way?

Keeping a low profile

Do you see them lurking in station corners, toilets or avoiding ticket barriers?

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You can find out more about Railway Children and their work, as well as donate here.

As part of our partnership with Railway Children, if you’re eligible for Delay Repay you can choose to donate your compensation to the charity – helping to support their vital work to keep young people safe. You can do this by selecting ‘Donate to Charity’ during the ‘Compensation details’ stage of the Delay Repay portal. For more information about Delay Repay here.