Play safe – stay Safe. Keep off the Metro tracks. That is the message that I would like your help to send out to your parents and children over the school holidays. This year my concerns are more acute, especially as although, I have been able to visit many schools this year, but I have by no means seen all of the children I would have seen during the pandemic.
The school holiday period is traditionally a time when Metro can see a rise in instances of trespass and Anti-Social Behaviour on the system, with restrictions lifted I would like to warn the children about the dangers of venturing on to the Metro tracks, and what may seem like harmless fun is in fact very serious and against the law.
While I am not suggesting that pupils attending your school are taking risks or behaving inappropriately, children often don’t see the dangers that surround the railway. The lack of awareness of the dangers posed by the railway and the reality is a risk of being hit by 1,500 volts of electricity. The electricity on the railway is always on and always dangerous. Metro trains travel at speeds of up to 50mph and mainline trains much faster – and a train cannot swerve to miss someone in its path, so even if a driver can see your child, they cannot stop in time and they cannot change direction.
The railway is full of both obvious and hidden dangers.
It is vital we educate young people of the importance of railway safety – how to act responsibly while they are using public transport. What may seem like harmless fun is in fact extremely dangerous and could result in life changing injuries or death.
If we could also remind pupils to be aware of the dangers in the Bus Interchanges as buses need to reverse in these areas – always use the designated pathway and not to play in these areas.
I have also enclosed a link for kids to travel free with a paying adult on buses across the north east.
https://www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/take-kids-free-offer-all-buses-north-east-england-summer
Kind regards
Deborah
