Rail cop on track for stardom

Mark Cleland is the face of the Rail Cops

Sergeant Mark Cleland is set to re-live the moment a drunken man pushed him off a station platform in a new series called Rail Cops.

But trackside incidents are all in a day's work for Sgt Cleland, who is in the frontline of British Transport Police's task of keeping the railways safe.

They thought I was a bit strange, an astrophysicist who joined the police.

The 32-year-old, who lives near Blackwood, south east Wales, was chosen from dozens of officers for the series, which begins on BBC1 Wales at 2235GMT on Tuesday night.

He's now set to follow in the footsteps of docu-soap stars such as Jeremy Spake, who became a household name after appearing in Airport.

Sgt Cleland appears alongside colleagues from London and Ashford in Kent in four episodes of Rail Cops, highlighting the work of the force's 2,000 officers in patrolling 10,000 miles of railways.

Sergeant Cleland is seen dealing with drunks, arresting the man who pushed him off the platform and searching Cardiff Central station before the Queen's Golden Jubilee tour visit.

"Film crews were sent all over the country looking for different personalities and they came to Cardiff and thought I was a bit odd and bizarre," explained Sgt Cleland.

Mark Cleland: In action

"They thought I was a bit strange, an astrophysicist who joined the police.

"They started following me about and before I knew it, they were like a couple of stalkers and I could not shake them off!"

Sgt Cleland also takes to the skies in the force's helicopter to deal with rapid response situations, ranging from railway trespass and vandalism to fatalities.

The helicopter is fitted with a spy camera, which can transmit images of culprits to panda cars on the ground, who can then apprehend people.

Railway incidents:

Vandalism - Incidents cost £26m each year in the UK

Incidents - The area covering Great Western saw 1,042 incidents between April 2001-March 2002

Sentences - Maximum penalty for trespass - £1,000; endangering lives - life imprisonment

"People do not appreciate a death on the line brings the network to a halt and we have to deal with that.

"We had a problem with kids in the railway tunnel at Chepstow, which we responded to quickly," he said.

One of the more bizarre moments for Sgt Cleland involved saving a seagull's life.

Meanwhile, the flurry of activity this week has meant putting police work on the backburner, as the face of the Rail Cops has been busy publicising the series on radio and television.

'Problem hotspots'

Chief Inspector Chris Phillips said Sgt Cleland was typical of the kind of officer working for British Transport Police.

"He is a fine officer, although there are not many astrophysicists on the force.

"The air observer work he does is quite important - we always catch people trespassing or messing around.

"We have problem hotspots and at the moment there are problems at Hengoed with people throwing stones at trains."

Ch Insp Phillips warned that stone throwers and vandals risked custodial sentences.