Stations 'rail crime hotspots'

Two Devon railway stations are in a list of the top 10 regional hotspots for railway crime.

Network Rail put Teignmouth in sixth worst place in the South West for criminal incidents to occur and Devonport in 10th.

It says there were more than 500 recorded incidents involving young people in the South West last year.

Incidents included people throwing a chair at trains, firing air rifles at trains and playing on the tracks.

2008 top 10 hotspots 1. Stapleton Road (Bristol), 2. Swindon, 3. Trowbridge, 4. Weston-Super-Mare, 5. Truro, 6. Teignmouth, 7. Taunton, 8. Sydney Gardens (Bath), 9. Stroud, 10. Devonport Source: Network Rail

Network Rail is staging an Easter holiday drive to raise awareness among young people on the dangers of playing on the railway and to warn them to stay away.

Liz Heading, community safety manager, said: "We're seeing some real success in bringing down the levels of railway crime in hotspot areas, but there is much more work to be done to save lives and prevent needless injury.

"We are working hard to tackle the most dangerous crimes where young people think it is fun to play 'chicken' with a 200 tonne train going at 100mph or place objects on the line, which could have catastrophic consequences."