Executive Summary

All passengers and staff who travel on Scotland’s railway have a right to feel and be safe, and this is a shared priority for Scottish Ministers and key partners across the rail industry. This Working Group consists of representatives from ScotRail (SRT), British Transport Police (BTP), Scottish Rail Holdings (SRH), Network Rail (NR), The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), Unite the Union (Unite) and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), with support from the rail team in Transport Scotland and members from the Scottish Government’s criminal justice and safer communities’ directorates.

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport tasked the Group to map and assess current police enforcement powers along with their applicability and effectiveness on the railway, with a view to considering where these can be strengthened or developed further, to maximise safety for all passengers and staff.

The Group met on five occasions and examined a range of different issues which pertain to antisocial behaviour on Scotland’s railway, these include:

  • Fixed Penalty Notices
  • Banning Orders
  • Enhanced Legal Protections for Rail Workers
  • Youth Justice and measures to address youth-related antisocial behaviour.

Following a series of collaborative discussions, the Group has agreed and endorsed the following recommendations for Scottish Ministers’ consideration.

  1. Lifting the blanket ban on alcohol on ScotRail trains and introducing new restrictions from 2 June 2025 (Actioned).
  2. Explore raising the fine level of a Fixed Penalty Notice.
  3. Explore widening the scope of offences under British Transport Police’s Recorded Police Warning and Fixed Penalty Notice regimes.
  4. Explore the potential for primary legislation to create a ‘Railway Banning Order.’
  5. Explore whether Scottish Rail Holdings may be established as a Transport Authority to afford them powers under ASBO legislation to apply to the courts for an ASBO.
  6. Promote greater partnership working with ScotRail and local authorities to allow ScotRail to contact them to raise an ASBO and explore utilising COSLA as an umbrella organisation to encourage this partnership.
  7. Explore scope for either primary or secondary legislation that would create greater protections for rail workers.
  8. Support more education programmes for young people (and adults) to promote restorative justice and address antisocial behaviour without criminalisation.
  9. Using data and intelligence, identify opportunities to expand future coverage of ScotRail’s Travel Safe Team to other regions in Scotland.
  10. Support calls to the UK Government to prevent further reductions to British Transport Police numbers and office closures in Scotland.
  11. Review the existing Railway Byelaws and identify where these may be strengthened to tackle and prevent antisocial behaviour.