Are you afraid of crime when travelling on public transport?

More than half of Redbridge residents asked by the council said they feel unsafe using buses and trains in Wanstead and Woodford at night.

A working group for the community safety and environment scrutiny committee set up to look at crime on public transport and devise ways of eliminating it, received 510 responses people across the east London borough.

The survey shows that around a quarter of people feel unsafe using public transport in Wanstead, Woodford and South Woodford during the day, and more than half are afraid of crime when travelling at night.

Young people expressed even more fear, as 173 secondary school children ageD 11-16 questioned, said they feel safer when travelling together in groups and are concerned about being blamed for crime.

However, three quarters of adults said they find groups of young people unnerving.

Wanstead Cllr Allan Burgess, a member of the working group, said: "There is indeed a great deal of concern among our travelling public, and even more concerning is that the younger generation are worried about their safety travelling on buses. They are our future.

"Young people feel quite unsafe travelling on the bus, particularly late at night, and particularly in hot spots - one of the worst being Cranbrook Road in Barkingside, Ilford Town Centre and Wanstead High Street.

"We got so concerned about that that we went to the Redbridge Youth Council and they were quite frank that if there were more police they would feel a lot safer regarding their personal protection and the protection of their property.

"There is a lot of thieving of mobile phones and so often the youngsters know who the thieves are, but are reluctant to dob them in. It's intimidation."

Cabinet member John Fairley-Churchill suggested making links between the bus companies and schools so children causing trouble while wearing school uniform can be reported to the school.

Cllr Michael Stark harped back to the days of bus conductors, saying: "The trouble with a lot of children is they behave like children. I never hesitate to tell children to shut up and sit down and I understand a lot of people don't want to do that, and I think the media has contributed to making people afraid of children."

Cllr Mark Aaron, cabinet member for community safety, disagreed: "I think things have changed a lot and if you had bus conductors they would be very vulnerable on the bus nowadays.

"Unfortunately it is the society we live in now and we see young people getting on buses with violent dogs, or gangs. All we can do is try to work together.

"People need more confidence to get on buses, and by setting up this council strategy I feel they will have it."

Finding ways to prevent crime on public transport, the council has agreed the following strategy: - To explore how council services could support and influence the work of the Safer Transport Team in Redbridge towards the development of a joint action plan.

Safer Transport Teams are made up of up to 18 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) working with at least two sergeants and one police constable to provide visibility and reassurance and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on and around public transport.

- To assist Transport for London (TfL) with the provision of evidence to revoke Oyster cards from young people causing disorder in and around public transport.

- To improve information sharing with TfL on perpetrators of anti-social behaviour and those already subject to ASBOs.

- To work with TfL to promote crime-focused media campaigns in the borough.

- To work more closely with TfL on introducing the London safety and citizenship programme in more schools in Redbridge.

- To work more closely with the transport operational command unit on Operation Bustag to improve the prevention and detection of graffiti in the borough.