South Western Railway staff in Salisbury to wear body cameras

In a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour on trains and at stations, South Western Railway is undertaking a phased rollout of body-worn cameras.

The cameras were initially trialled for Fratton depot staff in June 2021 and aim to act as a deterrent to assaults, threats and abuse. The rail company says the rollout will also help customers travel with confidence. 

SWR staff working out of Salisbury and Basingstoke will soon join other stations across the country and have cameras integrated into operations. Other stations that have adopted body-worn cameras include Bournemouth, Richmond, Weymouth, Farnham, Woking, Eastleigh, Portsmouth and Guildford.

Guards, customer services assistants, rail community officers, and revenue protection staff will all wear cameras. In conjunction with CCTV cameras, SWR will be able to use better quality video evidence for prosecutions and cases in court.

Christian Neill, SWR's customer experience director, said: “Customer and colleague safety will always be our top priority. We are always looking for ways to help our customers travel with greater confidence and ensure that colleagues feel safer at work. 

“These body-worn cameras are designed to do just this, by deterring anti-social behaviour on our services and reducing the number of assaults our colleagues experience at work. 

“While we wish that we could prevent every incident, we expect that the new footage will help authorities in any prosecutions by providing good quality evidence.” 

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