Stagecoach buses become ‘safe spaces’ for anyone fearing abuse

A person walking the streets of Cambridgeshire or Bedfordshire who fears they may be at risk of abuse can now flag down a Stagecoach East bus and be taken to a place of safety for free.

The move is part of a new safety partnership scheme from the bus company, designed to make its vehicles a refuge for anyone fearing that they will be subject to abusive behaviour.

Cambridgeshire’s biggest bus operator has struck the partnership with police and the Cambridge and Peterborough Rape Crisis Centre in order to join the Businesses Against Abuse (BAA) scheme.

The operator’s existing safeguarding procedures are being enhanced with additional training: drivers are being trained to recognise people who are in vulnerable situations either on or off the bus – and are being given guidance in how to offer help.

If a driver recognises that a woman or girl may be in fear of abuse on the street, they are authorised to pull over and ask if they need help and then take her to a safe place, if necessary.

Likewise, if a driver recognises that a passenger is in fear of abuse, they have been given a range of options to help.

All Stagecoach East buses now display BAA stickers with QR codes by their entrance doors, designating them as safe spaces and all their buses have multiple cameras, so cases of abuse will be recorded and reported.

The BAA scheme is now in effect on all Stagecoach East buses, throughout Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and the wider region.

The partnership was officially launched at a ceremony at the Milton Park & Ride in Cambridge last Thursday (17 October), attended by women’s safety campaigners and elected officials.

Speaking at the launch, Darren Roe, managing director of Stagecoach East, said: “Tackling violence against women and girls is something that we all need to take responsibility for and we are working very hard to play our part in this.

“I would encourage anyone who is in fear or abuse, either on the bus or if they see a bus, to make themselves known to the driver, who will try to help them.

“We have no silver bullet and we cannot solve every problem, but we have the desire and the determination to play our part, and over time our drivers will become ever more confident with what we are asking of them.

“We also hope that, because our buses will be very visible as a place where victims can go and report abuse, it will deter would-be abusers.”

Norah Al-Ani, director of the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, added: “We are really pleased to be working together on this – the training we have delivered to the training team so far has been a real success, and I hope that it will make a noticeable difference in our communities.

“If a woman or a girl, who is the subject of abuse, sees a Stagecoach East bus, they will now be able to recognise it as a place of safety.”

After the speeches, Ross Barton, operations director at Stagecoach East, told the Cambridge Independent the scheme is designed to create a “safe space for vulnerable women and girls, and anyone in distress”.

He added: “Primarily, the scheme is to help raise awareness of sexual violence against women, who are disproportionately affected by that, but we want to make sure that anyone that requires help and assistance and who’s vulnerable knows that the bus is a safe space and the drivers will help.”

Ross revealed that each bus can have up to 16 CCTV cameras.

“This has got all the businesses’ weight behind it and all the drivers,” he said. “I think they feel empowered now, because they’ve unfortunately seen some of these incidents, and they know that the company will support them – and I think we have a moral responsibility to try and help and make things a little bit better.”

Ian de Chastelain, head of training at Stagecoach East, said: “In January this year I picked up the BAA flyer, and they were doing free training in the Guildhall in Cambridge.

“So I went down with my four training officers and we did the four days training. We brought a proposal up to the operations director, Ross Barton, and Darren Roe, the managing director.

“Ross and Darren were really behind the scheme and could see the value in it. We then organised training sessions at all of the depots.”

Ian notes that all Stagecoach drivers have a certificate of professional competence (CPC) qualification.

“That involves each driver doing a seven-hour training session every year; without the CPC qualification they can’t drive on the road taking fare-paying passengers,” he said, “and what we’re doing is we’re putting a BAA training session in front of all of the CPC courses.”

Ian notes that BAA is a “spin-off of the national Safer Streets campaign”. He said: “I think Safer Streets has been running for about four or five years, and Cambridge and Peterborough have taken that and launched into Businesses Against Abuse.”

Will security cameras and the words “this bus is a safe space” be enough to deter any would-be abusers or attackers?

Ian said: “Try not to underestimate the power of the deterrent. Quite often, a lot of individuals who carry out these crimes are cowards – they don’t want to be known, they don’t want to be recognised, they want to walk away under the radar.

“A lot of what we’re doing with BAA is in terms of prevention. If you’re bent on that kind of behaviour, you’ll know about the BAA scheme.

“You’ll know that the bus is a safe place, you’ll know that there’s a trained individual on that vehicle.

“The BAA logo on the side of the bus is saying ‘This is a risky situation for you to be in, with the behaviours that you’re going to commit while you’re travelling’.

“If we do get instances where somebody is just blatantly ignoring that – and you will get people who do – the drivers are being trained to be able to look at signs.”

A driver has further options available, such as calling the control room teams, who could call police.

He added that Cambridge, generally, is considered a safe city and “a nice place to work”, compared to others.

About 300 local businesses are part of Businesses Against Abuse, with some 3,000 people trained. Find out more about the scheme at cambs.police.uk.