EAST Hampshire rail users have called for a report into violence and anti-social behaviour on trains going to and from London and Portsmouth. The demand comes after groups of drunken youths from Liss, Liphook and Bordon were reported to be using public transport to meet in Petersfield at the weekend. Now members of Portsmouth Waterloo Rail Users Group have asked South West Trains for statistics about violent crime on its service and have questioned the level of CCTV at East Hampshire's stations. At the forum in Petersfield last week, the group's chairman Brian Keefe asked SWT representative Sue Grier to look into the problem in time for next month's meeting at Rowlands Castle. Dr Keefe said: "Young people from Liss were coming to Petersfield to cause trouble and were using the trains. "I know there are statistics for violent attacks on trains, and I'm wondering whether there are statistics for this line? How is it being tackled and is it less common here?" Liphook parish councillor John Tough said young people seemed to congregate around the village station. He told the forum: "There have been complaints but there really is nowhere else for the youth to meet. "They sit on the benches to get out of the rain and they hide when the trains come in. "I don't know what we can do about it. They are always there in the evenings. "Is there enough CCTV footage in places like Liphook? Sue Grier said she would investigate the possibility of finding statistics and reassured members that checks were often carried out by safety officers on the Portsmouth to Waterloo line. She said: "Our travel safety officers frequently go up and down the lines and if they find any of these people, they move them on."
