The police are urging the coach and bus industry to help in the fight against terrorism by reporting suspicious activities or behaviour.
“The main message that we are hoping you will take away is that if you are a bus driver, a bus operator or a coach person at this exhibition, you are potentially eyes and ears on the ground,” says Wayne Watling, of the Road and Transport Policing Command with the Metropolitan Police.
“We do know that (terrorists) use various forms of transport to get around. The only thing with bus drivers and coach drivers is that they generally do a similar route; they have the knowledge and familiarity of their areas, so to speak. It is a gut feeling sometimes that something is not quite right.”
Mr Watling says the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing units located around the country can arrange bespoke training on building awareness about what suspicious activities that need reporting. A 45-minute online training module is also available. Visit https://ACT.campaign.gov.uk for more details.
A bespoke aide memoir for the bus sector is downloadable from https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ACT-Bus-Aide-Memoir.pdf
