Schools break up this week, which is great news for youngsters – but for others the holidays take on a different slant.

For the British Transport Police, the Easter break means a rise in the number of incidents on the railways involving children either trespassing, throwing stones at trains or, worse, endangering life.

“Over the Easter and summer holidays the number of crimes peaks,” says Glen Alderson, central sector inspector for the West Yorkshire region. “We will be paying great attention to such incidents and monitoring the areas in which they tend to occur very closely.”

Over the past year in West Yorkshire, the BTP dealt with 278 reports of trespass, and 70 serious crime offences – those which endanger the public or obstruct the train.

“These incidents can include objects being placed on the line, or children throwing stones at the trains,” says Glen.

Across the region, several ‘hotspots’ have been identified, where such incidents occur with greater regularity than in other areas.

“Several of these are in Bradford,” says Glen. He cites examples including the footbridge at Dalcross Grove, on the Bradford-Halifax line, north of the city centre, before trains enter Bowling tunnel; the stretch of track between Frizinghall and Shipley; and the area to the rear of the cinema complex in Thornbury.

“At Dalcross Grove, we get many reports of children throwing stones from the bridge or dropping objects on to the trains,” he says.

“In Frizinghall, things also get thrown at the trains, and children also trespass on to the line, and we have reports of trespass on the line to Pudsey where it passes through open fields.”

Throughout the Easter break, Glen has a team of four officers, assigned specifically to work to prevent and deal with such incidents. At other times of the year, this falls under the BTP’s general, cross-district workload “In the holidays, children and youths, aged from about eight to late teens, are often hanging about on the streets with not much to do, and the clocks have gone forward. The evenings are lighter, so youngsters are out for longer.

“Generally, the younger children may look upon playing on the track as a bit of an adventure and might put small stones on the line, whereas with the older youths, there is a more sinister purpose, and they sometimes throw bricks at train windows.”

Recent, more serious incidents include a train driver being temporarily blinded after youngsters shone a laser pen into his eyes on the route between Frizinghall and Shipley, and a 2ft-long tree stump being dragged on to the line. “Fortunately, the driver spotted it and managed to stop and remove it,” says Glen.

The dedication of staff to certain hotspots follows a successful route-crime initiative last year which targeted problem areas and cut serious route crime by 11 per cent.

“Officers patrol in high-visibility clothing to act as a deterrent, and where we have current reports of stone-throwing, we employ officers in plain clothes to catch offenders. Our main aims are to prevent offences happening, and quickly deal with those that do take place.”

Objects hurled or lifted on to the tracks include children’s prams, bikes, and items of discarded railway equipment.

“Work is ongoing within the rail industry to clean up the sides of the railways,” says Glen. “And we report any breaks in the fencing which allows access to the line.”

Children trespassing on to the line often do so oblivious of the dangers. “They see trains are big and noisy, and assume you can see them coming from miles away and get off the line – but with modern trains, that is not so,” says Glen.

“They can cover a mile quickly – after hearing one approach, you have around three seconds until it arrives. The electric trains on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines are quiet and fast.”

This year, the BTP aims to become more passenger-focused. “The BTP now has its own neighbourhood policing team which will be going to meet railway staff and members of the community.

“We particularly want to address issues around the fear of crime, and people’s perceptions of crime, as opposed to recorded crime.”

To contact the British Transport Police, ring 0800 405040, or visit btp.police.uk.