3,000 crimes in 12 months on West Midlands buses

Buses in the West Midlands have been plagued by more than 3,300 crimes during the last 12 months, new figures reveal today.

More than 30 serious incidents – including robberies, violent crimes and sex offences – were committed on the network every single week between 2009-10.

In all, 3,341 incidents were reported, including thefts, property damage and drug possessions. Although the figure is a reduction from the previous year when 4,105 offences were committed, travel campaigners said today more still needed to be done.

Bob Jones, chairman of Wolverhampton City Council's scrutiny committee review on transport safety, said: "It's a cliche but just one crime is too many and 3,300 is certainly so. Of course we accept it's a busy network serving lots of people and we're happy the numbers are going down but the overall figures are still too many.