Swearers, vapers and those who drop papers beware – passengers who display nuisance behaviour on the trams could soon be hit with fines of up to £1000.
A popular marketing and social media campaign is relaunching this week to alert tram users that, from January next year, flaunting the existing Metrolink byelaws is more likely to lead to prosecution.
Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) Metrolink Monsters campaign, which ran in March and April this year, will return to the network with a new collection of colourful characters alongside some familiar faces.
This time, the campaign focus will switch from annoying to illegal behaviours, represented by new monsters such as Smoky Joe, Drunken Duncan and Vaping Vera.
The monsters will appear at stops, adverts inside the trams, across social media and on the Metrolink Monsters website: www.metrolink
They will also appear on cards that TravelSafe Officers (TSO) will hand out to those found breaching the byelaws during November and December. The cards will act as a warning ahead of stricter byelaw enforcement by TSOs from 1 January.
Aline Frantzen, Managing Director at KeolisAmey Metrolink, said: “Behind the light-hearted nature of the campaign is a serious message. There are some unacceptable behaviours which spoil the Metrolink experience for law-abiding passengers, and we want to make it clear that these actions have serious consequences.
“From January, those who engage in illegal activity will face fines and court action, so it’s better for everyone to avoid becoming a ‘Smokey Joe’ or a ‘Naughty Nelly’.”
Danny Vaughan, TfGM’s Head of Metrolink said: “It is unacceptable that people should have their journey experience on Metrolink spoiled by the inconsiderate and ignorant behaviour of others.
“The byelaws exist to prevent this from happening so our message is clear – from January you are far more likely to be prosecuted and fined up to £1000 if you choose to ignore or flaunt them.
“The Metrolink Monsters campaign will be highly visible across the network for the next two months and will hopefully serve as a reminder to people of the consequences of their behaviour.”
Between 15 July 2017 and 21 July 2018 there were 520 reported byelaw offences across the Metrolink network. The most reported offences were throwing objects, verbal abuse and improper use of emergency door handle activation.
The campaign will run in two phases, each targeting some of the most common offences. Phase one will run from launch to 2 December and will focus on smoking, vaping and the misuse of the emergency handle, while phase two will run from 3 December until the New Year and will look at drinking and swearing. Littering messaging will run throughout the campaign.
