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Metro vandals pay their debt to Nexus (21/12/2005)
Young offenders are carrying out unpaid work for Metro operator Nexus as part of a new scheme to hand railway vandals a more appropriate form of punishment. The scheme has been piloted by the Gateshead Young Offending Team (YOT) and so far two offenders have been ordered by the courts to do their community service with Nexus. The pair, both 16, who can’t be named for legal reasons, spent two hours at the Metro’s depot in Gosforth, Newcastle, last week washing the company’s fleet of vans. The teenagers had been convicted of criminal damage on the Metro system, including graffiti attacks, by magistrates. Gateshead is the first courts area to send its young offenders to serve a community punishment in conjunction with Nexus and it is hoped other young offending teams in Tyneside and Wearside will follow suit. Director of Metro Ken Mackay said: “These two youths deliberately damaged property on the Metro network so it was only right that they came in and did their community punishment with us. I now hope that they have learned their lesson. “It’s quite simple, vandalism won’t be tolerated on the Metro system and this shows that anyone caught damaging our property will be prosecuted through the courts and they will be punished.” Nexus’ Graffiti Supervisor and Co-ordinator, Steve Hunt, said: “This was a very appropriate form of punishment as these youngsters both targeted Metro property. Having the young offenders in means they can pay us back directly and we can save our staff a lot of valuable time on some of the more mundane jobs we have to do, week in week out. “I was delighted the courts agreed to send them to us, under close supervision, and we are hopeful this can be rolled out in the New Year with other areas coming on board.”
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