gumtree

Is it frigtening to read all these as a regular train traveller?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/arm...-1225911349076

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ga...903-14uha.html

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...rf7kx-12259145

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...-1225908321946

Drell

This is concerning, I'm moving from Manchester to Melbourne and will be reliant on public transport, Manchester is bad enough!

Pollyana

Nope.

sniffydog

Been on the trains in Mel a few times and its the first place on the planet I've ever seen someone told off by an inspector for having feet on the seat. Right bo***cking she got! Go for it Connex! Made me think much better than UK...

MartinLuther

She's probably on another expat website complaining that she's not allowed to put her feet up on train seats and what a horrible country Australia is.

koalakim

Hi ya

Train crime does seem to have got a lot worse since we moved here nearly 4 years ago.

My OH sometimes has to come down to Frankston late on a Friday or Sat night when he's got back from Sydney and even he says he feels uncomfortable with some of the people on the train, being the Frangers line there are a few strange people around! Then I have to wait outside the station with all the weirdos because the train is late!

I'm not sure if violence in Mellie is actually getting worse or whether it's just reported "Daily Mail" style here now? There were hardly any nasties when we got here, well other than the usual gangland stuff! Now there have been some really nasty attacks - they did show on tv some ethnic youths kicking the **** out of some Chinese guy in an underpass, I don't think it would have been shown on UK tv as it was pretty horrific. I have to say that most of the time when it is reported who did these things well just lets say they haven't got your average Aussie names.

But it's not every day like it's reported in the UK, I think last year when we went back in the Mail it was knifing, shooting, mugging every day!

lapin_windstar

The perception is completely different to the reality of crime. This is stoked by transport unions angling for more jobs and cops looking for more overtime.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ga...903-14uha.html

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...-1225908321946

You need to pay attention to these numbers - 80% of Lilydale people say they think that there are drunks on every train. 50% of them think that whenever they get on a train, they're more likely to be threatened than not. It simply doesn't make sense.

And this comment:
is in the same vein. Crime in the UK was at a thirty year low according to last year's British Crime Survey and has been falling every year for over a decade. The perception of crime in the UK is far above its actual prevalance and, again, it's mostly driven by shit newspapers like the Daily Wail.

Should have guessed that it would all end up being the "ethnics'" fault.

Deancm_MKII

The trains in Melbourne are more dangerous than in Manchester. I felt 100% safe on trains in Manchester and everywhere else in the UK. Never saw any trouble.

In Melbourne, whenever a large group gets on the train it can kick off relatively quickly. I've witnessed it loads of times in the last 20 years and it's not just ethnic people, it's Aussies too.

I've seen full on brawls in carriages.

hawk2005

Haha youve obviously never been on public transport around an English football match - that is when you'll see proper violence.

Ive never felt threatened on a Melbourne train, and never have on an English one either....apart from the schizos you get on the underground on a sunday, but if you avoid catching their eye you'll be fine

iamthecreaturefromuranus

What was that about perception? 3600 arrests at all the games in England last season and that includes all types of offences. Not bad out of a total attendance of about 24 million

aussietobe

One of the reasons crime is "falling" in the UK is because the police don't want to investigate crimes - our son was bashed up really bad by two local lads when we lived in the UK (and we knew their names), and the local police basically told us not to report or have them arrested because they would make our lives hell. We were migrating and my son didn't want to come back and testify so it deosn't show up on crime stats.

lapin_windstar

This is incorrect - the stats are from the British Crime Survey, which does not rely on reported crime.

I'm sorry to hear about your son's experience. I will skip the negative comments about the cops that handled (dodged handling) your cases.

OzExpat

Yep, 20+ years in Melbourne and 8 years in London and I would definitely say I felt more uncomfortable on public transport in Melbourne. Look at a drunk the wrong way and you're likely to be belted.