MORE than 130 assaults against rail staff have been reported in North Wales over recent years, according to figures.

Freedom of Information data obtained by the Leader shows the total number of assaults against staff and British Transport Police officers across the region each year since 2017.

According to the data 131 assaults against staff were recorded in that time, with; 32 in 2017, 22 in 2018, 28 in 2019, 33 in 2020 and 16 so far in 2021.

The county with the most assaults against staff for each of those years was: Conwy (2017), Flintshire (2018 and 2019), Conwy (2020) and Denbighshire (2021).

Since the beginning of 2017 there have been 19 assaults against officers across North Wales.

There were three in 2017, two in 2018, five in 2019, four in 2020 and five in 2021 so far.

The counties with the most assaults against officers each year are: Conwy (2017 and 2018), Denbighshire (2019 and 2020) and Gwynedd (2021).

British Transport Police Inspector Karl Anderson said: “While most crime types saw a decrease during the pandemic, sadly assaults against rail staff continued. These frontline workers played a vital role in keeping people moving safely throughout the pandemic and deserve to be treated with respect.

“Nobody should be subjected to violence or abuse while simply doing their job.

"We take assaults towards members of rail staff extremely seriously and it will not be tolerated on the network under any circumstance.

“The safety of passengers and our rail industry colleagues is our absolute priority and we continue to work closely with Transport for Wales to protect them. "We recently supported the introduction of body worn cameras for Transport for Wales’ frontline staff - we know from experience that body worn video is a fantastic piece of kit that helps us in securing convictions against those who target staff with unnecessary violence or abuse.”