Rail Community Officers scoop South Western Railway award

• 16 individual and group winners from South Western Railway recognised for their dedication and excellent customer service
• Nominations received from colleagues throughout the year
• Ceremony held in Southampton on Friday 20 April 

The Eastleigh station team is celebrating this week after their Rail Community Officers (RCOs) scooped a customer service award from South Western Railway. The Eastleigh Rail Community Officers (whose patch also includes Salisbury, Fareham and Farnborough) were presented with their award along with a number of their colleagues who were also honoured for their outstanding contributions.

The team of officers were recognised for the work they do to reduce cycle theft in Farnborough and Fleet. Working alongside British Transport Police (BTP) and neighbourhood policing teams, they have also tackled other issues head on including antisocial behaviour, petty theft, and hate crime incidents. This was done through introducing increased visibility and patrols as well as engaging customers across the network.

The team is based at Eastleigh station but they cover a wide patch. As well as their close work with BTP, the RCOs engage with other police forces, charities, schools, colleges, universities, street pastors and town rangers in order to prevent crime and assist vulnerable people.

Andy Mellors, South Western Railway’s Managing Director, said: “I am proud of all of our Excellence Awards winners who have provided first class customer service over the past year. They represent the very best of our company values and clearly love the work that they do.

“We can only recognise a small number of our employees at these awards but we know we have dedicated teams across the entire South Western Railway network who go the extra mile every day.”

On receiving the award, team leader of the Eastleigh RCOs, Steve Gregory said: “We are delighted to be recognised for our dedication to safety. We work with so many different partners to ensure the railway is as safe an environment as possible so this award is as much about teamwork as it is about just one group of RCOs. This award means a lot to all of us at Eastleigh.”