Calls in Southampton to make 'isolated' bus stops safer

The group, led by Beccy Ruddick brandished banners and spoke of their anger at the unsafe nature of bus stops.

Beccy, a supermarket worker who uses buses to get to work, also took her protest to civic leaders.

She spoke at last night's full council meeting, saying she is forced to get a bus from Brownhill Way due to road works near her house and was so “frightened” that she decided to walk 45 minutes to work instead.

It comes just hours after the council announced it would be putting in more CCTV to crack down on crime. 

But Beccy said she wants more to be done.

Worries have been raised specifically about the bus stop on Brownhill Way.

The 50-year-old, who lives in Shirley, said the bus stop was by an underpass, wasn’t near any homes and had a field behind it where someone could “hide”.

She told the Echo: “I realised that this is a city-wide problem and I talked to other women about it and they were saying they live in a road with a really horrible bus stop and they won’t use the bus. So that’s affecting people’s ability to get to work in the first place.

“When you’re waiting at a bus stop, you’re a sitting target. Someone can see that you are there and plan out an attack.

“Fred West, Peter Tobin and Levi Bellfield, they all targeted people at bus stops. Today we are asking for an audit of all of the bus stops in Southampton to ascertain their safety.”

Beccy Ruddick outside the Civic Officer in Southampton.

The worries come as a spate of assaults has been seen across the city in recent weeks.

A friend of Beccy, Clare Bellinger, 60, added: “I was really shocked at how isolated and unpleasant [the bus stops] were.

“You might think it’s great to have a bus stop beside a main road because you will see the bus coming, but actually, if you are a lone woman at 5 o’clock in the morning and there are very few cars going through it’s going to make you feel really vulnerable.”

Clare added that there should be more lighting, CCTV and a form of communication at bus stops, as well as work to move those stops in “unsafe” locations.

READ MORE: Locations set to get more CCTV to tackle crime in Southampton

But now, deputy council leader, Cllr Jeremy Moulton, said he would make sure safety audits are conducted when road works happen in future and that more CCTV will also be put in to improve safety.

Cllr Moulton added: “We all want our city to be safe. This is extremely important to all of us. There is complete commitment from the administration to make that happen.”