A HOAX bomb threat was targeted at Scotland's busiest railway station days before the start of the Commonwealth Games, according to figures revealing more than 4000 transport crimes this year.

 

British Transport Police were alerted after a mystery caller claimed an explosive device had been planted at Glasgow Central station on July 20 this year, three days before an opening ceremony at Celtic Park launched the Glasgow 2014 Games.

The warning was subsequently found to be a hoax but the culprit has never been traced. BTP said extensive enquiries had been undertaken and were ongoing into the incident.

Glasgow Central is the busiest railway station in Scotland and during the 11 days of the Games it handled record-breaking passenger figures as tourists, spectators and commuters crammed onto its trains and platforms.

Some 1.5 million people passed through the station in the first five days of the Games, which ran from July 23 to August 3.

The crime figures, obtained under freedom of information, reveal that BTP officers had been called to deal with more than 4,600 offences by the end of November this year, including a further two bomb hoaxes, two attempted murders and 21 sexual assaults.

A 54-year-old man appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court after allegedly saying he had left a bomb on a train at Garscadden station in Glasgow on September 28.

BTP said they were also following "definite line of enquiry" after a hoaxer penned a letter claiming to have planted an explosive device at Motherwell train station in Lanarkshire on November 13.

Investigations are also continuing into a sex attack on a girl aged between 13 and 15 at Prestwick International train station. The teenager was assaulted at the railway station, which serves Prestwick airport, on June 21 this year. BTP said enquiries had been undertaken and were ongoing.

However, arrests have been made in relation to both attempted murders and the rape of a 25-year-old woman who was allegedly attacked in a train toilet at Ayr station on Halloween. An 18-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the offence.

A 26-year-old man appeared in Dundee Sheriff Court in connection with an alleged attempted murder at Taybridge station, Dundee, on October 3, while a 22-year-old man appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court charged with attempted murder following an attack at Hamilton Central on April 11.

Chief Superintendent John McBride, the Divisional Commander for BTP in Scotland, said: "Passenger journeys in Scotland are now well in excess of 83 million each year and the number of offences recorded once again underlines that the chances of becoming a victim of crime at a station or on a train in Scotland is extremely low. Yet against this background, the Scotland Division of BTP once again drove crime levels down last year - the tenth consecutive year that crime on Scotland's rail network has fallen."