FIVE teenagers diced with death on a railway line before they were cautioned by police.
British Transport Police has issued a warning following a catalogue of worrying trespassing incidents across Scotland.
In one particularly alarming incident - around 8.30pm on May 26 - five teenagers were seen trespassing on the railway line near Bogston station in Inverclyde.
The boys, aged between 13 and 16 years, were taken to their respective homes by British Transport Police officers and warned of the consequences of their actions in the presence of their parents.
BTP officers have already increased patrols in the area and will be visiting local schools to raise awareness of route crime.
Constable Robert Johnstone, of BTP, said: "It's really worrying that youths put themselves in grave danger by trespassing.
"They also seriously endanger the safety of others working, and travelling on the railway, and the stupidity of their actions cannot be underestimated.
"As well as being extremely dangerous and illegal there is the distinct possibility that services will be delayed as a result of the youngsters' actions."
Constable Johnstone is also asking parents to ensure they know the whereabouts of their children.
He said: "Please make sure your children are aware that the railway is an incredibly dangerous environment and remind them to stay away from the rail network.
"Trespassers also need to be aware that here are 25,000 volts passing through overhead power lines. This is more than enough to kill and you don't even need to touch the cables to be electrocuted as the electricity can arc up to several feet."
Anyone with information about criminal activity on the railway can contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or by texting 61016.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article