‘Extremely dangerous’
A tram in St Peter’s Square
Eight youths have been arrested and charged in a crackdown on a dangerous social media trend. They will appear in court accused of public order offences after allegedly being caught riding on coupling units that connect Metrolink trams – or on the back of buses.
The alleged incidents were in Manchester city centre, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) said. There has been a worrying rise in so-called ‘tram surfing’ and ‘bus surfing’ across the country, fuelled by videos on social media.
TfGM said number of incidents has increased in recent years. Between January and May this year, there were 108 reported incidents – compared to 80 across the region’s bus and Metrolink network in the whole of 2024.
Bosses say buses and trams are fitted with CCTV cameras and high resolution dashcams to capture evidence and help police make arrests.
Daniel Vaughan, TfGM’s chief network officer, said: “We are aware of a worrying rise in reports – here and elsewhere in the country – of people, mostly youths, riding between trams and hanging off the back of buses, with footage of these reckless incidents circulating on social media.
“This incredibly dangerous behaviour could have catastrophic consequences, and these arrests demonstrate our zero-tolerance approach to crime and antisocial behaviour on public transport.
“Unfortunately, we have seen people die as a result of falling between trams having climbed onto an auto coupler, and we want to prevent this from happening again.
“We would urge parents and guardians to speak to their children about the dangers of participating in this kind of behaviour and for schools to highlight the danger to pupils.
“Anyone caught in engaging in dangerous activities are not only taking their own lives in their hands, but they will also face very real consequences when they are caught.”
Any incidents of crime or antisocial behaviour witnessed on public transport can be reported via GMP Live Chat.