Mark Bray - "The Work of the British Transport Police

The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain, for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services. 95% of the Force's funding comes from Britain's privatised train companies.

As well as having jurisdiction of the system operated by Network Rail consequential to being a former part of British Railways, the BTP are also responsible for policing:

• Croydon Tramlink
• The Docklands Light Railway
• Thames Cable Car
• The Glasgow Subway
• The London Underground system
• The Midland Metro
• The Sunderland line of the Tyne and Wear Metro (between Fellgate and South Hylton)

This amounts to around 10,000 miles of track and more than 3,000 railway stations and depots. There are more than 1 billion passenger journeys annually on the mainline alone. In addition, British Transport Police in conjunction with the French National Police - Police aux Frontières - police the international services operated by Eurostar. It is not responsible for policing the rest of the Tyne and Wear Metro or the Manchester Metrolink or any other railway with which it does not have a service agreement; it can act as a constabulary for a transport system in Great Britain with which it commences a service agreement.

Mark Bray is coming to talk to us about his work in the force and his varied career to date.