A seaside village has achieved the dubious honour of having the most crime-ridden railway station in the county.

British Transport Police have compared how many crimes are committed in relation to how busy the station is.

Bosham Railway Station has the highest number of crimes in Sussex with almost 20 crimes reported for every 100,000 passengers according to new stats released by British Transport Police.

The station west of Chichester, which is only manned for four hours a day on Monday to Friday mornings, came out on top for crimes committed between September last year and August.

In total the Brighton post of British Transport Police, which covers the county, investigated 2,374 crimes in the past 12 months – a small annual increase.

Southern Rail, which is responsible for stations in Sussex, said the rise was because it was easier for passengers to report crime and the firm was set to introduce new plans to target antisocial behaviour hotspots and to reduce trespasses on the lines.

Bosham had almost twice the crime rate of its nearest competitor Berwick, which had 10.4 crimes per 100,000 passengers as the crime rate soared from one in 2011/12 to four in 2012/13.

In comparison Brighton had only 1.83 crimes per 100,000 passengers although 148 crimes were recorded there in 2012-13, including 17 violent and sexual offences.
 

However, Bosham residents shouldn’t fear too much – the majority of the ten crimes reported were bicycle thefts.

John Dean, chairman of Bosham Parish Council, said: “I am very surprised, I wasn’t aware that there were any crimes.

“I am completely mystified by these figures.

“No-one has raised any issues regarding security at the station.

“This is a quiet, rural village.”

A Southern Rail spokesman said the rail firm’s work at Brighton station adjusting their safer travel team onto a 24 hour basis has seen crime rates reduce in the last year at the station by more than 90%.

He said staff assaults on the Southern network were down by 8%, crime detection rates rose by 4% to 47% while the addition of more cycle facilities is thought to be behind a 7% drop in bicycle thefts.

He added: “Our Eyewitness email system, which can be used by staff or passengers to report antisocial behaviour, has gone some way to an increase in reports of crime.

“An increase in reports means that more members of the public are reporting crime and find it easier to do so, it doesn’t mean that more crime is being committed.” I

nspector Gary Ancell of British Transport Police’s Brighton post said: “These figures show that the rail network across Sussex is very safe and the chances of becoming a victim of crime are very low, particularly when you consider the hundreds of thou- sands of journeys that are made throughout Sussex every year.”