Doleham named as crime hotspot

The station, on the line between Rye and Hastings, has the highest number of crimes per passenger of any station in the county.

The only flaw in the figures is that Doleham Station also has almost no passengers with just two trains stopping there a day first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Admittedly there have only been two crimes reported there in the last three years - two thefts back in 2008 - but it means that there is one crime reported for every 473 passengers that pass through the station.

In comparison, at Gatwick, which is statistically one of the safest stations, there is one crime committed for every 43,873 passengers.

At the airport station in 2010 there were 148 crimes reported to British Transport Police officers including racially or religiously motivated malicious wounding, sexual assault and ABH - a ffarra cry from Doleham.

Other crime hotspots include Pevensey Bay, near Eastbourne, which has one crime reported for every 989 passengers.

The figures were calculated using British Transport Police crime figures and Office of Rail Regulation passenger numbers over the last three years.

All of the top ten crimewave stations were smaller stations with 50,000 or less passengers a day.

Three Oaks, on the Rye line, is completely crime free having had no offences recorded in the last three years.

A Southern Rail spokesman said: “We do not agree that a valid conclusion can be drawn from these statistics.

“The numbers of passengers using each station is not relevant.

“What is more relevant is the number of crimes committed compared between locations over a given period of time.”