Dunfermline councillor sees bus station disorder during police outing

Labour politician Gordon Pryde was invited to accompany community police officers on a Saturday night shift and soon found himself at the city centre halt where trouble had erupted.

"Just by chance it all kicked off a bit," he told the Press. "There was a group of about 30 or 40 young girls and it all kicked off a bit. I got out the car. I didn't get involved in breaking up the fracas.

"They were quick to pull them apart. There was a bit of violence going on between the girls and we pulled them apart then a van turned up with a dog handler and one of them was taken into custody.

"We ended up taking a statement from one of the young girls that had allegedly been assaulted."

READ MORE: Police probe after disturbance at Dunfermline bus station

Cllr Pryde acknowledged concerns about free bus travel being a major factor in the bad behaviour around the bus station.

"If they are under 22, they all have their free bus travel and I can see comments around social media saying we need to do something.

Cllr Gordon Pryde (Image: Fife Council)

"Dunfermline is a city. It is the biggest place in the area and all the buses go to Dunfermline so they are coming in from Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, the West Fife villages.

"They get to the bus station then there is nothing for them to do so a lot of them hang about the bus station. It might be kids hanging about and there are serious incidents that are dealt with.

"Most of them are not involved in these kind of issues but they are unintentional consequences of the free bus passes. There needs to be more consideration about what is available to them.

"One of the projects that was approved last week (by Fife Council) was the development of Tower House. Maybe with that development of Tower House with the levelling up fund money, we should be looking at considering a bit more activity at that facility. That is just a thought. Other cities have these youth zone things. Maybe that kind of thing should be a consideration."

Another solution, he said, would be for more vigilance at the bus station.

"Back in the Easter holidays, the local police got a bit of money for bus station marshals," he explained.

READ MORE: Increased police presence at Dunfermline Bus Station

"It was only for a couple of weeks and they had the two individuals working as marshals around the bus station. They were very good at engaging with the youths and it was a great help. They were very good at diffusing potential relationships so maybe that is something to look at."

Following the bus station, Cllr Pryde continued the patrol taking in Dunfermline High Street, Pittencrieff Park and Townhill Country Park.

"A few weeks before, there had been some incidents in Townhill so I asked if we could take a trip up to Townhill and see if there were any gatherings of youths but it was quiet," he added.

""It was illuminating seeing exactly what the police get up to. People talk about the visual thing but you don't realise what duties they are getting up to. When I was in the control room, there had been some serious incidents happening over that day or so that they were dealing with.

"There were a couple of quite serious incidents mentioned in the control room of a violent or drug related nature."