The Coming of the British Transport Commission: A Significant Date for Railway, Dock and Canal Policing?
I recently had the pleasure of preparing a briefing note for the BTPHG on the subject of railway nationalisation and the impact of the creation of the British Transport Commission on policing. Re-reading this I think I under state the importance of the bringing together of the various railway police 'forces' under one employer when nationalisation occurred. The key point I was trying to make is that the legislative arrangements for the police were delayed and even then only transferred the power to appoint constables (subject to the approval of magistrates etc) from the private companies to the BTC. Anyway here is a copy of my ramblings on the subject:
1.0
BACKGROUND
1.1 A
small handful of people have pointed out that 2023 is the 75th
anniversary of the establishment of the British Transport Commission and have
raised the question of whether this is a significant date in the history of RDC
policing (1)
1.2 2023
is also the 60th (9th December) anniversary of the
British Transport Police Force Scheme 1963.
2.0 PURPOSE
2.1 This minute seeks to provide context for
these anniversaries.
3.0 TRANSPORT NATIONALISATION
3.1 No
government in the twentieth century introduced more social reform than that elected at the end of the Second World
War. The creation of the Welfare State, the
establishment of the National Health Service and the reform of the education
system all took place against a backdrop of wartime and post war
austerity. The national infrastructure
was worn out and much damaged by enemy action.
The railways in particular were in a very poor state after operating at
peak capacity throughout the war.
3.2 The
railways (and their associated undertakings, including many docks) had been
brought together during the war under the strategic direction of the Railway
Executive. By 1945 it was clear that the
big four railway companies (created as a result of the Railways Act 1921) were
not viable commercial entities and that more needed to be done to create an
integrated transport network. The
railways, trams and buses of the London Passenger Transport Board were already
in public ownership as a result of the London Passenger Transport Act 1933.
3.3 The
Transport Act 1947 nationalised public transport (excepting most local bus services)
throughout Great Britain. The Act was
complicated and attempted to draw together very different strands of transport
operation. The Act created the British
Transport Commission (BTC) as the strategic body that oversaw the management of
railways, London Transport, docks, inland waterways, road services, ferry
routes and owned hotels. In addition to the big four railway companies and
London Transport, over 50 small railway companies were brought together, over a
dozen canal operators and more than 200 road haulage operations were also
nationalised. The BTC was established on
1st January 1948.
3.4 In
practice very little changed at first.
Every part of the transport infrastructure needed investment. Money and materials were in short
supply. Progress was slow and from the
beginning there were concerns that the remit of the BTC was just too wide.
4.0 BRITISH
TRANSPORT COMMISSION
4.1 The
BTC was divided into executives, including the London Transport Executive, the
Railway Executive (a different body to that mentioned above), Inland Waterways
Executive, Road Transport etc. The Railway Executive traded under the
‘British Railways’ brand, although this was distinct from the Board that was
created in the 1960s.
4.2 The
BTC was one of the largest organisations of its kind in the world.
5.0 RDC
POLICING
5.1 The
police forces (2) of the big four railway companies and the LPTB had worked
together very closely during the war.
Officers of these forces (and their colleagues on the canals) had faced
considerable danger and worked to safeguard the railways and docks of the
country at a time when such locations were vital to the successful defeat of
tyranny.
5.2 Of
course not all docks were policed by these forces and several independent dock
forces survive today (see note 1).
5.3 The
Transport Act 1947 runs to around 176 pages.
However it did not make provision for the policing of the assets of the
British Transport Commission, except in that officers serving in the various
railway and canal forces were subsumed into the employment of the BTC. The 1947 Act did not repeal those parts of
the various railway Acts that empowered companies to appoint constables, so
even after the creation of the BTC officers served under the arrangements that
existed before privatisation.
5.4 We
can see therefore new officers being attested under otherwise obsolete
legislation for a few years after nationalisation.
5.7 The
1947 Act does mention the railway police in s97 but only in so far as describes
the arrangements for a ‘police conference’ (ie part of the machinery of
negotiation for pay etc) which had originally been established by the Railways
Act 1921.
5.8 It
is not known why the issue of policing did not receive more attention at the
time of nationalisation. Being forgotten
is a recurring theme in the history of RDC policing. The situation was of course worse at the time
of rail privatisation in 1990s.
5.9 Although
the government probably did not realise it, one of the consequences of nationalisation
was to create a body of constables larger than that to be found in any police
force in Great Britain outside of the Metropolis and, possibly, the County of
Lancaster. The relative size of the constabulary
employed by the Commission continued until the mergers of local forces in the
1960/70s.
5.10 For
organisational purposes policing fell under the control of the BTC’s Railway
Executive, known as British Railways.
For a short period officers were described as belonging to the British
Railways Police. Early pictures of the
‘new’ Police Training Centre at Tadworth show courses of the ‘joint railways police
forces’ and also of the British Railways police.
5.11 The
BTC had its own grant of arms. Part of
the arms, the shield, forms the badge, (used within a Brunswick Star), of the
British Transport Police. The current
entitlement to the use of the shield by BTP is unclear. The BTPHG holds an official copy of the armorial
bearings signed by the officers of College of Arms in 1956.
6.0 BRITISH
TRANSPORT COMMISSION ACT 1949
6.1 The
Transport Act 1947 was a public general act.
However the BTC (and other statutory undertakers) could sponsor
‘private’ or ‘local’ acts of parliament.
This was the mechanism used by such bodies to obtain authorisation for
new works etc. This system had been used
since the earliest days of the railways and continued until the Transport and
Works Act 1992 simplified authorisation processes.
6.2 Unfortunately
for the police historian interested in RDC forces, such acts of parliament are
numerous and sometimes include provisions touching on policing and crime. The text (and even more so subsequent
amendments) are hard to track down and are now considered inappropriate for
provisions touching on criminal offences and police powers. (3)
6.3 In
1949 the BTC piloted an Act through parliament.
It covered a huge variety of issues, mainly around works and
repairs. In Part 7, of the Act:
‘Miscellaneous’, s53, the BTC were given
powers to recommend to magistrates persons to be appointed as constables by
attestation. The wording of the section
reflects that found in the various Acts that provided for the appointment of
constables in the post 1921 railway companies.
6.4 The
Act of 1949 still has some sections in force. There is no publicly available copy of the
current text, which has been amended many times since its original introduction.
6.5 This
Act did not create a ‘police force’. It
only provided for the appointment of constables in the employ of the BTC. The BTC Police were an administrative body of
constables rather than a police force created by law.
6.6 In
passing it is worth noting that for many purposes and as a convenience, the BTC
Police were often referred to as the British Transport Police or BTP. This can be seen in correspondence and in the
descriptions used in registers etc.
7.0 THE
TRANSPORT ACT 1962
7.1 By
the beginning of the 1960s it was generally agreed that the BTC was not
delivering the integration that had been hoped for. More urgent were the serious financial
problems of the Commission generally and of the railways in particular. It was decided to split the functions of the
BTC into a number of independent Boards, including the British Railways Board
(BRB), The British Transport Docks Board (BTDB), the British Waterways Board
(BWB) and the London Transport Board.
7.2 The
Act (ss70-71) repeats the need for a representative conference on the basis
originally established in 1921 and maintained in 1947. At this point the Act allows that each Board
may have its own police or share a force of constables attested under the 1949
Act.
7.3 In
reality it was clear that a combined force was necessary and s69 of the Act
required the railways board to produce and consult on a scheme for the
organisation of transport police. Such a
scheme required the approval of the Minster of Transport and had to be prepared
within one year of the vesting of the new boards.
7.4 Since
the earliest days of the railway police, central government always attempted to
keep the subject at arms length. As
recently as the 1980s questions in the House of Commons would be met with a
reminder that railway policing was a matter for the BRB rather than for
ministers. It is significant therefore
that the 1962 Act made the organisation of the transport police a matter for
ministerial oversight.
8.0 BRITISH
TRANSPORT POLICE FORCE SCHEME 1963
8.1 The
Scheme is an important document in the history of RDC policing. It was substantially amended in 1992 but,
together with the BTC Act 1949, remained the key legislation governing the
force until the coming of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, (Known in
some circles as the ‘Act of Missed Opportunities’).
8.2 The
Scheme did not come into force until 1st January 1965. However the arrangements that it contained
were already in practical operation.
8.3 The
Scheme gave the British Railways Board responsibility for the force and
permitted the services of BTP officers to be provided, by agreement and on
payment, to the other boards created by the 1962 Act. The force was formally entitled ‘The British
Transport Police’ and the Police Committee was recognised.
8.4 As
discussed elsewhere (4) the Scheme is the first piece of legislation that
creates BTP as a police force with many of the features, but not the same
status, as Police Act forces.
8.5 All
officers were to be employed by the BRB.
BTP officers and their predecessors have always been employees despite
also holding the office of constable.
This is one of the differences between BTP and other forces. Its significance is hard to detect. Indeed the experience of the railway police
makes a nonsense of the frequently encountered statements that the non employed
status of Police Act constables is somehow linked to the successful performance
of their duties (5).
8.6 Under
the Scheme BRB remained the employer of officers attested under the 1949 Act
even if the officers were based in areas covered by other Boards and even if
they were recruited and paid directly by those Boards. Many BTPHG members will recall the position
of officers serving on the ‘LT’ who were paid directly by that Board meaning
that a transfer between divisions meant the collection of a P45 even though
there had been no technical change of employer.
Other unintended consequences can
be seen in the aftermath of large events such as the King’s Cross Underground
Fire (1987). At the Public Inquiry BTP
(including the officers stationed on the Underground) were represented by
counsel instructed by the solicitor to the BRB, who took a hands on approach to
the presentation of evidence. On
occasions when BTP undertook investigations into the BRB it meant that the
Board was effectively paying for the privilege of being investigated and
prosecuted.
9.0 POLICING
IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD
9.1 The
Royal Commission into Policing reported in 1962. It arose from national concerns over the
constitutional position of police forces (and their chief constables). There was also agreement that there were too
many police forces (158) in Great Britain.
BTP was not part of the debate or conclusions of the Commission.
9.2 The
Report of the Commission led to the Police Act 1964. This Act allowed the Home Secretary to force
amalgamations of forces when there was local resistance (a frequent
occurrence). The Act itself makes no
mention of BTP but the 1963 Scheme was influenced both by the findings of the
Commission and by the drafts of the Police Bill.
9.3 The
necessary amalgamations of Police Act forces to create the current 43 force
structure in England and Wales took some years.
Further adjustments were made in the aftermath of local government
reorganisation in 1974.
10.0 CONCLUSION
10.1 There
is work to be done to check files in the National Archives for correspondence
relating to RDC policing at the time of nationalisation. It is also possible that the Royal Commission
considered submissions on the role of BTP.
10.2 In
the view of the author of this minute, the creation of the British Transport
Commission led to the development of the modern force, but this development
cannot be assigned to a particular date and that therefore the anniversary of
the vesting of the BTC is, of itself, of little import in the history of RDC
policing. Other, better qualified,
historians of the subject may have a different view. The introduction of the British Transport
Police Force Scheme 1963 is perhaps more significant.
Ends
Philip Trendall
August 2023
NOTES
(1)
It
has become standard practice for historians of the British Transport Police to
use the descriptor ‘Railways, Docks and Canal’, or ‘RDC’ policing to encompass
the many ancestors of that force. For readers not familiar with the tedious
complexity of such matters it is worth mentioning that not all docks were
policed by forces that later became the BTP.
Docks operated by the Royal Navy were often policed, in part, by the Metropolitan Police and later by the
Admiralty Constabulary (now the Ministry of Defence Police). Other docks had their own forces. Some (eg Port of Dover) still do. The Port of London Authority Police was a
large force covering the London docks. It
was created from the bringing together of several smaller London docks
forces. It survives in much reduced form
as the Port of Tilbury Police. It is
currently commanded by a former BTP officer.
(2)
The
term ‘police force’ has a precise legal meaning. For the purposes of modern legislation (in
England and Wales) the description applies only to forces covered by the Police
Act 1996. The current incarnation of
the BTP is as a police force for the purposes of the Act that created it, viz the
Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, and for other purposes where specified
in other legislation. No primary
legislation before 2003 regarded BTP or its predecessors as a police force of
any type. Legislation (including the
1949 Act) frequently empowered the
attestation of constables but did not seek to create police forces. However the term ‘force’ was often used
informally both by railway companies and occasionally by government
bodies. For example Captain Horwood,
Chief of the North Eastern Railway Police before the Great War often referred
to his ‘force’ (see correspondence held by the BTPHG).
(3)
See
for example the criticisms of the BTC Act 1949 by the law Commission of England
and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission contained in the report referenced
below.
(4)
See
Blog by the present author dated 07 Nov 2022:
https://transportpolicinghistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/when-was-first-railway-police-force.html
(5)
See
for example the original consultation on the creation of a Police Covenant and
many statements by the Police Federation of England and Wales.
REFERENCES/LEGISLATION
Railways Act
1921
1921 Ch 55
11&12 Geo 5
London Passenger
Transport Act 1933
1933 Ch 14 23
& 24 Geo 5
Transport Act
1947
1947 Ch 49 10
& 11 Geo 6
British
Transport Commission Act 1949
1949 Ch 29 12 &
13 Geo 6
Transport Act
1962
1962 Ch 46 10
& 11 Eliz 2
British
Transport Police Force Scheme 1963
SI 1964/1456
Transport and
Works Act 1992
1992 Ch 42
British
Transport Police Force Scheme 1963 (Amendment) Order 1992
SI 1992/364
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