Violent crime fuelled by alcohol increased on Britain’s rail network last year, the British Transport Police (BTP) said yesterday, leading to concerns over plans to allow pubs to extend their opening hours.

Although there was an overall fall in offences on the railways including a drop in the number of robberies, Ian Johnston, the chief constable of the BTP, said violent crime against staff and passengers had risen.

He said about half the rise in such crimes involved assaults on staff. “We’ve had a lot of success in putting the thugs who do these nasty things to members of staff behind bars”, Johnston told BBC Radio. He said there had been a 30 % increase in alcohol-related incidents in the last year and expressed fears that longer pub opening times, which come into force in November, would lead to more problems.

The government says the existing system, under which drinkers spill out onto the street at the same time when the pubs close, fuels drunken fights and vandalism. But alcohol experts, doctors, senior police officers and judges have warned that later hours will exacerbate binge drinking, health problems and anti-social behaviour.

Leaders of the RMT, Britain’s biggest railway union, called for a return to guards on trains to deal with the rise in violent crime.