Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Railway now protected against vandalism thanks to local firm


* Francis Johnson, managing director, and Mel Pengelly, director of Parallel Security with Phil Coles, vice chairman of Llangollen Railway (centre).


* One of the two vandalised railcars, now fully repaired and in service.

A local security company has come to the aid of the Llangollen Railway (LR) following the vandalism of several of its historic items of rolling stock last August. 

During the incidents two 60-year-old railcars were daubed with graffiti and had windows broken.

Parallel Security is a Welsh security provider based in Mold, which prides itself on supporting local communities and businesses.  

When its directors heard about the vandalism they quickly contacted the railway to offer their security services

Managing director Francis Johnson and director Mel Pengelly arranged a meeting with railway vice-chairman Phil Coles to discuss what had happened and how Parallel may be able to help prevent similar attacks happening again.

After several site surveys and discussions over potential issues with securing the very remote storage yard where the vandalism took place, a plan was put together and offered to the railway free of charge to help protect their carriages and engines from theft and vandalism.

Parallel has provided state-of-the-art CCTV, which is now installed at the rail yard. 

The cameras are monitored 24 hours a day and use artificial intelligence and motion detection to secure the areas.  

If required, a Parallel Response vehicle will also attend to police the areas should an alarm be activated.  

Senior management of the railway also have the facility to look at the cameras using mobile technology on their smart phones, giving additional operational and Health & Safety functionalities in addition to the system’s security provision.

Francis Johnson said: "It was great to be able to support Llangollen Railway in this way, but we obviously wish that this incident had not have happened in the first place.  

"It is vitally important to our business to support the Welsh community in this way and we are more than happy to support the railway on an ongoing basis to enable the services it provides to the public to continue without disruption from theft and vandalism."

Phil Coles thanked Parallel Security for their speedy response to a post on Facebook showing photos of the vandalism. 

Phil said “We’ve had a lot of challenges over the past 12 months and could really have done without damage to the rolling stock that we have been able to retain. With our finances continuing to be stretched as we work to re-open the railway to Corwen and invest in our existing infrastructure, Parallel’s generous support to manage our security is very much appreciated indeed. 

"It’s a great example of how local businesses can pull together and support one another through challenging times. As we look to reposition the Llangollen Railway at the heart of the local community we hope to engage with other local businesses and organisations for everyone’s benefit."

The railway successfully reopened for the 2022 season on Saturday February 19 using two of the diesel railcars that suffered from the vandalism, which have been fully repaired at considerable expense.

Railcar services will run every Friday to Sunday throughout March, with steam and diesel locomotive-hauled services due to return at Easter. 

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