Bus police make 20 arrests in first week

Police deployed to travel on a notorious London bus route have arrested 20 people and captured a man wanted on a murder charge in the first three days of the operation.

Transport police officers started riding on the top deck of the No 57 bus from Streatham to Kingston last week. They travelled throughout the day and night to catch law breakers and fare evaders along the 11- mile route through Streatham, Tooting, Merton, Wimbledon and Kingston.

Officers have caught disqualified drivers, motorists driving without insurance and people engaged in deception. Automatic number-plate recognition machines have also been used to identify vehicles that may have been used for crime.

On the bus itself, officers act largely as a deterrent - but at least one vandal was caught etching his name on a window.

Bus driver Andrew Farrell, 42, said: "We were getting drunks, people diving on without paying, fighting, people smoking and people taking drugs. Some days it was like a mad pub."

Police Inspector Nick Roach said: "It makes people feel safer and we are catching a lot of bad people."