Police arrested four people and recovered two stolen vehicles during a five-hour blitz on anti-social behaviour across four Metrolink stops in Oldham last Friday.

More than 40 passengers were searched between 3 pm and 8 pm on 12 April 2025 after officers set up knife arches at South Chadderton, Freehold, Westwood and King Street stations and funnelled every tram user through the scanners. Plain-clothes officers rode the carriages, radioing ahead to uniformed colleagues when they spotted trouble.

The operation, led by Oldham’s neighbourhood and district tasking teams alongside XM Transport Unit, Travel Safe Greater Manchester and Oldham Council, followed reports of youths brandishing knives and fighting on trams between the town centre and Chadderton.

A cyclist whose bike was snatched at South Chadderton at about 4 pm watched police recover it within minutes after CCTV operators tracked the thief onto an east-bound service and officers arrested him at King Street. An hour-and-a-half later, a short pursuit ended when a stolen Ford Fiesta from Saddleworth crashed; the driver fled but the car was seized for forensic examination.

The four arrests included one man suspected of stealing the bicycle, another held for assault by beating and two people detained under section 50 of the Police Reform Act after refusing to give details following anti-social behaviour. One further incident was resolved with a community resolution.

Neighbourhood sergeant Tom Layton praised the joint effort, saying: “Together, we identified an issue and proactively worked to help solve it so that residents in our community can travel around safely. Our work does not stop here; we will continue to listen to the concerns of our communities and tackle the issues that matter to them the most.”

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