Stations play classical music as deterrent to vandalismLONDON (AP) - A rail company revealed its latest weapon against vandalism Friday - classical music.
First Great Eastern Railway, which runs services to areas north and east of London, has been piping the works of Beethoven and Mozart onto platforms at three stations, because it says this deters youths from congregating and vandalizing station property.
Popular classical tunes are being played in the evenings at Burnham, Rochford and Hockley stations, northeast of London, a spokeswoman said.
"We carried out a trial at (nearby) Harold Wood station and vandalism was reduced", the spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The youths tend to congregate at these particular stations and for safety reasons we don't want them messing about there. It is quite widely used in Germany, and it was something we were happy to try and seems to have worked."
The spokeswoman said the music, which is played on a compact disc player, is kept at a subtle volume so passengers can hear announcements on the public address system.
Delibes apparently drives them most mad. Good. I hate these teenage layabouts who do nothing but consume fast food and think shouting the F word is a substitute for speaking English well.
Regards, Ivan