Dr Billings visited British Transport Police officers at Sheffield station on Monday, 25 February 2019 to learn about their work.

He was shown around the building and introduced to officers by PC Roy Percival. The Commissioner heard about the range of duties the officers undertook on a weekly basis – from keeping good order on match days, when big numbers of football supporters come through South Yorkshire stations, to responding to incidents in trains or on the line.

There are 3000 British Transport Police but their patch extends from Lands End to John O’Groats.

Dr Billings said: “I was pleased to hear how well South Yorkshire Police and the British Transport Police work together across the county.

“We have some big stations in Sheffield and Doncaster as well as many small ones with large numbers of passengers arriving and departing every day – so there will always be incidents that have to be managed both on and off the trains.

“I have always found the presence of British Transport Police officers on trains very reassuring and I was particularly interested to hear that the ability to text for assistance on 6106 while on a train was working well.”