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Station bridge battle could end in court
SHEFFIELD Council is prepared for a legal battle with transport giant Stagecoach as it fights to have the railway station footbridge made a public right of way.
At a full meeting of the authority yesterday, councillors voted in favour of a proposal for its officers to investigate how it can use powers to make the bridge a public footpath, which would prevent East Midlands Trains, a subsidiary of the transport firm, from banning non-rail passengers using it.
Sheffield Council leader Coun Paul Scriven said: "East Midlands Trains is behaving in a way that is cutting the city in two. We believe that taxpayers, who paid to build the bridge, are getting a raw deal. If East Midlands Trains opposes our plans and this ends up being a test case in the courts, so be it. We will fight this."
East Midlands Trains, which manages the station, has come under fire for holding regular ticket checks where staff have been placed at either end of the bridge to stop people without rail tickets crossing.
The firm says it is mounting the operations to prevent fare dodging and make the station more secure, but tram passengers and people living at Park Hill and Norfolk Park are unhappy because the bridge is a safe, disabled-friendly way of crossing into the city centre.
The train company says the council should make the alternative footbridge, south of the station, safe and attractive.
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 09 February 2012
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Light snow
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
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Light snow
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