Paws on patrol at London Waterloo

Dogs Riley, Buster and Flo started regular patrols at London Waterloo this month as part of new safety initiative

The Paw Patrol is in fact on a roll at London Waterloo as dog patrols have become part of security teams for the first time.

Cocker Spaniels, Riley and Buster and Labrador Flo were introduced earlier this month as part of a three month trial to strengthen security at the London station.

Riley, 11, Buster, nine, and Flo, 10 have joined the South Western Railway and Network Rail Wessex team to provide extra reassurance for customers. They are specially trained to patrol large areas, detect hidden threats and apprehend subjects.

SWR, Commuters meeting Riley

Dan Harrison, the station manager confirmed the introduction of the dogs wasn’t linked to a specific threat, and was for the purpose of providing a visual deterrent and to support customers.

Harrison said: “Security needs constant innovation and we’re taking positive steps to reassure our customers that we take their safety very seriously.

“In the same way, we recently equipped all our colleagues with new hi-vis tabards to make them more easily identifiable to customers in the station who might need their help,” he added.

South Western Railway said London Waterloo is Britain’s first major station to introduce dog patrols as part of a wider programme to keep customers and those working at the station safe.

Along with the new four legged additions to the security teams, other recent measures include equipping colleagues with body-worn cameras to tackle assaults and abuse and upgraded CCTV across the Network.

South Western Railway said this will be Riley, Buster, and Flo’s last deployment before they retire.

So next time you go to London Waterloo, you may notice the new (furry) additions to the station security team.

SWR, Colleagues with the dogs and their new hi-vis tabards