Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Damon Wilkinson

Out of 99 Metrolink stations this one is rated worst - we found what makes it Greater Manchester's most hated stop

From your local takeaway, to entire continents, there's not much in life that Google's review function doesn't let you rate.

But when you start ranking stuff like that, something has to be bottom of the pile.

And in the case of Greater Manchester's Metrolink stops that something is Oldham King Street.

With a score of just 2.7 out of five on Google's review function, it's the lowest rated of the region's 99 tram stops.

READ MORE:

So on Thursday morning I went along to try find out why passengers seem to dislike it so much.

Looking at the ratings it's clear the stop polarises opinions, with every reviewer giving it either a rock bottom one star or the full five out of five.

But only three people have left comments - and one of those appears to be talking about his local church, so that doesn't help much, but he does give it five stars and praises the pastor for what's it worth.

One irate reviewer says his two of his best friends were mugged at the station 'by a gang of scruffs who attacked them with hammers'.

"Just like any place in Oldham, not safe after dark," he adds.

The other reviewer complains about 'constant lateness and uncleanliness'.

I've used the stop a few times in the past to get into Oldham town centre from the M.E.N. office in Chadderton and, to be honest, never gave it a second thought.

It's got all the usual stuff you'd expect at a Metrolink station and always seemed to be fairly clean and modern, so it came as a bit of a surprise to discover it ranked bottom of the pile.

Having opened in January 2014 on the site of the old King Street Baptist Church, it's a fairly new station on the edge of Oldham town centre.

The sixth form college is right next door, Oldham Leisure Centre is just round the corner and it's about a five minute walk to Spindles Shopping Centre and Tommyfield market.

On the face of it, it's no different to just about any other Met stop you could name.

But what do the people who use it regularly think?

When I get there just after 9am it's deserted apart from a cleaner in a Metrolink hi-viz vest picking up the odd bit of litter.

Luckily Shajid Miah, 24, who uses the stop most days to get to work in Rochdale, soon turns up and is happy to chat.

When I explain why I'm there he seems surprised.

"I've never spotted anything unusual, apart from the odd hooligan," he said.

"I heard a story about someone getting mugged once though. It's got a bit of a reputation for that, but apart from that it's always seemed alright to me."

But I get a different reaction when I cross the tracks to speak to Eric and Jean Holmes, from Derker.

"I'm not surprised at all," said Mr Holmes.

"Every time you come it's always full of kids.

"They're always running across the tracks and they leave their rubbish all over."

Problems with anti-social behaviour and crime on the Metrolink network, and in particular on the Rochdale and Oldham line, are well-documented.

In response police and Metrolink bosses have launched a series of operations and stepped up patrols in a crackdown on trouble-makers.

But Sandra Pritchard, 72, from Stockport, who regularly uses the Oldham King Street stop to meet a friend at the nearby Mecca Bingo hall, says anti-social behaviour is still a common occurrence.

"The problem with it [Oldham King Street] is there doesn't seem to be anyone from Metrolink about when you need them," she said.

"And the bad thing is there's a lot of people sleeping rough round here who use the trams.

"I suppose they're only doing it to keep warm, but it can be intimidating when they keep approaching you for money.

"From Monsall to here (Oldham King Street) it gets quite bad. I've been on the Bury line and the Ashton line and felt fine, but it's pretty bad on here.

"I don't feel threatened as such, but you do get abuse from them sometimes and you see them on spice like zombies sat on the benches.

"I'm no scaredy-cat but I'm often glad to get back to Piccadilly station on my way home."

The issues highlighted above aren't unique to Oldham King Street.

So why has it come out so badly?

Maybe it's because, like Flowery Field in Hyde, Greater Manchester's worst rated train station, it's only been reviewed seven times, with a few poor reviews inversely affecting its overall rating.

Whatever the reason, from the passengers I spoke to it seems clear there are a few problems at the stop.

Kate Green, TfGM’s TravelSafe partnership manager, said: "Nobody should be made to feel intimidated when using public transport in Greater Manchester, and Transport for Greater Manchester takes a zero-tolerance approach to crime and antisocial behaviour being committed on the network.

"Through the TravelSafe Partnership, which is jointly led by TfGM and Greater Manchester Police, officers take an enforcement, engagement and education-led approach to ensure passengers have a safe and enjoyable journey.

"TravelSafe officers also spend around 5,000 hours a week patrolling the network, which is also monitored by TfGM and Metrolink 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using 3,800 CCTV cameras.

"Officers are also regularly deployed to specialist operations at hotspots – including stops on the Oldham-Rochdale line – to deter this behaviour and reassure the travelling public.”

"Passengers can also report incidents quickly and discreetly to a police call handler, from their smartphone, using the LiveChat service or by calling 101 – or 999 in an emergency.

"We’re also investing around £500k from the government’s Safer Streets fund to make safety improvements at stops across Oldham, including Oldham King Street.

"Improvements include new CCTV and extra, dedicated security staff deployments, including Oldham Council’ s Trusted People initiative – aimed at helping women and girls feel safe and confident when using the tram network.”

*For the purposes of this piece we only included stops which had been reviewed at least five times.

Piccadilly Gardens has a score of 2.5, but has only reviewed twice.

To get the latest email updates from the Manchester Evening News, click here.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.