by Rob Davison
I take great pleasure browsing in bookshops and particularly the railway or transport section where I might come across something of interest. Since becoming involved with the History Group I have been more aware of the need to look out for material relating to the history of rail, dock and canal policing, and have been pleasantly surprised at some of my finds.
On a recent* visit to Birmingham I was in the Ian Allan bookshop and came across ‘Birmingham Snow Hill – A First Class Return’ written by Derek Harrison. The display copy was in pristine condition and I thought at first that the author had waited for 29 years to follow up on his book of 1978 ‘Salute to Snow Hill’ which I had a treasured copy of. I should explain that Snow Hill was considered to be the finest station in Birmingham and its demise in 1978 was a sad loss. The fact that there is now a resurrected station on the same site in no way mitigated the demolition of the original!
I have to confess to a great affection for the old place as it was one of my favourite stations to go trainspotting. It was also the place I had my first ‘run-in’ with BTP in the shape of Det. Sgt Harold Fleetwood. The incident has already been recounted in my article for the January 2011 edition of History Lines (No.17) but it was during my time as a train-spotter, so pre-BTP. For a short time after my return from the Recruit Course at Tadworth, I was posted to Snow Hill and this would have been in 1967. The old place was a wee bit run down by this time as its glory days were over now that the London to Birmingham electrification was complete. However, there was still a variety of rail traffic and the Goods Depot at Hockley, just a mile down the line in the direction of Wolverhampton, was still functioning.
Returning to the book though, in the chapter ‘1919-1972 Personalities’ there was this wonderful photograph of GWR Constables (see above) apparently posing with members of the Birmingham Watch Committee (the gentlemen in plain clothes). For the benefit of ‘younger’ readers, the Watch Committee was the organisation that monitored the workings of ‘its Police Force and was made up of Councillors and local ‘worthies’. In County Forces they were known as the Standing Joint Committee. The bonus to this photo was the accompanying text attributed to Ann Wyatt who was also shown as the owner of the photograph. She notes that the photo was taken on platform 12 of Snow Hill but that the exact date is not known. It is post-world War 1 though as some of the Constables are wearing the WW 1 medal trio. A poster at the rear mentions the South Eastern & Chatham Railway so it pre-dates the ‘Grouping’ of the railways in 1923.
Ann then goes on to relate her reminiscences of her time in the BTP. She joined in 1955 and was interviewed as a prospective police candidate in a small office in the police accommodation on the corner of Great Charles Street and Snow Hill. This office was at the top of a stone spiral staircase and was still in use in 1967 when I was posted there. This office block was of a triangular shape consisting of three floors and had what was probably a unique means of egress and ingress to the railway station. One of the offices that was on the station side of the ‘triangle’ was also on a level with the railway track. By opening a large window it was possible to gain access ‘trackside’ and then onto the nearby platform 12. It was the fastest way of responding to an incident on the station as well as providing a surreptitious route should that be required! After training and study at what she describes as the ‘Epsom Police College’, Ann says that she was promoted into the plain clothes division and took up her duties in an office at Snow Hill in the subway between platforms 5 and 7. This was close to the railwaymen’s canteen and a permanent smell of cooking, mainly cabbage, seeped into the police office!
Plain clothes officers who were stationed at Snow Hill in the mid-fifties included DC Albert Hester, DC Stan Jones, Det. Sgt ‘Sailor’ Hayes, Det. Sgt Harold ‘Pigpen’ Fleetwood and Det. Sgt Norman Smith. I was aware of Bert Hayes’ nickname but not that attributed to Harold Fleetwood. I’ve mentioned this to Harold’s son, Keith Fleetwood but he wasn’t aware of it. The Policewomen, PW Dorothy Doughty, PW Lorna Lewis and PW Parsons (as Ann Wyatt was known in those days) were allocated ticket frauds, fare evasions, missing luggage and parcels to investigate. PW Doris Banks was the uniformed officer. The person in charge of this office was Inspector Sully who commuted daily from Shrewsbury. He was a police officer of the ‘old school’ who expected to see a uniformed police officer on duty on platform 7 as he arrived at 08.55 on the Birkenhead to Paddington businessman’s express.
The Divisional Police Headquarters for what was then the Western Region of British Railways was situated on the fifth floor of the old Great Western Hotel. The Police Chief was Mr Galloway and his assistant, Superintendent Harold Wickens along with Chief Inspector Charles Steed. Ann comments: ‘All very tall and impressive. Two chauffeurs were at the disposal of these senior police officers, with immaculately polished 1953 Austin A135 Princess limousines. Two spaces were allotted to these cars on the main booking hall concourse.’ The uniformed policewoman was on duty supervising traffic and car parking on the Snow Hill concourse. Chauffeur-driven cars frequently met businessmen, civic dignitaries and celebrities. The pigeons nesting in the roof girders of the concourse were avoided at all costs as ‘dropping spotted’ uniforms were apparently marked forever.
Service personnel from HM Forces were up to many dodges in their attempts to avoid paying their correct rail fares and the PW’s worked with the Travelling Ticket Inspectors who also investigated ticket and fare offences. In the post-WW 2 period there was still conscription and so the poorly paid National Service men and women were always looking for ways to save money on train fares. Ann says that the main service camps that were visited during the course of ticket fraud enquiries were RAF Shawbury and RAF Cosford (both in Shropshire); Royal Army Ordnance Corps Kineton Depot (Warwickshire) and Budbrooke Barracks, Warwick, the home depot of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
Aside from T.I. enquiries, the Snow Hill police often had to deal with runaway children who usually sought refuge in the comfortable rest lounges and refreshment rooms. If a child was alone for any lengthy period, the attendant would contact the transport police. Quite a few adventurous youngsters only got as far as Snow Hill in their attempt to gain independence. Ann recalls: “The hot summer of 1959 was particularly memorable. The Left Luggage Office at Snow Hill complained of a terrible smell and a large number of bluebottle flies! There had been a hunt for a missing child in the Midlands for several weeks – it was generally feared the child had been murdered – so with trepidation, two police officers went to investigate. The large, American tourist’s canvas holdall was opened to reveal a huge joint of venison and the general opinion was that it had been obtained illegally! The smell was awful.
POSTSCRIPT
A reorganisation of British Railways in the 1960’s saw the inevitable redrawing of the BTCP boundaries, and the amalgamation of London Midland and Western Regions in the West Midlands. The senior command moved to Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester and this became the headquarters for the Midland Area Chief of Police. That was the office I attended in 1963 for my acceptance interview to become a BTC Police Cadet. I had taken my entrance exam and initial interview in the new Birmingham Divisional Police offices on Smallbrook Queensway. This office block was also home to the BR Divisional offices.
Snow Hill’s status so far as police were concerned was severely diminished, with a minimum uniform presence, although the Divisional CID were based there. At this time the CID were also doing enquiries for British Road Services (BRS) and I remember going out ‘van dragging’ on my CID attachment. This entailed following BRS delivery vehicles whose drivers may have been suspected of stealing or being a party to stealing the packages they were supposed to deliver or watching out for opportunistic thieves who stole from the vehicles when they were making a delivery. This procedure also applied to BR Goods and Parcels traffic.
The Policewomen’s Ticket Enquiry Section had moved to Birmingham New Street and the subway office referred to by Ann Wyatt was no longer in use as Uniform and CID were all in the Great Charles Street office. Snow Hill enjoyed a brief renaissance when New Street Station was being rebuilt as part of the West Coast line electrification scheme and most of the Birmingham to London services were run on the old GWR. Following complete closure and cessation of rail services in March 1972, the derelict station was used for several years as an NCP Car Park. Despite a public outcry none of the Snow Hill station building was preserved. The Colmore Row façade was demolished in 1969 and the rest of the station in 1977. There was a brief moment of fame in 1976 when the station was the setting for some scenes in a locally produced BBC TV drama series, Gangsters, then the demolition gangs moved in.
I am indebted to Peter Watts of Watts Publishing (now Pathfinders Tours) for permission to use the photograph of the Snow Hill police and the Ann Wyatt reminiscences in this article.
* First published in the March 2018 edition of History Lines (No. 103)