Met Police announces plans to withdraw from providing Red Route Enforcement

London's red routes help reduce congestion and ensure crucial deliveries and journeys can be made safely to keep the city moving. The enforcement of their correct use, currently carried out by the Met's dedicated PCSOs, is set to be transferred back to Transport for London by April 2026 and then onto an outsourced private company. 

Many of the PCSOs have given years of loyal service, and now face being removed from the Met and handed over to an unknown contractor.

The decision flies in the face of the Labour government’s commitment to deliver “the biggest generational wave of insourcing” and undermines public accountability in frontline policing. At the same time, the Met is spending thousands on recruiting new PCSOs for other roles while experienced staff are being pushed out.

PCS is campaigning to stop trained Met Police Service employees from being transferred out of the public sector and into the private sector and to ensure they are redeployed within the Met.

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