Police were out in force at Bolton Interchange on Friday as part of a crackdown on crime across the transport network.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were patrolling the station as part of its force-wide Operation AVRO, which was carried out in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester.

The operation was timed in line with the last day of the school term, and the warm weather also meant that more people were out and about in the town.

As well as tackling and preventing crime on the network, it allowed GMP to showcase the variety of resources available through its specialist operations ranks during the afternoon and early evening.

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Officers were deployed at all the major transport hubs across Greater Manchester including Bury, Rochdale and Wigan.

A GMP spokesperson said: “One of the biggest things for us is being able to be seen, it deters quite a lot.

“Our purpose here is to look out for the issues specifically here, if they’re leaving here then that’s good. We do just come here randomly and on an ad-hoc basis.”

Officers were there from 4.30pm to around 6.30pm, a peak period for the station.

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After spending time in Bolton and other main hotspots in the town, officers travelled to smaller stations in the region, such as Whitefield and Radcliffe.

One of the main crime problems stemming from Bolton Interchange is tghe large number of thefts at the Greggs store in the station, police said.

During a plain clothes operation a few months ago, officers said they witnessed three people steal from the bakery within around 10 minutes of each other.

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Also on Friday, a dispersal order was also put in place from Moor Lane to Bradshawgate and from Trinity Street to St George's Road until midnight.

It allowed police officers and PCSOs to direct a person to leave the area and not return for the time specified.

The order came as officers were expecting an "increase" in gatherings following the end of the school year. 

No serious incidents have been reported though.