On July 23rd, I wrote to BBC Complaints:

County Lines gangs, based in large English cities have been responsible for a spreading plague of extreme violence, more accessible and cheaper illegal drug supplies, child abuse, prostitution, people trafficking and the exploitation (cuckooing) of vulnerable adults in small-town UK, into places previously less affected by crime. Recent data reveal a surge in knife crime in rural and small-town areas in England and a recent surge in violent crime in similar areas in Scotland. Police Scotland estimates more than 50 County Lines gang activities in Scotland using children to carry the drugs on the railway system. Given the recent raids in Tarves, Aberdeenshire, population 1 000, the penetration may be even greater. This is a major, growing, crime phenomenon of major public interest. Media across the UK including, critically, the BBC, our public service broadcaster, from BBC Sussex to BBC Cumbria, has been regularly reporting incidents, specifically using the term ‘County Lines’ in headlines and naming the English cities where the gang is based. There are no County Lines gangs based in Scottish cities. BBC Scotland, in sharp contrast has only ever mentioned these gangs by name in two online reports since the gangs were first identified in 2018, on 18 October 2019 and 27 May 2021, more than three years ago, despite further surges in activity by these gangs. A major incident in Auchinleck in November 2023, where local youth drove out a Bradford-based County lines gang, was reported by BBC Scotland as an unexplained riot with no reference to the actual cause widely reported by local and social media. So, three questions for you. 1. Has there been an editorial decision by BBC Scotland News to avoid reporting on County Lines gangs? 2. Has there been an editorial decision by BBC Scotland News to avoid ever mentioning the English cities where these gangs are based? 3. Why is BBC Scotland, in sharp contrast to other BBC areas, not reporting on County lines gangs?

Quickly by their standards, yesterday, they replied:

Notwithstanding the rather contradictory nature of your complaint where you first highlight that “County Lines gangs [are] based in large English cities… There are no County Lines gangs based in Scottish cities” and then ask why there hasn’t been the same level of coverage in Scotland as there has been in England, there has in fact been mention in reporting by BBC Scotland this year of county lines gangs activity, in addition to the earlier reporting that you acknowledge.

For example, the following article from January this year details that “Police investigating the county lines operation recovered £350,000 of drugs”:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ck50x3kdzrpo – Illegal profits seized from drug trafficker

We would also highlight that this online UK article from March this year, – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68615776 – Protect children from crime gangs, expert urges – in addition to detailing the view of Prof Alexis Jay on protecting children from criminal exploitation, including by “county-lines” drug gangs, featured comment from the Scottish Government on “Several schemes in Scotland [that] aim to divert children away from exploitation and criminality” and a Glasgow teenager’s experience of “life in the lower ranks of a powerful crime gang involved in drugs and violence”.

Ultimately, in choosing which stories to cover each time and where to place our resources, our editors base their decisions on the editorial merits of all the stories at hand, looking at a variety of factors such as whether it’s breaking news, follows on from a recent event, changes our understanding of things, is unusual or attracting interest etc., and we accept that not everyone will agree with each decision.

On the story regarding the incident in Auchinleck in November 2023 that you also mention, – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-67560350 for example – while a complaint on this reporting would now be out of time, we would highlight that our reporting included statements from Police Scotland and what was factually established at the time.

My follow-up:

BBC Complaints – Case number CAS-7883742-N4S8G2 Stage 1b Follow-up

Thank you for your first response.

First, you wrote ‘Notwithstanding the rather contradictory nature of your complaint where you first highlight that “County Lines gangs [are] based in large English cities… There are no County Lines gangs based in Scottish cities” and then ask why there hasn’t been the same level of coverage in Scotland as there has been in England.’ This is a remarkable, simplistic, doubly contradictory response. The central concern is that you are not informing the public adequately, notwithstanding the two additional online only reports, I had missed, in 5 years of surging criminal activity, that gangs are operating in more than 50 small towns in Scotland (Police Scotland estimate), bringing terror, and that they are, without exception, based in large English cities. Rural parts of England in which these gangs are equally not based, have BBC reporting of this crisis causing a major surge in violence in formerly low-crime areas, on a regular basis. Uniquely BBC Scotland is hiding this phenomenon, and we need to hear why.

Even with the two additional reports, neither headlining the term ‘County Lines’, which I and Google had missed for that same reason, you now can list only four, online only, reports in 5 years of surging violence across Scotland. Did Reporting Scotland ever broadcast the term or refer to the English cities? No? I await correction based on evidence.

Finally, on the Auchinleck ‘riots’, you wrote ‘what was factually established at the time.’ Had you spoken to locals, read the many social media posts including the ‘Take back our town’ campaign or even read the local press, you would have been better informed by further facts, to carry out the task you are paid to do, properly.

You have to admit their opening gambit is a hoot. I can’t complain about non-reporting of gang activity in Scotland if I have admitted the gangs are not based in Scotland? By that reasoning, they wouldn’t report on the Labour Party because it’s not based in Scotland?

No very bright? Too young to be doing this job?