Don't clean off that graffiti - it's an art installation

When a train driver saw fresh graffiti at a station he passes through daily, he called the police. To his astonishment he was told that his employers — who spend £250,000 a year fighting vandalism — had sanctioned the “art”.



The paintings, at the entrance to Jesmond Metro station, in Newcastle upon Tyne, are by urban artists exhibiting in the Baltic arts centre in Gateshead.

Huw Lewis, of the train operator Nexus, believes that the artwork at Jesmond will help to fight vandalism by letting people present their art in a controlled way. “What we are doing here is consistent with that,” he said.