A noble litter picker who dedicates his spare time to picking up rubbish and cleaning graffiti from city streets has called on National Express to take more pride in Digbeth Coach Station. Alan Webb – also known as Brum X – has earned an online following thanks to his incredible clean-up work.
The Good Samaritan is happy to do the jobs others aren’t – and can often be found scrubbing ugly graffiti off bus stops, picking up strewn litter from the floor, and sweeping broken glass from public footpaths. But, despite his willingness and commitment, the 47-year-old is not immune to feeling frustrated.
Alan, a volunteer Friends of Bradford Street, said he spent much of 2024 cleaning vandalism from the front of Digbeth Coach Station. He claimed his plea to National Express to take better care of the building it owns fell on deaf ears.
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Graffiti on Digbeth Coach Station before and after Brum X decided to take action
(Image: Alan Webb)
Alan, who tries to spend at least an hour every day cleaning up the city, told BirminghamLive: “The coach station is a mess and nothing is done. Nobody at National Express appears to be interested, even though it brings the surrounding streets down with it.
“Bus shelters get tagged, bins along the new tram tracks, and even on the new benches which is part of the new public realm.”
Alan claimed: “I’ve even emailed National Express and had no response yet. It’s really frustrating when me and other volunteers are trying to clean up Digbeth. Birmingham City Council won’t clean it as it’s on private land.”
The coach and bus firm told this paper it has an “existing programme in place for graffiti removal”. But Alan said, as far as he’s aware, National Express had only cleaned graffiti from the station one time since March 2024.
He said: “It appears the programme is annually or twice a year at best, as the existing graffiti has been there for months. National Express has painted over previous graffiti once since March. Last time was around July time. Nothing since.”
He said the station “will always be covered in graffiti” unless the firm “keeps on top of it”. “Taggers will think nobody cares – so ‘let’s do a bit more’. I notice these patterns, and I’ve been volunteering for quite a while now. Painting over it twice a year isn’t going to improve the area anytime soon.”
A National Express spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of a clean environment in attracting customers and appreciate the focus that the volunteers are bringing to this issue. National Express has an existing programme in place for graffiti removal and redecoration and we’re working closely with the local policing teams to tackle the issue.”