Disabled Passengers and TOCs - Rights and Responsibilities

[AlterEgo]

It must be a local issue then. At present, in Woking for example, there doesn't appear to be a requirement that all hackney carriages are wheelchair accessible. Only some are.

"Some" isn't a walk up service.

 

[brompton rail]

It must be a local issue then. At present, in Woking for example, there doesn't appear to be a requirement that all hackney carriages are wheelchair accessible. Only some are.

"Some" isn't a walk up service.

Well, licensing of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles is a matter for the local authority- not sure what level of authority as Doncaster is a Unitary, as will be Brighton, Sheffield, Leeds, YORK etc.

All Hackneys in Sheffield are black cabs, yet in Leeds and York some are cars and some cabs. So, for a wheelchair user it must be confusing and unhelpful.

 

[KimCowan]

I am writing from Stroud, where the station is listed and there are significant access issues for disabled people needing to cross between platforms. Currently people are driven round to the other platform, but there is no signage or information on the website which lets people know this. The station is not always manned and the taxi rank is often empty. One side of the station has the ticket office, loo, café etc, the other is less well served, with poor signange into town or onward travel information.

It is also a problem that older travellers, families with push chairs, or heavy luggage can face too. As part of an ongoing drive to improve the welcome people receive in Stroud, I would be really interested to get suggestions from people who have had to address similar access issues. I suspect because both sides of the station can be accessed by road, we have been pushed to the back of the queue. Or perhaps it is because it is difficult to achieve and maintain the character of the station.... Unfortunately it means that entry to the town is made more complicated for a proportion of our visitors. I'd be grateful for any feedback.

 

[Tio Terry]

I am writing from Stroud, where the station is listed and there are significant access issues for disabled people needing to cross between platforms. Currently people are driven round to the other platform, but there is no signage or information on the website which lets people know this. The station is not always manned and the taxi rank is often empty. One side of the station has the ticket office, loo, café etc, the other is less well served, with poor signange into town or onward travel information.

It is also a problem that older travellers, families with push chairs, or heavy luggage can face too. As part of an ongoing drive to improve the welcome people receive in Stroud, I would be really interested to get suggestions from people who have had to address similar access issues. I suspect because both sides of the station can be accessed by road, we have been pushed to the back of the queue. Or perhaps it is because it is difficult to achieve and maintain the character of the station.... Unfortunately it means that entry to the town is made more complicated for a proportion of our visitors. I'd be grateful for any feedback.

You could ask your TOC what they are doing to meet the DfT's Code of Practice:-

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sit....1.64.psy-ab..0.20.1292...0i131k1.O-7nmqyrl_E

 

[Amy Worrall]

Do people with disabilities have the right to a toilet at all times on any train?
Do TOCs have the responsibility to provide that?

Lack of a toilet can be much more problematic for some disabled people than it is for the able bodied. Here's what I think should happen:

- If a route normally provides toilets, and there isn't a disabled toilet available on a certain train, where possible customers should be notified in advance via station announcements.

- If such announcements were not possible, or the toilet broke down en route, or whatever, then a disabled person who needs the loo should make themselves known to the train manager, and the train should be obliged to wait for them at the next available station (including help getting them on or off). If the next scheduled station call is more than (say) 20 minutes away, this should include stopping at an unscheduled station for that purpose.

- If a disabled toilet is out of order and there is another one on board the train, the train manager should ensure that the disabled passenger can navigate to that carriage. If that's not possible, then provision as above should be required.

- If a route does not normally provide toilets, and it says as much in the timetables, and there is no non-accessible toilet on board either, then the above provision should not be required.

I hate the argument that "stopping the train will cause knock on effects of lateness, so we can't do anything" —*I think equality accommodation shouldn't be allowed to take a back seat to issues of profit and annoyance. Enforce this, and then if the train companies want to stop it happening, they'll invest in things like additional and more reliable accessible toilets, and better announcements.