Disabled person forced to crawl to her seat

[devon_metro]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6702869.stm

 

[Dennis]

In these days of increased awareness of the needs of disabled (or whatever the PC term is) people, this seems like an elementary error.

It's also happened before on First buses serving Bath and Bristol; a few years back at the launch of the X39 service, the new buses were widely promoted as being wheelchair accessible but were found not to be (too many grab poles in the way).

 

[Max]

This seems pretty poor, you would really have thought that First would have looked into this during the design process! I'm guessing that could take some of the refurbished sets out of action for a while to be altered.

However, I don't really see her mentality in choosing to drive instead. Wouldn't it be more difficult to get into a car than onto a train?

 

[gordonthemoron]

I doubt it

 

[Nick W]

Sounds a reasonable response from the ToC. Train travel isn't suitable for everyone but they will make an effort to solve the problem concerned.

It's a pity that the protagonist is very unreasonable has decided never to take the train again based on one experience.

 

[gordonthemoron]

This just goes to show that TOCs do not consider the comfort of passengers when redesigning trains

 

[Z12XE]

At least she was carried by them.

A few weeks ago a One service with a 156 service a wheelchair boarded at Norwich and the chair was oversized to fit in the passenger area, Wheelchair passenger refused to leave train so they swapped units. They left the wheelchair+passenger on the first train, moved everyone else to a replacement train and left.........

 

[devon_metro]

Thats all very well but the fact that the old sets don't have problems is the main problem

 

[yorkie]

I am not sure what the situation is, but there should (if there isn't already) be guidelines that state the maximum size of wheelchairs, and the TOCs should use that size when designing interiors, and the manufacturers should adhere to them. Anyone getting one larger than that would then do so at their own risk. Everyone would know where they stand then.

It sounds like Farce are getting a lot of bad press regarding their refurbs, and this is just one of many complaints. It appears that they have not done enough consultation with their customers and have forced upon us a design that they insist people want - yet I've never heard/read anyone say that they're happy with it.

Farce - transforming travel, sure, but not in the right way unfortunately.

 

[Tom B]

I thought they had a "standard" wheelchair, defined in the DDA, which is to be used when deciding what is an isn't accessible?

 

[Nick W]

Bah the DDA shouldn't force sizes either. Ought to be the EU's job to invite people to a meeting to form EU standards.

First transform travel so that you don't have to :P

 

[Dennis]

I thought they had a "standard" wheelchair, defined in the DDA, which is to be used when deciding what is an isn't accessible?

Perhaps she had wide wheels fitted, making it out of gauge. Not actually joking....remember the 458's were considered non-compliant because the PIS display was 3mm too small. I really would be surprised if the rolling stock in question here was also non-compliant; anyone know?

 

[Donny Dave]

Bah the DDA shouldn't force sizes either. Ought to be the EU's job to invite people to a meeting to form EU standards.

Erm, no....

There is enough red tape floating around at the minute without the EU foisting more upon us. Most of it comes from the EU anyway.

Back on topic now. Surely FGW would have the sense to make the doors wide enough. Every other TOC seems to have got it right....

 

[ChrisCooper]

Sounds like a big cock up on behalf of First and whoever else were responsible for the refurb. The main issue is that she could get on train before, but now can't. Then again, oversized wheelchairs (and pushchairs) are a problem with transport.
The situation with the 'one' 156 at Norwich is different since the 156 would always have been unable to fit that wheelchair. I do wonder what size it was since the wheelchair area on the 156s is fairly wide, and I've seen wheelchairs in them before without problems. Oviously if it was so wide it was blocking the isle it was a safety issue, and they were right to refuse to take the train until it was moved.

 

[Daniel]

Back on topic now. Surely FGW would have the sense to make the doors wide enough. Every other TOC seems to have got it right....

1812 from Stratford, ex-Norwich, towards Liverpool Street. 17 late because the on-train ramp couldn't fit in the doors, and the station ramp was padlocked to a fence.

 

[yorkie]

1812 from Stratford, ex-Norwich, towards Liverpool Street. 17 late because the on-train ramp couldn't fit in the doors, and the station ramp was padlocked to a fence.

Did that happen at Stratford? it would have been quicker to go to Liverpool Street anyway and radio ahead for a ramp to be ready there, then cross-platform to the next service back east?

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail All!
One thing that we're possibly not spotting is that most of this discussion centers around old BR rolling stock that was designed in the 70s and 80s...Long before the DDA came into effect. Indeed...If I remember correctly, the only BR rolling stock that had wheelchair compatability built into the design was the Mark IV carriage designed for use on the APT-P and APT-U (GNER Mallard) trainsets...And even then the train was accessible (I.E: You could get on it) but the toilets and other facilities wern't! :roll:

I've always wondered how wheelchair-bound travellers are carried on board HSTs. Going on this thread, they're presumably ramped in at any door...But at the same time I've always thought that the gangways were a bit small to allow a wheelchair in. Not to mention that the floor in a HST is about two foot off the height of the platform, meaning that the ramp is fairly steep when in situ and staff/helper assistance would always be needed to board or alight.

Either way, I'm planning to bash an HST into London from Reading later today if I'm lucky and don't get some plastic Adelante thing showing up, and I'll have a close look at the sizes of everything and see how they measure up. I also have a friend who is wheelchair bound, and I could always ask him what his experiences of rail travel are.

Farewell...
>> Death <<

 

[Daniel]

Did that happen at Stratford? it would have been quicker to go to Liverpool Street anyway and radio ahead for a ramp to be ready there, then cross-platform to the next service back east?

Yep, that happened at Stratford, and after various members of train crew running up and down the platform, that's what they did!