One northwest town is getting it right for disabled people on public transport – so why can’t the rest of Britain?

We keep hearing of appalling treatment of passengers by rail, airline and bus companies. I can guarantee that there will be plenty more similar tales before the end of the year

James Moore
Saturday 20 July 2019 16:21 BST
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Train companies are letting down disabled passengers, according to campaigners
Train companies are letting down disabled passengers, according to campaigners

When you’re disabled the phrase “back to earth with a bump” is all too familiar.

On Thursday I wrote about what I’d describe as a rare win: the Greater London Authority sent a motion to London mayor Sadiq Khan following my humiliating experience on the tube (I was singled out as a ‘mobility impaired person’ and badged as the cause of a delay over the tannoy so staff could provide me with assistance I had specifically told them I didn’t want).

Just a day later the motion was unanimously passed, however, another transport horror story broke. It centred on planes rather than trains, but it serves to show what disabled Britons have to put up with and why people like me often choose not to travel, at least to places that aren’t accessible by car.

Thomas Cook had to apologise for the humiliating treatment meted out to a disabled passenger when the special assistance she booked to help her to fly home from Turkey with the firm’s airline failed to turn up.

I can guarantee that there will be plenty more similar tales before the end of the year, involving multiple forms of conveyance nationwide and beyond.

Asked by one of my editors what the transport situation is like outside of London I’m afraid I had to answer “pretty dreadful”.

Speaking to Disability Rights UK (DRUK) bore that out. Its researcher Evan Odell told me that the capital’s shaky record actually compares relatively favourably to the rest of the country. Problems abound wherever you look.

Train companies typically require 24, and sometimes 48 hours notice if people require assistance, as those of us with impairments of one kind or another often do. Sometimes it still doesn’t turn up.

Then there’s the issue of out of order toilets. Paralympian Anne Wafula Strike in 2016 courageously went public after she was forced to urinate on herself because the disabled toilet was out of order.

She ultimately won a settlement from CrossCountry trains. But last year she told The Guardian that she had again found herself on one without working facilities. Mercifully she did not need to use them but pointed out that others might well have.

As bad as trains are, buses are arguably even worse. Many areas have several competing services. Staff training is patchy and inconsistent, where it even exists.

Despite having established a legal right to priority use of disabled spaces, disabled people regularly struggle to get picked up. The right works better in principle than it does in practice. If someone with a buggy has the space and won’t move, the wheelchair user is stuck.

Even if the space is free, drivers frequently fail to stop.

With the need for ramps and the like, it can take extra time for wheelchair users to board. DRUK says punctuality incentives, and longer breaks for drivers who get back to depots early or on time, make it in their interests to drive on by.

So is there anywhere that does well? When I posed the question to Odell his answer surprised me: Blackpool. He pointed out that its trams are accessible and the people in charge of transport services there have worked hard at improving, partly through actually speaking and listening to disabled people’s organisations.

The rest of the country, however, has a long way to go for it to be dragged it up to the standards Odell has seen. And it requires action from legislators.

With the government paralysed by Brexit the Conservatives’ reckless approach poses another threat to disabled people like me who require medication nothing much is going on in parliament. At some point, however, MPs might like to consider that they were elected to serve their constituents, and that includes disabled voters too.

A private members bill based on the bipartisan GLA motion and targeted at transport companies nationwide would be a fine way of proving they can justify their salaries. Who knows, it might tweak the nose of do-nothing minister for disabled people Justin Tomlinson to call up the Department for Transport.

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Another good idea has been put forward by Simon Sansome, founder of the Ability Access Facebook page. He has launched a petition on change.org calling for people who need assistance to be able to bring a companion with them free of charge on all forms of transport. That would at least help those able to call upon friends and/or family.

He describes Britain’s public transport situation as “dire” and like many disabled people he doesn’t use it. I can sympathise. That it should be like this is unconscionable.

At the moment the rest of Britain is being shown up by the GLA deciding that something needs to change. Khan should to pick up the ball and run with it. He might then embarrass others into following his lead.

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