Disabled Travellers Put Off Trains By Booking Confusion, Says Charity

Disabled travellers are deterred from taking the train by poorly trained staff, confusion over booking requirements and inaccessible stations, according to a charity, which says targets to provide accessible trains could be rendered meaningless.

Only one in five train stations in England is fully accessible, research by the Papworth Trust found, while two-thirds of disabled people say the need to book assistance rather than turn up and go means they use trains less than they otherwise would.

The charity found that one in five disabled passengers was not aware that additional help, through a service called Passenger Assist, was available, while one in six had been mistakenly told by rail staff that advance booking was essential for them to travel on a train.

Only 404 stations out of 1,967 in England are fully accessible, according to train operators’ own assessment of their provision of four basic requirements – step-free access, audio announcements, visual display boards and station staff to assist. The Papworth Trust said improving access at just 67 of the busiest stations would mean that three-quarters of rail journeys would have accessible stops.

The trust called on train operators to introduce a “turn up and go” service, and on the Department for Transport to make accessibility a condition of future rail franchise contracts and to properly monitor and publish performance.

Vicky McDermott, the trust’s chief executive, said: “People’s experiences of rail travel vary hugely depending on accessibility and the attitudes and training of staff. We have identified some small and easy changes which could make a big difference to disabled people.”

A common finding among the survey’s respondents was that many rail staff could be very helpful but the variability in assistance undermined disabled passengers’ confidence in using the train.

One reported that on three occasions in the last two months the lack of staff or ramps meant they could not alight at their destination. Another, the Paralympic equestrian gold-medallist Sophie Christiansen, said: “I have represented my country for 10 years; I’ve got a good job in finance in the City, but every time the assistance doesn’t come it does really knock my confidence.”

The trust said some progress had been made, with the number of accessible stations doubling in the past 12 years. Southern Trains was singled out for having made particular improvements, having made almost 39% of its stations accessible, compared with 5% in 2002.

The government said that more than 1,100 stations would have seen some improvements under its Access for All programme by the end of this year. By law, all trains will have to meet modern accessibility standards by 2020, and the DfT said 60% were already at that level.

The transport minister Lady Kramer said: “Making all our stations accessible is a huge task as many of our stations date from the Victorian era, but we are committed to do the best we can to help disabled passengers. That’s why we have spent more than £400m on improvements so that more than 70% of journeys now involve step-free stations, and we are spending another £160m to give 68 more stations step-free routes by 2019.

“As well as investing in stations, we are encouraging more operators to introduce ‘turn up and go’ service for disabled passengers, and reiterating legal requirements for accessibility in franchise agreements.”