Reproduced with permission of the author Miriam Binder of Brighton DPAC
I’ve hit the RMT picket line outside Brighton Station, last week and then again this week. You may think that as a member of DPAC I’d have better things to do what with the continued pernicious WCA, the ongoing PIP roll out, the various other assaults on the dignity, independence and in some cases the very lives of the sick and disabled in this country by an invidious Government who prefer to make sure that the public purse supports the rich, the multi-nationals and the bankers who continue to rape, pillage and loot public services for private gain. With our NHS on the brink of collapse and doctors forced to work under unsafe working conditions thanks to the enforced introduction of a ludicrous contract putting patients and doctors, as well as other medical staff, in danger.
Yesterday I went to the Travel Centre at Brighton Railway Station and asked for the Station Accessibility Guide. I depend on a power chair to give me independent mobility. I often travel to various places and, like most people, these journeys aren’t always pre-planned. I thought it would be handy to have a leaflet to hand so if I decided that I wanted to go to St Helier to visit a friend I could just look at it to find out whether I can get off the train there … I’ve looked now BTW and for those who are interested, the answer is a resounding No! I can neither get on nor off a train there or any number of other places.
Bless the poor fellow I approached with my request. No, there was no Station Accessibility Guide however he could print one off for me. He pushed a couple of buttons, went to the printer and got me … a nice little print of Brighton Station showing me where the toilets, the benches and the step free entrances were. Thank you but no, that is not what I was after. I wanted to get a Station Accessibility Guide for all the stations on the Southern routes.
You’d have thought there would be a leaflet but it seems that they no longer print them.
In fact the last time one printed was way back in 2012 as far as I know. He went to the back office, came back and told me he could print one off for me. He did. It wasn’t very clear as it was an A4 print of what was essentially an A3 map but the reading of it was even worse than the lack of clarity. The number of Stations that on the 19th of October 2016 are inaccessible for those needing assistance on and off the trains is frightening.
Nope its not satire, this is Southern Rail’s actual accessibility map
I wasn’t really thinking of making public my reasons for attending Brighton Station, leaving my home at 6am to make my way there to join a load of guards picketing; to stand, or in my case sit, there for a few hours in the cold. But this changed my mind.
People need to know that this is about far more then who closes the doors on the train. This is about the safety and security of passengers and staff which is being sold out for the sake of increased profits for Capitalists who will continue to reap in profits … Southern Rail co-owner, Go-Ahead, reported profits of 100 million according to an article in BBC Business on 2nd September 2016 … while depending on subsidies from the Public Purse. The total subsidy to DfT franchised train operators was 5.7 pence per passenger mile in 2015-16, up from 5.6 pence per passenger mile in 2014-15 for those interested (source: Department for Transport dated 13th October 2016).
A couple of years ago I needed to get to Chester for a course I was to attend. It was quite a lengthy journey from my home in Brighton and so I planned ahead and made sure I contacted Assisted Travel well in advance of my prospective journey. In fact it was about a week or so before. As it happened, trouble started as soon as I arrived in Euston to get on my Chester bound part of the journey. I wasn’t on the list. Never mind, if I cared to wait someone would put me on the train. As an aside, no one saw fit to inform me that there was no refreshment trolley, that the wheelchair space was in full sunlight space with no room to move and that the canteen on the train was not accessible for lone wheelchair using travellers.
When we got to Chester, everyone alighted from the train and I waited for someone to fetch the ramp to get me off the train. The train started filling up with people London bound and I was still waiting. No one had seen fit to inform the driver, the conductor nor the destination station that a wheelchair passenger was on the train. I had to push the alarm to avoid being returned to London.
In January of this year I had an early appointment in London. I was quite ready to take a late train to London and spend the night at Victoria Station to make sure I’d get to my appointment on time. No need I was informed by the helpful staff at the Travel Centre at Brighton Station. There is a train at 6:48am that will get you there in plenty of time. I duly presented myself at Brighton station at 6am. I was assisted on to the train at 6:40am. At 6:50am the train was full to bursting with commuters and we were informed that we would be diverted via Lewes.
I decided to get off the train but, due to a lack of ramps, and the fact that the cover to the alarm button was locked, I was unable to contact the guard. To cut a long story short, I spent 2.5 hours being dragged through Lewes, to Haywards Heath to a field half way to Three Bridges where we sat for about 15 minutes before being told that we were being diverted back to Haywards Heath where I finally managed to get off the train. To get a train back to Brighton having totally missed my appointment. It took me a further 2 months to finally get someone in Southern Rail to address my complaint.
What happened was a lack of communications between the various bodies … In the first instance a failure by the Assisted Travel people to communicate with the appropriate station staff and then down the chain of command, for want of a better phrase; in the second instance, failure to communicate with the guard and failure to make the alarm button available to the disabled passenger. And yes in this case I was a disabled passenger and not just a wheelchair using passenger as I was disabled by the lack of access to an alarm button that would have alerted the guard to my existence.
Guards on the train do a lot more than merely ensure that the doors are shut. They are there to ensure that passengers are safe. If a passenger needs assistance to alight a train, if a passenger is harassed by a drunk on the train … what happens if a passenger suddenly gets taken ill or worse, what if the driver suddenly experiences a heart attack? It is the guard who will be able to ensure that the train does not run away with a load of hapless passengers by making it safe and ensuring that the powers that be stop any other trains from shunting into it causing a collision with all the consequences of a high speed collision.
And yes … on a purely personal basis, given the number of inaccessible stations already on the list of possible stops, these inaccessible stations will only increase with the removal of guards.
UPDATE: We’ve been sent a link to a blogpost containing what the accessibility map would looks like under Driver Only Operation (DOO) – UPDATED ACCESSIBILITY MAP TO ACCOUNT FOR EXPANDED DOO AREA FOLLOWING AXING OF GUARD (with thanks to the author for this painstaking work)
this type of comment should be shouted from the rooftops not hidden away . The media is full of derision regarding the railway strikes , reducing the seriousness of the problems down to the pettiness of who opens the doors and as usual completely ignoring the need to report on these wide ranging serious issues . I myself do not have a disability and I have no axe to grind politically, the thought about disability access and indeed mothers with prams just crossed my mind randomly so I decided to look into wether this situation had been addressed by the rail companies concerned and as usual found the same old rhetoric , I think you’re going to need someone with a strong voice in the media to get commuters to even consider how changes affect different types of travellers good luck with your ongoing efforts
I must also add I know no one who is involved in this dispute or indeed anyone who is employed by the railways I just think things should be fair for everyone.
Thanks Miriam! This all echoes my experience of travelling from Hastings to Brighton this summer on Southern Rail. Brighton station were completely astounded a disabled person wanted to go on a train! Really, are you sure??? I wrote about it here for The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/01/southern-rail-service-disabled-passengers
But I too support the strikes. If staff aren’t valued and guards are removed it’s going to get much, much worse. Secondary to that, most unions are supporting disabled people’s fight against austerity. We do more when we work together… to paraphrase an old socialist cry!
So Southern Rail join Virgin for being totally inept at looking after disabled customers, there is no short way to tell my mothers story so bare with me.
My mother who values her independence decided she would brave the rail network once more after being abandoned on a train some years ago. She wanted to visit her sister in Morecambe, I contacted assisted Travel on her behalf 4 days in advance of the Journey which included two changes one at Crewe the other Lancaster.
On arrival at Shrewsbury no one knew she was making the journey but the nice chap in the office duly got the ramps helped her on the train she uses a rollator he went back to the office and phoned through to Crewe, we know he did we watched him and he gave us a thumbs up, no one at Crewe came to help luckily the guard came down the train and got her off, she had to make a right fuss to get ramps in time to get her next train to Lancaster and told them please to make sure Lancaster knew she was coming…. no guard on this train, she arrived at Lancaster despite standing by the doorway she couldn’t get hold of anyone so on she traveled to the next station wedged herself in the door so it couldn’t be closed, they got her of with a minute to spare but couldn’t get her luggage that went all the way to Carlisle, the staff were lovely and got her coffee and cakes while she waited an hour for her suitcase to come back (it had all her medication in) they got her on a train back to Lancaster the guard took care of things on to Morecambe where her sister was waiting to get her off. I’m so sorry for such a long winded story, the journey back was uncomfortable as there was no help to get her to her reserved seat, so she sat on her suitcase, things were fine till Crewe by this time her temper had been well and truly lost, after kicking up a fuss she was got of the train, the booked help didn’t arrive so she yelled the length of the platform no ramps available missed the train, it took an hour till she got on the next train after the most ridicules set to with staff, a woman suggested she ‘run’ to catch the rain as it wouldn’t wait for her and a man who said well can’t you just grab the handle and ‘pull’ yourself on, 73 yrs old pretty frail riddled with arthritis no she couldn’t, a ramp was found onward to Shrewsbury, they didn’t phone through as promised, but she did manage to get hold of a member of staff and he helped her till I took over, he explained to us he was the sole member of staff for the whole station, It’s pretty much the same for most smaller stations. Crewe is a mess Virgin won’t cough up for more station staff to look after their customers neither will other companies so stations are manned by a skeleton staff, take the guards away as they are trying to do with Southern if they succeed other companies will follow.
She will go on the train again but we will take her to Crewe and get her on the train to be met at Lancaster so we know she can get of the train there. I wish to god I was still able to drive her to Morecambe but my health just won’t allow it anymore.
There isn’t enough profit in disabled passengers unless some sort of rules are made that HAVE to be adhered too travel on the railways will always be a bloody nightmare
Thank you for sharing that Lou