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| Poster by Hong Kong PHAB Association |
Yesterday (6th October 2024) I saw a post on X (formerly Twitter) where a wheelchair user was trying to board a train at Greenwich railway station but had to lift their chair up into the train, lost their glasses, and got hurt in the process. This is due to missed assistance at the station, despite booking passenger assistance with the train operating company.
Although I'm not a wheelchair user, I have volunteered to help in a small tweet thread instructing on what to do in the event of missed assistance (staff deploying a wheelchair ramp) at railway stations. I decided to share the instructions in my article because users who are not registered with X are unable to see other posts.
When arriving at the station to board the train.
If there's no presence of station staff and the ticket or assistance office is closed, you can use the help point to contact the station manager or the control room to bring attention that you need a wheelchair ramp to board the train.
If you are unable to find a help point or it does not work, then you need to find the relevant train operating company that manages the railway station, which you can find on the National Rail website. For example, Greenwich is managed by Southeastern, and you can contact the customer services by phone to raise an issue about the help point unavaliable or not working and to request a member of staff to deploy a wheelchair ramp at the platform.
Alternatively, if you are travelling with a companion, as the train arrives and there's no wheelchair assistance at the platform, you can get the companion to use the emergency passenger alarm and the green door open to prevent the train from leaving the station. Then your companion can ask the driver to contact the station to bring a member of staff with a wheelchair ramp to help you board the train.
When arrived at the station to exit the train.
If there's no member of staff with a wheelchair ramp in sight, you can use the emergency passenger alarm and the green emergency door handle to prevent the train from leaving the station. The intercom will connect to the driver of the train, and you should ask them that you, as a wheelchair user, and there's no station staff at the platform with the wheelchair ramp, exit out of the train.
If you arrive at the terminus station, such as London Liverpool Street (which is managed by Network Rail), and there's no assistance and you are trapped in the train, you can use a personal safety alarm to alert anyone if there's no presence of station staff at the station where the train has terminated.
If you've been waiting for a long period of time and you don't have a signal on your mobile phone, in an emergency, dial 112; it's an international GSM mobile number that redirects to the emergency services, such as 999 in the UK and Ireland and 911 in North America. Your mobile phone will find a signal from another mobile network to connect your call to the emergency services, with or without a SIM card.
You can make a subject access request with the train operating company (or a transport authority such as TfL) that manages the station to obtain CCTV and bodycam footage of yourself. This includes if you had filmed the incident on a smartphone, bodycam, etc. you should get another angle of the incident. You need to find the company that manages the station, and then you need to contact the data protection officer, which is on the privacy policy page of the train operating company, Network Rail or on a transport authority website such as TfL (for the Underground, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR, etc.). The same method applies if you have boarded a train that is operated by a different company.
Why is it important to have station staff on all the platforms at all times?
• Provides front-line assistance, including information and safety, for passengers at the station, including wheelchair users.
• Reports delays, equipment failures, faults, etc.
• Dealing with lost property.
• Witness and report incidents (especially when they wear bodycams).
• Dispatch trains.
• Maintaining a clean and safe environment.
Certain railway staff are trained in suicide prevention, where they help the person that is in distress; it also helps them to reduce delays and disruptions.
Employing more station staff helps reduce delays due to missed assistance for wheelchair users at the station and also helps to reduce issues for the train operating company, transport authority, and the emergency services.
If you wish to become a train station worker, there's information on the UK Government's National Careers Service website. For the London Underground, you need to look for "customer service assistant" on the TfL Careers website.
You can read further suggestions in my previous article on how to improve wheelchair assistance at railway stations.
If you need more information or have further issues, you can contact an organisation named Transport for All. If you have legal issues, including discrimination or other disability-related advice, there's a list of organisations and law firms on the advice and information page of the Disability News Service website.
National Rail and Transport for London has information for the disabled and wheelchair users on their websites.
I'm not a graphic designer; these instructions that I typed down should be made into a card or leaflet and shared among wheelchair users, so they know what to do in the event of missed assistance when travelling by railway and other services such as the London Underground.
You are welcome to share my article to raise awareness of my advice, and I hope it helps you and others.
If you need to contact me, you can reach out to me on the social media platforms linked below. Bear in mind, I'm not an expert in disability-related issues.
Further reading
Fact Check: Wheelchair Users ♿ Get Free Travel And Priority On London Buses
Fact Check: Disabled And Older People's English Bus Pass (ENCTS) Users Are Valid On London Buses
My Suggestions To Help Create The Most Accessible Zero-Emission Bus For London And Elsewhere!
