Levy hefty fines for disability access failures on trains, urges Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson

Train operators should be slapped with heavy fines for failing disabled passengers, Paralympic champion Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has said.

The 11-time gold medallist, who was forced to “crawl off a train” at London King’s Cross on her way to the Paris Games during the summer after being left unassisted, said people were tired of complaining about their poor treatment on the railways and being “constantly fobbed off”.

Traumatic experience

The former wheelchair racer and independent crossbencher also revealed since her traumatic experience in August, she had been left stranded on a further two trains.

And while following her latest ordeal she was now treated “like a member of the royal family”, she pointed out this was not the experience of most disabled people and “loads” needed to be done to improve the situation.

Lady Grey-Thompson was speaking as the House of Lords continued its detailed line-by-line scrutiny of draft legislation that would pave the way for the renationalisation of rail services.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill has already been rushed through the House of Commons.

It would enable the Government to take over services from private firms as their franchises expire or are broken.

Accessibility standards

Lady Grey-Thompson and a number of other peers have pressed for a change to the proposed law aimed at ensuring certain accessibility standards are met with the transfer into public ownership.

Lady Grey-Thompson, who chairs the Accessible Transport Policy Commission, said: “I actually just want the same miserable experience of commuting as everyone else. I am not asking for any more than that.

“But it sometimes feels that the way the network is set up makes it incredibly difficult for disabled people.”

Referring to her own struggles to get to France, the peer said: “It wasn’t the first time that it happened and it wasn’t the last.

“Since returning from Paris I have actually been left on another two trains, but partly didn’t have the energy to post about it on social media.

“In both cases, the two people who helped me very quickly to get off the train did not have the authority to do so and could have faced penalties within their jobs or even potentially being fired.”

She said: “The failure rate is way too high for what it should be and many disabled people don’t even try to travel because of the fear of what they might expect.

“Getting on and off a train should be relatively simple but it isn’t.”

Highlighting assistance failures, Lady Grey-Thompson said: “I am really worried about the victim blaming of disabled people and this again discourages people for travelling.”

She added: “Disabled people are quite tired of complaining. They are constantly fobbed off, told it will never happen again, train companies are always very sorry but nothing really seems to happen to bring about change.”

Lady Grey-Thompson told peers: “I experience way better treatment than any other disabled person.

“Since the failure I had a couple of weeks ago I now have two or three people meeting me off the train. I do feel like a member of the royal family, it’s absolutely wonderful.

“But this is not real. This is not the experience disabled people are having.”

She went on: “I am now at the point of believing we now have to have significant operator penalties for failures.

“There’s loads that we need to do to make it better for disabled people.”

‘Unique opportunity’

Tory peer Lord Moynihan said: “This Bill provides a unique opportunity to include a comprehensive suite of accessibility reforms and to introduce a standardised and consistent approach to accessibility standards across the railway network.”

Responding, transport minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill, said: “Improving accessibility on the railways is a key priority for the Government and something that the Secretary of State and I are personally committed to.

“We know that the assistance that passengers receive too often falls short of what they deserve and what they have every right to expect.”

He added: “We know that we need to do better, and it hurts me that the public service that I care about fails so regularly to look after people in the way that it ought to. I personally – and the Secretary of State is in the same position – will do my best to do differently in future.

“Many of these issues are, frankly, best solved under public ownership, as the problems that have arisen are a direct result of the current fragmented system.”