JustBeingCP

West Midlands Train’s were asked to meet with me by Huw Merriman MP the government minister who is in charge of the railway and HS2 on Friday the 21st of July 2023, which was 105 days ago.

I have been forced to once again enlist the help of the media so that my voice is heard by the likes of organisations such as West Midlands Trains.

I am an Aston Villa fanatic and attend matches at Villa Park on a regular basis using the rail network.

I wrote to Minister Merriman on Sunday the 9th of April, 2023 about how I have struggled over the last few years when leaving Witton Lane station in Birmingham on matchday’s. I have shared some of the contents of that letter below:

I along with another wheelchair supporters were told by staff both from West Midlands Trains and stewards brought in to support the operation at Witton to sit in one of the various passenger walkways on the train that wasn’t the dedicated wheelchair area on Saturday the 18th of February this year.

I boarded the 17:05 service from Witton back to Birmingham New Street and even faced issues once the train had arrived back at the station in Birmingham.

The disabled supporters especially those who require the use of ramps at Witton are becoming incredibly frustrated by the service that we are receiving week in and week out from West Midlands Trains (WMT). 

Mr Merriman responded to my letter dated the 9th of April 2023 on the 21st of July by reassuring me that his departmental officials had asked WMT (West Midlands Trains) to meet with me so that my concerns can be discussed.

I attended Aston Villa’s match with Zrinjski at Villa Park last month and captured some footage of what it is really like for those with disabilities at Witton Lane station post match.

The footage that I captured using a GoPro clearly shows that staff at the station make no attempt to support me in boarding a train back to Birmingham New Street station until the very last second.

I then returned to Witton Lane station with my GoPro on Sunday the 29th of October following Aston Villa’s match with Luton Town and was faced with a completely different situation.

West Midlands Trains had a staff member on hand with a ramp when I arrived back at the station which was unusual as I have only seen this happen once in all the years that I have been attending villa matches using the rail network.

I fear that there won’t be a staff member from WMT (West Midlands Trains) at Witton Lane station with a ramp on match days every other week and this is something that needs to change.

I have come up with a number of solutions to the issues that I have attempted to raise with West Midlands Trains (WMT) and they are set out below:

1. Ramp’s should be available at Witton with trained staff to operate prior to the trains arrival so that supporters requiring assistance can board trains with ease in a timely manner.

2. WMT staff should either be aware of where the accessible sections of trains are located prior to there arrival at the station or not communicate information to disabled supporters upon there arrival at the station, this will complicate our ease in boarding trains home. 

3. Security staff/ those employed by WMT should protect disabled supporters requiring the use of a ramp once they are in position close to the area where the correct door will be located so that we can board the train first where possible.

4. WMT staff at Witton should call ahead to the Assisted Travel Lounge (ATL) at Birmingham New Street to advise them that there are supporters requiring the use of a ramp to leave the train once it has arrived at the station from Witton.

I have previously mentioned in other blogs these solutions have been developed by myself as a result of facing 4 challenges when travelling on the rail network to and from Aston Villa’s matches at Villa Park.

Challenge 1: No ramp available at Witton with trained staff on hand to assist supporters who require a ramp to board trains once they have arrived at the station.

Challenge 2: Staff from WMT give wrong information to supporters with regards to where the accessible section of the train will be located on the platform once it has arrived at the station.

Challenge 3: Staff at the station allow other supporters to board the train once it has arrived at the station, meaning there is no space on the train for us to safely board and then travel.

Challenge 4: Staff at the station post match fail to ring the ATL (Assisted Travel Lounge) at Birmingham New Street, meaning that we are consistently left on trains once they have arrived at Birmingham New Street from Witton.

I have also written to the mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street about the challenges that I and other disabled Aston Villa supporters face on matchday’s when using the railway to travel from Witton Lane station.

I told Mr Street that I have attended 15 Aston Villa home matches during the course of the last three season’s but nothing has changed in respect of the service that is offered to disabled Villa supporters by WMT (West Midlands Train’s).

I also informed Mr Street that I have not received any form of response from West Midlands Trains (WMT) in respect of meeting with them to discuss my concerns about the service that they offer to us on match-days.

This afternoon, the office of my local MP, Jesse Norman have contacted the managing director of West Midlands trains to find out why they still haven’t contacted me 105 days after they were asked to do so by the government.

I would like to end by saying that West Midlands Trains should be embarrassed about how long it has taken them to attempt to fix the issues that I have mentioned within this blog.

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Thank you as ever to each and everyone of you my readers and followers for taking time out of your busy schedules to read my latest blog.

Cam