I am looking forward to enjoying being back at Villa Park after my successful meeting with West Midlands Trains (WMT) recently regarding equal access to the rail network for those with disabilities on matchdays.
They were asked by officials from the Department for Transport (DFT) on the 21st of July to meet with me and discuss the challenges that I and other wheelchair users face when using the rail network to travel backwards and forwards from Villa Park.
The rail operator only got in contact with me on the 10th of November to arrange the meeting which took place on the 28th of November at Witton Lane station in Birmingham.
I was given the opportunity to meeting with the organisations Passenger Experience Director, Johnny Wiseman and his colleagues who focus on stations and accessibility where I showed them the challenges that I face.
I was pleased to hear that the team actively wanted to come up with some solutions to the issues that I have been facing which I have outlined below:
Solution 1: WMT staff to make a note that we are making a return journey upon arrival at the station, however this has to done 2 hours prior to kick off when staff will be at the station.
Solution 2: Staff located at the bottom of the entrance ramp to the station are too let staff on the platform know that there is someone requiring the use of a ramp about to enter the station.
Solution 3: Signage to be put up on the platform indicating where those who require the use of a ramp to board trains are to wait on the platform.
I am pleased to report that I have already been consulted by West Midlands Trains in respect of the 2 designs for the signage.
I’ve written a number of blogs about this issue since launching the campaign last summer which you can check out below:
Blog 3: https://just-being-cp.co.uk/2023/11/03/why-the-hell-have-you-ignored-me-for-the-last-105-days/
The disability charity “Level Playing Field” recently conducted its annual fan survey which found that their has been an continued increase in the number of disabled people saying that public transport is a barrier to them attending live sport.
As a disabled person who attends live sport using the rail network I find it staggering that there has been a steady increase in those facing barriers when using this method of transport to attend live sport.
If you would like to read the full results report to Level Playing Field’s fan engagement survey for this year, it can be below.
Level Playing Field’s Fan Engagement Survey 2023: View the report in full here.
There were 1,791 respondents to this years survey out of which only 27% identified as being a wheelchair user.
The disability represented the most of out the 1,791 respondents was Ambulant disability at 46%.
The disability’s that didn’t feature much in those who responded were:
- Sight Disability – 8%
- Motor Skills/Speech Related – 8%
- Learning Disability – 9%
There were three disabilities that featured heavily amongst the 1,791 respondents and these results don’t surprise me.
I have already mentioned the top 2 featuring disabilities at the beginning of this blog so won’t repeat them here.
However the 3rd disability to feature the most in those who responded was Non Visible Disability at 18%.
I would love to understand how much of an issue transportation is to live sporting events for those disabilities in region.
If you have a disability and attend live sport in the West Midlands I would love from you via the below form:
My experiences: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2mT_LcHepTLWJVDZed4JV72MIaY2BqECXXX7PiKW4myrtSw/viewform?usp=sf_link
The responses that you provide in the survey are completely confidential and won’t shared with anyone.
If you would like to have a more in depth conversation about your experiences I can be contacted on X (formerly Twitter) @cameron_woodHFD.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind any disabled Aston Villa fans that they can use Witton Lane station on matchdays and book there assisted travel in the following ways:
Phone: 0800 024 8998
App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496
I know that this is a long and boring blog but I wanted to share my thoughts about how I felt my meeting went with the team from West Midlands Trains recently.
If you would like to receive my blogs direct to your inbox once they have been published, subscribe here: https://just-being-cp.co.uk/.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of my readers and followers who take the time out of their busy schedules each week to read my blogs.
Cam
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