Earlier this month I wrote once again to ministers at the Department for Transport about the issue of passenger assistance for those who have disabilities and other mobility issues when we are using the rail network in an attempt to remain as independent as possible.
I raised concerns about public transport for those with disabilities and other mobility issues being labelled as a “National Embarrassment” by the departments own select committee who are there to hold the department to account about there work.
On April the 1st I told the department that I had been trying to engage with them about a meeting for well over 2 years, I also went onto add that when the Labour Party came into office last July they said that they would start ” putting passengers first”.
In response to those concerns Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill CBE who is formally the chairman of Network Rail said, he was pleased that West Midlands Trains (WMT) has taken steps to work with me and make the improvements you have set out.
He added that ” The Transport Select Committee’s report aligns with the Departments commitment to delivering a rail network which puts passengers and their needs at it’s heart”.
” We (the government) want to see disabled passengers able to make the journeys they want and need – doing this easily, confidently, with dignity and without extra cost, and we expect operators to play their part in making this happen.
As I don’t believe the DFT fully understand the challenges that I and of course other members of our community face when using the railways to remain independent I have written to the minister one final time.
I have set out the following points to the minister and of course his departmental officials in response to this mornings letter:
- Unfortunately, it has reached the point where I feel like a broken record as I have asked the department for transport and the minister for rail weather that is you or your predecessor to meet with me as I have so many questions and learnings for both you and your team of departmental officials.
2. The questions and other things that I need to share I don’t feel can be done in writing anymore, it is something that can only happen in a face to face meeting.
3. In your most recent response, you talk about accessibility being a core priority of the government and will be for the Great British Railways, a conversion would also form part of our meeting about this area if you were to finally agree to one with me.
4. The passenger assistance service that is currently being delivered by the rail industry is not fit for purpose and it shouldn’t be down to people like me to try and fix the problem for myself and others.
5. Rail operators don’t have designated meeting points at stations that are unstaffed which they manage, assisted travel lounges at mainline stations like Birmingham New stations aren’t fit for purpose because they have so many booked and turn up and go journeys passing though the station daily.
6. There have been a couple of occasions at Birmingham New Street whilst in their passenger assisted lounge, that I was asked to make my own way to the platform despite having booked assistance that I booked well in advance of making the journey.
7. The passenger assist app has been failing in recent months but not confirming assistance for several days once it has been requested. This shouldn’t be happening and needs to rectified as soon as physically possible.
WMT (West Midlands Trains) should never have been forced to deliver this project on behalf of our community across the midlands, the infrastructure should have already been in place thanks to the landlord of railway stations (Network Rail).
The Department for Transport are committed to improving assisted travel on behalf our community otherwise their own departmental select committee wouldn’t have labelled it as a “National Embarrassment” in a recent report.
When I recently spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live about public transport being labelled as a national embarrassment by Ruth Cadbury MP who is this chairwomen of the transport select committee, she was listening into what I said and was asked by the presenters for a response.
This led to her saying this, ” it was a brilliant example of in this case one disabled person but often campaign groups getting change”.
I ended my response to Lord Hendy by saying, Jesse Norman the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire has previously asked you and your departmental officials at the DFT to meet with us and discuss this growing issue, now is the time to arrange this, I only want 30 minutes or so of your time.
The passenger assistance service offered by rail operators needs major reform today and not in 5 or 10 years time when it suits the DFT.
Do you travel by rail on a regular basis and require some assistance to either board or disembark services?, if the answer is yes your assisted travel can be booked up to 2 hours before departure in 1 of 3 ways.
By Phone: 0800 024 8998 or by using Next Generation Text – 18001 0800 024 8998.
Online: https://booking.passengerassistance.com.
By using the App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496.
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It is only right that I once again take the opportunity to thank the team from WMT for there hard work and dedication to the project during the last 18 months or so, it hasn’t gone unnoticed and is of course very much appreciated.
A thank you must also go to you, my loyal readers and social media followers who continually take the time out of there busy schedules to read my latest post, again it doesn’t go unnoticed and is of course very much appreciated.
Cam
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