I have been a wheelchair using supporter of Aston Villa since 2010 and have travelled to matches at Villa Park in Birmingham for a number of years by rail, as you know in 2023 I had enough of the experience I was getting at the hands of West Midlands Railway whilst waiting for trains home from the station (Witton Lane).
After Aston Villa’s match against Arsenal in February 2023 at Villa Park I decided that enough was enough, it is time to share the challenges that I face along with others at the station on match-days with those who have the power to make change, so I wrote to the club who passed my letter onto the team at the operator.
As you may know it wasn’t until the 28th of November that year (2023) that I travelled with officials from the operator by rail to Witton Lane station and showed them the challenges I and others faced after matches when trying to board trains home.
It appears that 22.5% of those surveyed by disability charity, Level Playing Field for there 2025 survey still see inaccessible public transport as a barrier to them attending live sport, this has increased by 0.5% on the previous year (2024).
This morning, Monday the 5th of January 2026 I wrote to the operator where I urged them to look at feedback mechanisms so that they can capture the experiences of disabled rail passengers who use the rail network when attending live sport across the region.
If such mechanisms had been in place after England’s FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Andorra which took place at Villa Park on Saturday September the 6th 2025 then I believe that what I experienced on that day after the match would have been learned from by now.
I met with officials from the operator a few days after the match so that they had the opportunity to learn from my experience, however I was told during that meeting that no other wheelchair user had experienced any problems at the station after the match.
This was not true as in the months since that match I’ve spoken to other wheelchair users who recalled the issues they faced at the station the after that match last September.
Public Transport shouldn’t still be a barrier to those with disabilities or mobility issues attending live sporting events across the Midlands!!!!!
If you travel by rail on a regular basis and require some assistance to board or disembark services, 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.
Using the App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496.
However you do have a legal right to just turn up and go without booking any assistance prior to travel.
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A shout out must go to the team at West Midlands Railway/London Northwestern Railway who have continued allowing me to work with them on the station accessibility project, which doesn’t go unnoticed and is very much appreciated.
Finally, thank you to my regular loyal readers and social media followers who continually take the time out of your busy schedules to read my latest posts, it doesn’t go unnoticed and is of course very much appreciated.
Cam
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