The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) said the latest instruction from ‘Govia Thameslink Railway’ (GTR) tells staff not to attempt to place people of reduced mobility (known as PRMs) on a train if there is a possibility of delaying the service.
RMT general secretary, Mick Cash
Mick Cash said, “I cannot believe, in this day and age, we are telling staff to ignore the needs of disabled people if the time it will take to deploy a ramp and assist them on to the train will cause a delay.
They are introducing a policy which effectively means disabled people will not be assisted on to the train and allowed to travel. This is outrageous and flies in the face of their ‘Disabled People’s Protection Policy’ which requires them to ensure assistance is available.”
He went on to add, “If this is not bad enough, in respect of anyone having a seizure on a train, the guidance says: ‘Explain that your first priority is care for the individual, but not taking action will cause thousands of other passengers to be stuck .. Move the ill passenger from the train as quickly as possible’. This is truly shocking advice and an insult to all passengers.”
Sue Bott, Deputy Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK
Sue Bott said, “Oh dear, we disabled people really are an inconvenience turning up to stations and expecting to get on a train. How unreasonable of us is that? Well not actually. We have the same rights as any other passenger to be able to travel on trains and be treated with dignity.”
Mark Atkinson, Chief Executive of disability charity SCOPE
Mark Atkinson said,”Disabled passengers shouldn’t be an afterthought, and services should be developed with disabled customers in mind.
We’ve already heard too many horror stories of disabled passengers being unable to go to the toilet, being stranded on trains or forced to get off at the wrong platform. Our train operators should be getting better at supporting disabled passengers.”