7 replies to this topic

[Rossi-46]

unless your wheelchair is 600mm no other wheelchair can access there trains
now looking at alternative way to oxford, as this train company has the monopoly for travel to oxford

[edlee]

I think I asked this before,, I forget a lot,, but don't you guys in the UK have anything like our ADA. It's a law, here, that REQUIRES any public buisness to become accessable. There are few exceptions and lawsuits are paid for if you win. ( That's the legal fees that are paid for).
24 inches is pretty narrow for most chairs in use,, including power chairs. Doesn't sound very accessable to me.
ed

[Tinbasher]

Yeah we do but Transportation has a very long lead in time!

One of the problems with our railway network is that much of the infrastructure is basically Victorian and most of the regional / local rolling stock is up to 30 years old.

Not excusing it just explaining it.

Tin

[jennyau]

I was employed pre injury as a guard/conductor on the passenger service in my state. Here under the Anti discrimination act in Australia if a wheelchair was to large or for any other reason [station not being made accessable yet or overcrowding] we were required to get the train controller to arrange a suitable taxi payed by Qld Rail to take the passenger to the destination station.Maybe they have a policy like this you can inquire about.
Jenny

[cathie]

They have a similar policy in Victoria Jenny. I have had Vline pay for taxis from Melbourne to Bendigo when they had buses running instead of trains (not accessible) and taxis paid from Mildura to Melbourne when they stuffed up the manifest for the bus and hadn't sent an accessible bus with over a week's notice. When They didn't offer anything I got all teary for the Bendigo trip and stated I would miss the last connecting service to Mildura, had nowhere to stay and when that still didn't work I got my dad an ex-safety inspector/signalman for Vline/Met/Viclink (whatever they called it during his time) to advocate for me as he knew the procedure better than the station staff. Always make sure you know what the transport company's policy's are regarding access. And double check if you have to book ahead that they have got the right info. Station staff at Mildura know me quite well now and we have a protocol that I don't call the call centre as 99% of the time they get it wrong. I go straight in to the station and they organise everything from there.

[Apparelyzed]

If the width issue is correct, then write a letter of complaint.

The address is:

Mobility & Inclusion Manager
First Great Western
D Block
Macmillan Huose
Paddington Station
London
W2 1HF

On Great Western Train's website, they state:

"All First Great Western train services can carry manual or powered wheelchairs up to the following dimensional and weight limitations: -

Width 700 millimetres (650 mm on Coach G First Class HST)
Length (including footplates) 1200 millimetres
Weight (including passenger) 300 kilograms "

Source: http://www.firstgrea...ent.aspx?id=453

[Trinity]

Maybe the restrictions have more to do with the width and weight restrictions of the ramps to get on and off the train. If so all companies will have similar guidelines.

[dangerousdave]

As it was explained to me by the council.......GB
Our train services were built by acts of parliment long long ago - and we wern't included
It will take acts of parliment to get us included
New build though has to abide by dis legislation
Thus there are new trains i can get on - if i could get to the platform at my local station
Thankfully the uk rolling stock will be upgraded to full disabled access over time as thats the only rolling stock they can buy
But our stations unless recently modified were built in the 1800's and will still be unaccessable - so beware all those thinking of coming over in 2012