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Disabled activists have delivered an angry and dismissive response to a government minister who has tried to justify dropping plans to put accessibility at the heart of rail reforms from a critically-important public consultation. In a letter to the Commons transport […]
Disabled campaigners have welcomed a “fabulous” and “validating” report by MPs that calls on the government and industry to “urgently” recognise that the “regularity and severity” of public transport access failures is a human rights issue. The long-awaited report by the […]
Cuts to ticket office opening hours by three rail providers across England and Scotland are just a forerunner of further reductions to come across the country, which will have a significant impact on disabled passengers, campaigners have warned. The warning came […]
Disabled campaigners and allies have accused the government of “betrayal” after it dropped plans to put accessibility at the heart of rail reforms from a hugely important public consultation. In a letter to transport secretary Heidi Alexander, they warn that current […]
Labour appears to have dropped the Conservative government’s pledge to place accessibility right at the heart of the new national body that will run the railways. Concerns were raised by The Association of British Commuters (ABC) when this week’s consultation on […]
A disabled activist has won praise for a successful two-year plan that has exposed the “ridiculously-low” awards handed out by the Rail Ombudsman to disabled passengers. Doug Paulley’s efforts have led to the ombudsman issuing what appears to be its highest-ever […]
Disabled campaigners have described the decision of a publicly-owned rail company to carry out partial closures of ticket offices by “stealth” as “unforgivable” and “horrendous”. Their comments came as the rail regulator contacted Southeastern to ask how it would comply with […]
A train company has planned partial closures of 14 ticket offices across its network by “stealth”, say campaigners, a year after the rail industry was forced to back down over plans to shut nearly 1,000 of them across England. Disabled campaigners […]
The government is to investigate claims that rail companies are using “mystery shoppers” who are pretending to be disabled as a way of providing data on the accessibility of their services. One campaigner said the concerns could have “huge consequences” for […]
Rail companies are using evidence on the accessibility of their rail services that has come from “mystery shopping” exercises carried out by freelance workers pretending to be disabled, Disability News Service can reveal. Analysis of assignments offered by a market research […]