I was invited to the grand opening of some station lifts. Obviously I found the many access barriers, including the small size of the lifts making them near useless for many powerchair and mobility scooter users. I will not be using the lifts again, but at least I have tried them.
I had been invited to give a speech and I was determined to still give it. Below is the speech I gave along with some of the sources I used. Enjoy…
“Thank you so much for inviting me today. I’m delighted to see an alternative step free route between the platforms here at Leatherhead.
It is great to see improvements that have been made since the Disabled people’s Direct Action Network protested to get access to public transport enshrined in law for the first time in 1995.
As a disabled person I subscribe to the social model of disability. This tells us that it is not our individual impairment that disables us, but the society around us. It is not my wheelchair use that means I’m disabled, it is the lack of accessibility in society that makes me disabled.
It is sad that in 2025, there are still issues with access right across society and disabled people are still fighting for access and inclusion in all areas of work, education, socialising, and public transport. I wonder if the activists from the 1990s envisioned we would still be advocating for these improvements 30 years later?
In the year ending March 2025 there were 9,587 reported faults on lifts across the railway network (data from Office of Rail and Road, collated by me[1]. That’s equivalent to 26 lifts out of order each day or 7 faults each year per lift. A lot of disruption to travel for disabled people. I am hoping that there will be plans to ensure these new lifts are serviced and repaired to avoid them being part of these horrific numbers.
There is a legal right for disabled people to ‘turn up and go’ on trains. And yet this is still reliant on there being staff either at the station or on the train to assist you. Many disabled people are reprimanded for not booking assistance in advance. Whilst advance booking is helpful for some disabled people, the right to spontaneous travel must be ensured to avoid inaccessible public transport. Where staff are the reasonable adjustment for so many of us, (not just wheelchair users, but other disabled people such as those who are blind or visually impaired, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, people who are neurodivergent and more), it is vital that staffed stations are available to all, at all times trains are running.
There are still multiple stations that are inaccessible to disabled people or only partially accessible, with reports of these being up to 40% of train stations, with less than 1/3 of stations reaching category A standard meaning they are accessible for multiple disabled people [2]. I would love to see a fully accessible public transport system in my lifetime, but am afraid this won’t happen. But for trains to be truly accessible to more people there needs to be a concerted effort to make the whole system level access. This would increase accessibility for all users, not just disabled people, but people with luggage, a buggy or even just tired at the end of a work day. It would be a dream come true to see something like this in the UK in my lifetime.
I look forward to the day when there is step free access at all stations, or even level access on all trains so that myself and others can truly turn up and go like other train users. Where we will no longer be disabled by the railway, but enabled to travel with freedom and equity with all travellers.
I hope that an ongoing partnership working with Surrey Coalition of Disabled People can ensure the access improvements needed across stations in Surrey can be prioritised and actioned working with disabled people for the best outcomes.
Thank you again for inviting me and I look forward to using these lifts many times as I travel for work and pleasure in the future.”
Through Vikki's Eyes... 