Paralympian forced to wet herself on train without accessible toilet

[47271]

Paralympian forced to wet herself on train without accessible toilet

Just picked this up on The Guardian. I imagine that what should have happened in the circumstances is that the train was halted at a station with adequate facilities, and that she was assisted to them by the crew. I'm intrigued as to why things got to the point that they did.

https://www.theguardian.com/society...strike-wet-herself-train-no-accessible-toilet

Anne Wafula Strike says she was left humiliated after three-hour journey on CrossCountry train with no disabled toilet

An award-winning Paralympic athlete and disabilities campaigner says she was “completely robbed of her dignity” after a train company failed to provide an accessible toilet on a three-hour journey.

Anne Wafula Strike, 42, a British wheelchair racer who has no use of her legs, is a board member of UK Athletics, has an MBE for services to disability sport and serves as a patron of several charities supporting the rights of people with disabilities.

The Kenyan-born athlete said she was left profoundly humiliated after being left to urinate on herself on a CrossCountry train, covering her face with her hoodie after the incident in case anyone recognised her.

“I was completely robbed of my dignity by the train company,” she said. “I would like to ask the train company when will they give me my dignity back? As a disabled person I have worked so hard over the years to build up my confidence and self-belief.

“Having access to a toilet, especially in a developed nation like the UK, is one of the most basic rights. I tried to conceal the smell of urine by spraying perfume over myself. When I finally got home after my nightmare journey, I scrubbed myself clean in the shower then flung myself on my bed and sobbed for hours.”

She added: “After thinking about it for a while I decided to go public despite the personal humiliation of doing so in the hope that it will bring about change for other people with disabilities who want to contribute to society but are prevented from doing so. Too many people with disabilities suffer in silence when this kind of thing happens because they feel too embarrassed to talk about it.

“The whole incident made me feel as if I can’t play an active role in society and should just hide behind closed doors. Being forced to sit in my own urine destroyed my self-esteem and my confidence.

“People with disabilities don’t want perfection, we just want the basics and to have our independence. But lack of access and inclusive facilities make us feel as if we are an afterthought.”

The incident happened when Wafula Strike was returning from a UK Athletics board meeting in Coventry on 8 December. She took a taxi from Coventry to Nuneaton station and from there boarded the 17.22pm CrossCountry train to Stansted airport, where she could catch a connecting train to her home town of Harlow. On the journey, which is usually scheduled to last two hours and 48 minutes, she needed to use the toilet but found that the accessible one was out of order.

“If the able-bodied toilet had been closer I could have tried to crawl to it but it was too far away and my wheelchair could not fit in the aisles to get to it,” she said.

A member of the train crew suggested she could get off the train when it stopped at a station, use the disabled toilet there and wait for the next train. This would have delayed her journey home but in the event there were no staff at the station to help her so she was unable to get off the train.

She tweeted the train company’s customer service team to complain and in a series of exchanges Wafula Strike became increasingly distressed.

Wafula Strike said she felt she had to speak out to expose some of the injustice faced by people living with disabilities.

“I’ll probably be remembered as that woman who wet herself on the train. I could have kept quiet but I hope that by speaking out other wheelchair users who use public transport won’t be subjected to the same experience I had.

“I may have an impairment but the barriers society puts in my path are the real handicap. The UK Athletics meeting I had just attended was so positive – all about success and medals and athletics superstars and then this happened. UK Athletics has always gone out of its way to ensure that the board meetings are held in accessible venues but other organisations need to do the same so people like me can play our part in society.”

“The courts are starting to take cases like this very seriously,” she said. “Not only the lack of access but also the injury to feeling that occurs. If Anne decides to take legal action we would be right behind her. No one should have to go through an experience like that. Access and inclusion need to be taken seriously. These things should not just be tick box exercises.”

A CrossCountry spokesman said: “We are extremely sorry for the circumstances of Mrs Strike’s recent journey with us, and our managing director has passed on our apologies to her along with an explanation of why it appears all our systems failed her on that day. We hope she will take up our offer and contact us in the new year so we can offer her a more pleasant experience of travelling with us.”

 

[gimmea50anyday]

So the toilets were inoperative and she was offered assistance to attend a toilet on a station. What else coild the train crew have done? Given its location on the network what else could the train company done? Ok lets take the train out of service so no one can complete their journey and make the following train excessively overcrowded!

While I agree that toilets need to be operational sometimes circumstances prevent them from being available.

 

[kevjs]

So the toilets were inoperative and she was offered assistance to attend a toilet on a station. What else coild the train crew have done? Given its location on the network what else could the train company done?.

Worse case - they could have actually provided assistance at the station where the station staff were unable to and ensure that the crew of the following train were aware so that they could ensure she was on the train? That's the sort of action our local bus firm manages to do on a regular basis.

A member of the train crew suggested she could get off the train when it stopped at a station, use the disabled toilet there and wait for the next train. This would have delayed her journey home but in the event there were no staff at the station to help her so she was unable to get off the train.

 

[HSTEd]

Worse case - they could have actually provided assistance at the station where the station staff were unable to and ensure that the crew of the following train were aware so that they could ensure she was on the train? That's the sort of action our local bus firm manages to do on a regular basis.

Using what equipment and in what time?
If the crew has no ramp aboard they would have to leave the train, obtain the ramp and then utilise it to let her off the train - then proceed to restow the ramp and reboard the train before it can continue on its journey.
Assuming there is even a ramp present and it is not behind a locked door for which they don't have a key.

And the second train crew will have to do that as well in reverse
How many delay minutes will that be and who pays for them?


But don't worry, after 2020 when the bulk of the Ex-BR DMU fleet has no toilets at all, we will all be able to suffer in solidarity.

 

[jthjth]

Presumably the train crew knew the toilet was out of use when the poor traveller was assisted on to the train in the first place, or do these things go out of service on their own during the journey? If they did know, they could have informed her and suggested the next train might be better. If they did know but did not tell her then that is a poor show. Those of us who are lucky enough to be able to get around without assistance have many more options, including getting off at the next station.

If the toilet did go out of service during the journey it would be a courtesy to inform the disabled traveller of this and ask if she need to get off part way at one of the bigger stations (e.g. Leicester).

Very large fines for TOCs for disabled toilets out of service might encourage more maintenance effort (and perhaps better designs) to prevent the problem in the first place.

I'm not disabled myself, but I do think that proper and reliable provision for those who are is a mark of a civilised society. Spend a day in a busy hospital and then give thanks for how lucky you are.

 

[HSTEd]

Very large fines for TOCs for disabled toilets out of service might encourage more maintenance effort (and perhaps better designs) to prevent the problem in the first place.

More likely they would just scrap toilets entirely and avoid the whole hornet's nest.

 

[yorkie]

We don't know which station was the unstaffed one in question but I would have thought many of the stations on that route would be staffed and I'd expect would have those facilities, including Leicester, Peterborough, Ely, Cambridge, and Audley End.

At a guess, it may have been between Leicester and Peterborough.

Without knowing more information, including the questions posted above by jthjth, it is difficult to comment, or to know what lessons could be learnt from it.

 

[TheEdge]

Very large fines for TOCs for disabled toilets out of service might encourage more maintenance effort (and perhaps better designs) to prevent the problem in the first place.

Maybe not related to this incident but in defence the design of door used on the 170 seems very prone to door problems, regardless of TOC or maintainence regime. I think it's to do with the mix of a very big single leaf curved door and a seemingly very poorly designed door runner on the ground.

 

[jthjth]

Exactly my point (I think!) Large fines would have seen the door mechanism redesigned. It would then benefit the able bodied traveller as well. As to doing away with toilets, that can be prevented by regulation. Society in general pays a lot to keep the railways running. Requiring that minimum standards are maintained for the disabled isn't too much to ask in return is it?

I was on an XC train on this route going through Leicester to Birmingham. As the train left Leicester a wheelchair passenger chimed up that she was supposed to have been helped off at Leicester. So what happened to the guard and why didn't he ensure she had got off the train at Leicester? Surely there should be a proper process for ensuring that the guard knows about vulnerable passengers on their train and their needs are attended to accordingly?

Perhaps senior managers should spend a week in wheelchair with an all line rover ticket.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some form of extreme rights campaigner, but this sort of thing makes me mad. Try reading Melanie Reid's weekly "spinal column" in the Times Magazine (see was paralysed in a riding accident) and see how tough things are.

 

[Chrisgr31]

Using what equipment and in what time?
If the crew has no ramp aboard they would have to leave the train, obtain the ramp and then utilise it to let her off the train - then proceed to restow the ramp and reboard the train before it can continue on its journey.
Assuming there is even a ramp present and it is not behind a locked door for which they don't have a key.

And the second train crew will have to do that as well in reverse
How many delay minutes will that be and who pays for them?


But don't worry, after 2020 when the bulk of the Ex-BR DMU fleet has no toilets at all, we will all be able to suffer in solidarity.

In my opinion the train should have stopped, the person assisted to the station toilet, the passenger re-boarded and it continues on its journey. the train operator pays as they are the ones with non-working toilets.

The alternative would depend on what the issue with the onboard facility was. Perhaps it was just the door that would not lock, in which case train crew could stand guard.

 

[LowLevel]

Without having the full details to hand it's hard to know exactly what occurred but it seems odd she was offered the chance to wait for a following service - if you're making a toilet stop you wait for the passengers and the TOC takes the delay minutes for the defective loo. Telling people they'll have to wait an hour is unacceptable.

I never 'ask' control for a toilet stop, they pay me to take charge of the train, I decide an appropriate location taking into account all circumstances and radio the signaller and then I inform control that I'll be making the stop so they can arrange delay attribution and log it. Having been sent on a 160 mile round trip before with no toilets being known about in advance I have little patience for 'it'll cost delay minutes' if I have to deal with someone ****ing in the doorway instead.

 

[HSTEd]

Exactly my point (I think!) Large fines would have seen the door mechanism redesigned. It would then benefit the able bodied traveller as well. As to doing away with toilets, that can be prevented by regulation. Society in general pays a lot to keep the railways running. Requiring that minimum standards are maintained for the disabled isn't too much to ask in return is it?

That depends how much more society is willing to pay to guarantee these 'minimum standards'.
And how exactly do you intend to legislate to prevent operators withdrawing toilets entirely?

In my opinion the train should have stopped, the person assisted to the station toilet, the passenger re-boarded and it continues on its journey. the train operator pays as they are the ones with non-working toilets.

Depending on the location that could start to cause some serious timetable issues.
You could be there 20 minutes or more.

 

[LowLevel]

You pick a sensible location IE Peterborough or Ely where the toilets are immediately adjacent to the platform and you can work around a train stood for 10 or 15 minutes.

 

[urbophile]

If I had been in her position and offered the chance of waiting for the next train I would have taken it and I bet she would have too. Despite the view that toilets are a 'luxury not a necessity' (cf Northern Rail recently), on any train with a near-three-hour journey time they are essential. Especially for anyone without the mobility to quickly hop off and back en-route.

No-one is expecting the train crew to miraculously repair the faulty equipment in minutes, but commonsense and courtesy seem to have been in short supply on this occasion. Proper information should have been given to allow the lady the chance to decide the best course of action, whether it was waiting for the next train or asking to be seated (albeit temporarily) near to the ordinary loo which she says she could have crawled to if it were nearer.

 

[takno]

That depends how much more society is willing to pay to guarantee these 'minimum standards'.
And how exactly do you intend to legislate to prevent operators withdrawing toilets entirely?


Depending on the location that could start to cause some serious timetable issues.
You could be there 20 minutes or more.

Disability regulations don't just apply to people in wheelchairs. If you rip out the toilets that were already there you are setting yourself up for action based on the very obvious failure to make reasonable efforts to provide a service to those with disabilities requiring regular use of the toilet.

 

[47271]

Without having the full details to hand it's hard to know exactly what occurred but it seems odd she was offered the chance to wait for a following service - if you're making a toilet stop you wait for the passengers and the TOC takes the delay minutes for the defective loo. Telling people they'll have to wait an hour is unacceptable.

I never 'ask' control for a toilet stop, they pay me to take charge of the train, I decide an appropriate location taking into account all circumstances and radio the signaller and then I inform control that I'll be making the stop so they can arrange delay attribution and log it. Having been sent on a 160 mile round trip before with no toilets being known about in advance I have little patience for 'it'll cost delay minutes' if I have to deal with someone ****ing in the doorway instead.

This is exactly what I would've expected, but as you say it's difficult to say without knowing the precise circumstances.

All I would say from a personal point of view is that if I'd been knowlingly sat with a disabled passenger in this type of distress, I would've allowed the train to reach a suitably equipped station and then forced it to stop until the situation had been dealt with appropriately - passcom, row with guard, BTP callout or whatever.

There must be more to this than meets the eye.

 

[VP185]

If an able bodied person needed the toilet and ALL toilets onboard a train are out of use then the train would be held at a station to allow passengers to use the facilities. Basically. she was offered virtually the same as an able bodied person.

As for not being any station staff to assist, surely the train manger can use a wheelchair ramp

 

[HSTEd]

As for not being any station staff to assist, surely the train manger can use a wheelchair ramp

Where is the ramp?
Does the train crew have access to it or is it behind a locked door or in a locked cabinet?

Disability regulations don't just apply to people in wheelchairs. If you rip out the toilets that were already there you are setting yourself up for action based on the very obvious failure to make reasonable efforts to provide a service to those with disabilities requiring regular use of the toilet.

But then we would see actions where train services don't have toilets.
We do not.
Bus routes don't provide toilets - why should trains have to?

 

[6Gman]

Without having the full details to hand it's hard to know exactly what occurred but it seems odd she was offered the chance to wait for a following service - if you're making a toilet stop you wait for the passengers and the TOC takes the delay minutes for the defective loo. Telling people they'll have to wait an hour is unacceptable.

I never 'ask' control for a toilet stop, they pay me to take charge of the train, I decide an appropriate location taking into account all circumstances and radio the signaller and then I inform control that I'll be making the stop so they can arrange delay attribution and log it. Having been sent on a 160 mile round trip before with no toilets being known about in advance I have little patience for 'it'll cost delay minutes' if I have to deal with someone ****ing in the doorway instead.

This.

 

[6Gman]

If an able bodied person needed the toilet and ALL toilets onboard a train are out of use then the train would be held at a station to allow passengers to use the facilities. Basically. she was offered virtually the same as an able bodied person.

As for not being any station staff to assist, surely the train manger can use a wheelchair ramp

But was she?

It appears (and we don't necessarily have all the facts) that she was offered the opportunity to alight and wait for the next train (with an hour's delay) but, in the event, she couldn't be detrained anyway.

 

[Starmill]

Anecdotally it seems to me that XC are less good at maintaining onboard cleanliness and toilet functionality than a majority of other TOCs. ScotRail operate pretty much exactly the same trains and almost always manage to keep their accessible toilet stocked with tissue and soap, mopped in turnarounds and tanked and emptied regularly. It's not difficult. Get it right.

 

[HSTEd]

Anecdotally it seems to me that XC are less good at maintaining onboard cleanliness and toilet functionality than a majority of other TOCs. ScotRail operate pretty much exactly the same trains and almost always manage to keep their accessible toilet stocked with tissue and soap, mopped in turnarounds and tanked and emptied regularly. It's not difficult. Get it right.

Scotrail does not have trains scattered to hell and gone, hundreds of miles from their maintenance bases like XC does.

 

[Starmill]

I have also been on several trains which have made a 'toilet stop' and it has never taken anything like 20 minutes, even for a long queue and a full and standing 4 car train we were stopped for just 6 minutes. Most of the passengers are a) grateful for the oppourtunity to stop and b) concerned that the train could leave without them again so complete their business in a timely manner, especially if requested to do so.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Bus routes don't provide toilets - why should trains have to?

I don't know whether they have to, but don't some longer distance coaches have facilities?

There's long been an established wisdom that services with frequent stops such as bus routes and metro rail services don't provide toilet facilities. That's something the Crossrail services are going to reinstate to the line from Paddington to Reading. In the days of steam and compartment stock, there were no or limited facilities. These became available on the 117s, particularly when retrofitted with gangways between units. The very similar 118s out of Marylebone never had these. The 165s and 166s continued this design.

 

[HSTEd]

I have also been on several trains which have made a 'toilet stop' and it has never taken anything like 20 minutes, even for a long queue and a full and standing 4 car train we were stopped for just 6 minutes. Most of the passengers are a) grateful for the oppourtunity to stop and b) concerned that the train could leave without them again so complete their business in a timely manner, especially if requested to do so.

Did this toilet stop require a train crew to locate and deploy a trolley/wheelchair ramp, the location of which is unknown to them?
Then restow it later?

 

[LowLevel]

Why would the wheelchair ramp on the train be in an unknown location, that doesn't make any sense. All XC services are fitted with an onboard portable ramp for use by the guard or station staff.

 

[Michael.Y]

It can be done. On one such occasion where a 150/2 was put on a CDF-Holyhead service, the guard arranged an extended stop at Shrewsbury, perhaps only five minutes, even phoning the bobby to arrange that the train arrived on 4 not 3 as was normal, and even asked the driver to stop further down the platform than normal so that the door nearest the disabled accommodation was near the toilets on the platform. It can be done.

 

[LowLevel]

It can indeed, I once had to do one at Sleaford because I was given a class 153 on it's own vice a failed 156 and I had a wheelchair user on board who advised me they probably wouldn't make it to Skegness. I even had to unlock the toilet. You just have to make the best of it because a passenger having a toilet break in the saloon is never a desirable outcome, quite apart from issues of human dignity having human waste knocking around for hours is beyond unpleasant.

 

[iknowyeah]

Did this toilet stop require a train crew to locate and deploy a trolley/wheelchair ramp, the location of which is unknown to them?
Then restow it later?

If the guard really didn't know this then they need taking off trains until their traction and route knowledge is up to scratch

 

[Bletchleyite]

Scotrail does not have trains scattered to hell and gone, hundreds of miles from their maintenance bases like XC does.

Then XC needs to employ staff and contract maintenance facilities so a proper service is provided.

No excuse.