Dr Hoo
Established Member
Couldn't find a relevant thread and thought that I should share a bizarre event from today.
A westbound train (formed of 150114) arrives at Hope station where an unaccompanied passenger in a wheelchair was waiting. The unit has an accessible toilet and adjacent wheelchair space and the wheelchair ramp storage is in the nearest door vestibule. However, the vehicle is not labelled for wheelchair conveyance. The other vehicle has an 'open' area labelled for both bicycle storage and wheelchair accommodation but no ramp. As is commonly the case on the Hope Valley the area is well loaded with bikes, buggies and luggage.
The guard initially seemed a little flummoxed so I presume that assistance had not been pre-booked. Wheelchairs are quite rare at Hope as the opposite platform is not accessible. Anyway, he set to with a will, clearing out the area in the designated vehicle, running back to fetch the ramp, taking it forward, loading the wheelchair and then bringing the ramp back to stow it before despatching the train after six minutes station overtime. We then set off for Manchester with the wheelchair space by the toilet completely unused the whole way. At one point we were 12 minutes late but pulled back to only seven minutes late at Piccadilly. After arrival there was then another few minutes of running backwards and forwards with the ramp in order to unload the wheelchair-bound passenger and get the train in order for its return run.
I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on why the newly-created wheelchair area outside the newly-installed accessible toilet cannot be used for its intended purpose. The current policy rather seems to defeat the purpose of the modifications.
A westbound train (formed of 150114) arrives at Hope station where an unaccompanied passenger in a wheelchair was waiting. The unit has an accessible toilet and adjacent wheelchair space and the wheelchair ramp storage is in the nearest door vestibule. However, the vehicle is not labelled for wheelchair conveyance. The other vehicle has an 'open' area labelled for both bicycle storage and wheelchair accommodation but no ramp. As is commonly the case on the Hope Valley the area is well loaded with bikes, buggies and luggage.
The guard initially seemed a little flummoxed so I presume that assistance had not been pre-booked. Wheelchairs are quite rare at Hope as the opposite platform is not accessible. Anyway, he set to with a will, clearing out the area in the designated vehicle, running back to fetch the ramp, taking it forward, loading the wheelchair and then bringing the ramp back to stow it before despatching the train after six minutes station overtime. We then set off for Manchester with the wheelchair space by the toilet completely unused the whole way. At one point we were 12 minutes late but pulled back to only seven minutes late at Piccadilly. After arrival there was then another few minutes of running backwards and forwards with the ramp in order to unload the wheelchair-bound passenger and get the train in order for its return run.
I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on why the newly-created wheelchair area outside the newly-installed accessible toilet cannot be used for its intended purpose. The current policy rather seems to defeat the purpose of the modifications.