Effect of cancellations on those with a disability

[DanTrain]

I found this excellent video by Doug Paulley on how one simple TPE cancellation affected the rest of his journey and day (pretty terribly too!), and it got me thinking about how this sort of thing can be avoided. Should TOCs have better systems to know when people have booked assistance and take this into account when terminating trains short/cancelling trains, or at least have a system in place for onward travel. To be honest, the industry as a whole could do much better, far beyond the mandatory PPM modifactions that everyone complains about. What do people think - how can this be improved/avoided.

Edit: The video shows Doug on his way to Wrexham from Leeds - his TPE train is terminated short at Stalybridge, he then cannot board a Northern Pacer so endures an hour long wait for a taxi to Piccadilly, where despite being told that there would be an accessible toilet on his next train, there isn’t. He arrives to find no accessible taxis at Wrexham and it is raining hard so he arrives several hours late and soaked in urine and water. Truly disgusting on the part of TPE/ the railway as a whole!

 

[PeterY]

Utter Shambles and a bad reflection (not staff) on Trans Pennine Excuse. . Doug should've been given a taxi all the way to Wrexham.

 

[Fearless]

DanTrain, I just wanted to thank you for raising this issue. Some of us out there really do care about this. Surely in this day and age TOCs should know about booked assistance, and that knowledge should be a prime factor in decisions to cancel/terminate. Now that people with disabilities have more protection in law, it beggars belief that experiences like Doug's are still happening.

 

[Metal_gee_man]

Having watched this the other day I've watched a number of his videos, I feel that disabled passengers are not getting a fair deal, in fact I think the current delay repay system doesn't even scratch the surface in fixing the issues, there should be huge fines and penalties each time they fail a passenger like this, it'll be the only way TOCs will learn when it hits them severely in their pockets!

I've seen Doug be called a trouble maker in his videos but I've seen him let down so many times and I will accept he does go looking for a reaction when he's let down I can see why he feels the need to record the actions of the TOCs! When he has helpful staff around they're amazing, however the bad ones outnumber the good ones and the railway as a whole should be ashamed

 

[Darandio]

When he has helpful staff around they're amazing, however the bad ones outnumber the good ones and the railway as a whole should be ashamed

Are you saying that overall, unhelpful staff outweigh helpful ones?

 

[Metal_gee_man]

Are you saying that overall, unhelpful staff outweigh helpful ones?

Correct, he books assistance they never turn up to get him on or off a train, when his train is cancelled they fail to check if he is coming by checking with either the guard or the station a train was stopped short at!

 

[DanTrain]

Correct, he books assistance they never turn up to get him on or off a train, when his train is cancelled they fail to check if he is coming by checking with either the guard or the station a train was stopped short at!

I got the impression that was more complete incompetence in communication than any specific unhelpful members of staff. Staff as individuals are great in general, but the overall system seems completely inadequate. Not to mention the time spent by the TPE guard helping Doug when he should have been turning around an already delayed train whilst station staff helped Doug!

Having watched this the other day I've watched a number of his videos, I feel that disabled passengers are not getting a fair deal, in fact I think the current delay repay system doesn't even scratch the surface in fixing the issues, there should be huge fines and penalties each time they fail a passenger like this, it'll be the only way TOCs will learn when it hits them severely in their pockets!

Agreed - at what point does this become discrimination and thus liable for a sizable sawsuit anyway!?

Utter Shambles and a bad reflection (not staff) on Trans Pennine Excuse. . Doug should've been given a taxi all the way to Wrexham.

Indeed - but he shouldn’t have had to have been, trains should be capable of transportation disabled people without the need for taxis!

 

[A Challenge]

That is the whole reason the Pacers are going...

 

[DanTrain]

That is the whole reason the Pacers are going...

Indeed, although interestingly the issue here was making space on the trains and then finding the ramp rather than the actual pacer itself. Mk2s caused more of an issue later on re inaccessible toilets.

 

[3141]

Doug's experience was awful, but I think the problem is above all the result of a lack of imagination. Once the TPE train was terminated at Stalybridge he should have been given a taxi all the way to Wrexham, as PeterY says in post #2. Everyone involved should have realised that although he could get the next train from Stalybridge, and the train from Manchester Piccadilly to Wrexham should have an accessible toilet, nobody could be sure about these things, so as his planned journey had been interrupted they should now make different and effective arrangements to get him where he was going in a suitable way. It needs the staff at all levels to decide positively "that's how we will deal with a disabled passenger in that situation", and not "well, he should be OK if he gets the next train, so we don't have to anything out of the ordinary....".

But this has echoes of those threads where a train has broken down and passengers have been left in the middle of nowhere for hours, or got out of the train and walked, because the staff trying to get things right hoped that Plan A would work, and apparently didn't think about what might be needed if it did not.

 

[samuelmorris]

Was a very interesting (if disturbing) video. You don't often think about how when you're moderately inconvenienced by cancellations, for the disabled it can be a real problem.

 

[pemma]

so endures an hour long wait for a taxi to Piccadilly, where despite being told that there would be an accessible toilet on his next train, there isn’t. He arrives to find no accessible taxis at Wrexham and it is raining hard so he arrives several hours late and soaked in urine and water.

He needs to change at Chester to get between Manchester and Wrexham, Chester station has accessible toilets so I don't understand why he arrived at Wrexham still in need of the toilet. Unless they put them on the Northern service to Chester and then it arrived late meaning he had to be moved quickly to the Wrexham train, something doesn't sound right.

 

[pemma]

Was a very interesting (if disturbing) video. You don't often think about how when you're moderately inconvenienced by cancellations, for the disabled it can be a real problem.

That's one of the points I keep making in the DOO threads. People say running a service without a second member of staff in lieu of a cancellation discriminates against disabled people if there's no-one on hand to give assistance but not running the train when there's no station toilets discriminates against a different group of disabled people.

 

[DanTrain]

He needs to change at Chester to get between Manchester and Wrexham, Chester station has accessible toilets so I don't understand why he arrived at Wrexham still in need of the toilet. Unless they put them on the Northern service to Chester and then it arrived late meaning he had to be moved quickly to the Wrexham train, something doesn't sound right.

Not enough time if he has to make a quick change? That appeared to be the issue at Piccadilly too.

 

[pemma]

Not enough time if he has to make a quick change? That appeared to be the issue at Piccadilly too.

It's impossible to know what time the taxi got to Piccadilly. TfW Rail services from Manchester get in to Chester around 30 minutes before Wrexham services depart, Northern services around 12 minutes before the Wrexham services depart. However, given TfW Rail services depart Piccadilly later and arrive at Chester earlier (overtaking slower Northern services), something sounds strange. The majority of TfW Rail Manchester-Chester services would also have accessible toilets, the majority of Northern services won't.

 

[A Challenge]

He was probably put on the first available service, even though it was overtaken