Do we know that DfT had an expectation that they would provide compliant trains? Either in the tender document or that they chose a winner based on compliant stock being available.
We can only guess about the DfT's expectations, (if indeed they had
any). The thread is not about whether dispensations should be allowed, which will as a consequence, create cases of the disabled traveller being disadvantaged even longer than the years over which the industry has had to comply with the law. The question posed by the OP was:
"Should the Goverment be sued?"
.
That implies whether it is the 'government' that should be sued or anybody else involved in the process, and that point has been a significant part of the discussion in the thread. The simple fact is that the period allowed
was adequate for the industry to get it's act together, but in true British fashion, much of the time has been spent hedging positions to avoid any blame, rather than getting on with it.
So, should the suffering disabled passenger take action or just roll over and assume that and laws passed for their protection aren't important because they are a minority. That is the fit majority need plenty of room to travel so they should stand aside. That's a recipe for ensuring that such protection never gets taken seriously.
So yes, in order to break this attitude of '
ignore it because it might inconvenience the majority', (which is echoed by a few posts in this thread - most of whom are probably fit), it is necessary to make clear that failing to comply with the law has consequences.
As the UK government is responsible for the law of which, it set the time limit it clearly has a part in this failure.
The same government through the DfT:
specifies services and performance required of bidders
manages the tendering process
assesses bids and chooses which bid is given the franchise
has the power to penalise the franchisees that underperform
It has failed in one or more of these tasks however, individuals that as passengers have been disadvantaged have only a contractual arrangement with the TOCs. I would expect a representative body, the Disability Advisory Committee as part of the Equality and Human Rights Comission would take action on behalf the disadvantaged which would include any defaulting government agency.