UPDATED: Possible Meeting With GWR to Discuss Concerns/Questions

[Kath123]

Hi

Apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum. I wasn’t quite sure where to put it.

I am a visually impaired adult.

On Friday I turned up at Yeovil Pen Mill Station at around 09:15am as I had booked assistance to travel on the 9:34am service to Weymouth. When I arrived at the station the Ticket Office was shut despite the scheduled opening hours for the Ticket Office being from 7:20am weekdays. There were no GWR staff on site. My Passenger Assist confirmation stated staff were supposed to meet me at the Ticket Office to take me to the train.

The station had told me on Tuesday that a member of staff was going to be off on Friday but that it was going to be covered so ok to travel and when I made my booking by telephone with Passenger Assist on Thursday I was told both Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth would be staffed.

After arriving and finding the Ticket Office shut I felt in a very difficult position. I’m worried some of you may judge me but I have a significant visual impairment and do not feel comfortable crossing the stepped footbridge at the station without a staff member to guide me and a Manager from GWR has agreed I should not to have to do this alone and has placed a note on my Passenger Assist profile saying I shouldn’t be expected to travel from Yeovil Pen Mill if the station is unstaffed.

I therefore didn’t know what to do. The train was due to come in on the platform where I would have to cross the footbridge.

I rang GWR Passenger Assist to explain to them the station was unstaffed and asking them what to do. The conversation continued for 13 minutes but it appeared they could not contact anyone to help me. The conversation finally ended when they transferred me to voicemail. I don’t know if this was an accident.

During the call a passenger had kindly come up to me to offer to help and I asked Passenger Assist whether I should accept that help and they said it was up to me. I’m always grateful for the kindness of strangers but I know they are not trained to guide me and fear that if something goes wrong their act of kindness may come back to haunt them. I’m also worried that if I start to let Customers do the assistance for GWR that GWR will start expecting this all the time.

In the end I walked down the platform the Ticket Office side which has step free access and went towards the barrow crossing.

I know there is a signaller who has a hut on the other platform and I desperately hoped they would see me with my white cane and let me across the crossing.

With my visual impairment I can’t see people in detail but as the train was coming in I thought I could see a shape which might be a person on the other platform. I shouted across asking if they were the signaller. They said yes. I told them my disability and asked if I could use the barrow crossing. They grumpily said ‘There is nothing there so you can cross’ and walked off.

I crossed the crossing and then began to run along the platform with my white cane in a panic as I could hear the train had come in but had parked up the platform closer to the steps and bridge.

I heard the guard or signaller shout ‘Don’t run’ but by that time I was panicking and on autopilot so continued. I know I did wrong here as running around a train station platform is not acceptable or safe especially if you are visually impaired.

When I reached the train the guard said ‘You are here’, opened the door and asked if I could manage the step to which I replied hopefully and luckily did manage to get on. The guard then found me a seat and then left me alone for the rest of the journey until Weymouth. When I was boarding the train I think the guard may have been able to tell I was starting to be visibly upset about what had happened though I was trying to hide it and I don’t know if the guard had definitely picked up on this and if so whether they had put two and two together about the circumstances.

The guard didn’t speak to me again until Weymouth when they assisted me off the train and advised me to speak to the guard on the return journey to Yeovil as it appeared nobody was at Yeovil. I told the guard I hadn’t managed to buy a ticket due to the Ticket Office at Yeovil being closed. The guard said they had walked through most of the train selling tickets but hadn’t got as far as me. We agreed I should go to the Ticket Office at Weymouth to buy my Ticket.

So I went to the Ticket Office at Weymouth and explained I hadn’t been able to buy a ticket at Yeovil and could I buy it there. They let me but I detected they appeared a bit uncertain whether they should and I’m guess I’m lucky I didn’t end up with a penalty fare/fine. Im
A bit worried though that they could still choose to pursue that I didn’t have a ticket before boarding as they have my personal details from my assistance booking?

When I came back from Weymouth Friday afternoon the guard did my assistance at Yeovil but the Ticket Office was open.

This experience has really affected my confidence to travel in future. I don’t feel able at this time to go back to Yeovil Pen Mill. But I need to be able to use the station to travel to medical appointments and to travel to ad hoc self employed work as well as for leisure.

I don’t know whether to write a complaint or to ask whether the station can be helped in any way? Unfortunately this experience is one of many where I have encountered difficulties with assistance and staffing at my local station. I am tired, I don’t know what to do anymore, I have been talking about these issues to GWR since pre COVID. I feel that getting the station staffed properly is simply a battle I will never win. And if I complain I feel more scared/uncomfortable using the station because I fear what they will think of me and it strains relations.

A disabled friend online has suggested threatening legal action but I really don’t want to have to take things that far if I can avoid it. However I have had enough.

It is ridiculous though that on a hot summers day Yeovil Pen Mill was not staffed - the station was busy with many going to Weymouth.

Sorry this post has been so long.

PS In future if there aren’t staff at the station am I allowed to just walk across the barrow crossing if I think it is safe or do I need to have staff permission?

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I could handle the situation better if similar happens in future?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

PS In future if there aren’t staff at the station am I allowed to just walk across the barrow crossing if I think it is safe or do I need to have staff permission?

I am just picking up on this one point as I don’t feel qualified to comment on the rest of the matter. But please do not start using the barrow crossing without staff permission. Railways are inherently dangerous places so it is important that everyone acts in a safe manner. It might be that there is sufficient information made available at this particular crossing for a visually impaired person to assess whether it’s safe to cross the tracks. But unless this has been confirmed to you beforehand then it seems to me that you should not take that risk.

 

[WesternLancer]

I am just picking up on this one point as I don’t feel qualified to comment on the rest of the matter. But please do not start using the barrow crossing without staff permission. Railways are inherently dangerous places so it is important that everyone acts in a safe manner. It might be that there is sufficient information made available at this particular crossing for a visually impaired person to assess whether it’s safe to cross the tracks. But unless this has been confirmed to you beforehand then it seems to me that you should not take that risk.

Agree with this ref barrow crossing use.

To OP:
You could genuinely put your life at risk doing that.

I think op should complain but fear a customer services complaint will not reach high enough level for any real action to be taken to prevent future repeat scenarios.

Perhaps sending the substance / majority of the original post to your MP with a request for them to raise it at a senior level with GWR is worth doing. I suggest this because your efforts in the past to progress matters have not worked so time to involve MP seems reasonable.

If you draft up what you want to say then people can help check it. But your post is powerfully written in terms of expressing what is wrong with the situation.

Ref not having a ticket. I believe that the nature of your disability would mean you would not be expected to buy from eg ticket machine if ticket office closed before getting on train so I do not believe you are at risk from penalty fare or subsequent ticket investigation. If anything guard on train should have offered to sell you one if they could but for whatever reason didn’t and I guess after all you had been through you perhaps didn’t think to ask the guard.

 

[30907]

A very unsatisfactory situation.
I wonder if it might be worth, in your complaint, asking what should have happened in the exact circumstances you describe.
I presume GWR have been made aware that your visual disability affects your ability to use the footbridge?

 

[starlight73]

So I went to the Ticket Office at Weymouth and explained I hadn’t been able to buy a ticket at Yeovil and could I buy it there. They let me but I detected they appeared a bit uncertain whether they should and I’m guess I’m lucky I didn’t end up with a penalty fare/fine. Im
A bit worried though that they could still choose to pursue that I didn’t have a ticket before boarding as they have my personal details from my assistance booking?

They can’t issue you a penalty fare because your disability prevented you from buying a ticket - this is in GWR’s accessible travel policy on page 20 (PDF)

If due to your disability you can’t buy a ticket before you board, you’ll be able to buy one (with any discount you’re entitled to) on the train or at your destination, without penalty.

If your were hypothetically charged a penalty fare you would be able to appeal it using this sentence from the policy. And (in my unofficial opinion) it would be disability discrimination to charge you a penalty fare.

I’m sorry you had such a rubbish experience! I don’t feel you should be worried about what the staff think of you if you complain. The railway did fail on their duty so you have a right to complain — especially with constructive criticism that isn’t aimed at staff personally.

 

[Haywain]

As you had pre booked assistance that wasn’t provided you should definitely complain. There is no reason for staff to be upset by this as you will not be referring to individuals, but to the absence of the help you had requested. I am afraid that there will be nothing you can do to ensure that there will always be staff present though, as Yeovil Pen Mill is not a large station and it is not practical to provide staffing at levels that would guarantee that. However, the train operator should be making reasonable endeavours to provide assistance if staff are absent.

 

[6Gman]

This is clearly a totally unacceptable situation that put you at significant risk of physical harm and everyone involved should hang their heads in shame.

To pick up a few specific points:

Please do not consider using the barrow crossing without staff assistance. It would place you at great risk.
There is no way a penalty fare/further action against you would be appropriate. You bought your ticket at the first opportunity as required.
Only you can decide how you want to pursue a complaint. Personally I would write to customer services and to the head office of GWR (someone on here may be able to tell you who/where the Chief Executive can be located) and also to your local MP - I believe Yeovil has a new MP so he/she should be pretty keen! Is there a local visual impairment charity/group who could also take up the matter?

I'll declare an interest - I chair a local visual impairment charity elsewhere and I would certainly want to lend weight to any complaint.

 

[skyhigh]

As others have said:

Definitely make a complaint, if the results aren't satisfactory go to your MP. You booked assistance as the railway wanted you to, they failed to provide that assistance.

Personally I probably wouldn't complain about the signaller though as it's not their job to provide assistance and if a train was due probably couldn't leave the box.

I don't know the station in question but everywhere I know of with a barrow crossing and another method of crossing the line, the barrow crossing is strictly provided for staff use only. Particularly if you have a visual impairment using the crossing without permission is potentially highly dangerous.

There is absolutely zero chance they will attempt to prosecute you for not buying before you board.

 

[185]

With the barrow crossing, it should be noted there are two prohibition sigs "do not pass this point" prior to it on both platforms - there for good reasons.

That said, FirstGroup removing GPR cover and not staffing stations is a common theme recently, which also needs reporting to the DfT via your MP. Writing to the company merely gets a letter and a low value voucher.

 

[Kath123]

A very unsatisfactory situation.
I wonder if it might be worth, in your complaint, asking what should have happened in the exact circumstances you describe.
I presume GWR have been made aware that your visual disability affects your ability to use the footbridge?

Yes station staff are aware and so is a Senior Manager at GWR. I understand from the Manager they have put a note on my Passenger Assist profile that I need to use staffed stations for assistance and that alternative arrangements need to be made for me if Yeovil Pen Mill is not manned.

As you had pre booked assistance that wasn’t provided you should definitely complain. There is no reason for staff to be upset by this as you will not be referring to individuals, but to the absence of the help you had requested. I am afraid that there will be nothing you can do to ensure that there will always be staff present though, as Yeovil Pen Mill is not a large station and it is not practical to provide staffing at levels that would guarantee that. However, the train operator should be making reasonable endeavours to provide assistance if staff are absent.

Surely I should be able to expect at least one member of staff to be there during the stations scheduled staffing hours though?

This is clearly a totally unacceptable situation that put you at significant risk of physical harm and everyone involved should hang their heads in shame.

To pick up a few specific points:

Please do not consider using the barrow crossing without staff assistance. It would place you at great risk.
There is no way a penalty fare/further action against you would be appropriate. You bought your ticket at the first opportunity as required.
Only you can decide how you want to pursue a complaint. Personally I would write to customer services and to the head office of GWR (someone on here may be able to tell you who/where the Chief Executive can be located) and also to your local MP - I believe Yeovil has a new MP so he/she should be pretty keen! Is there a local visual impairment charity/group who could also take up the matter?

I'll declare an interest - I chair a local visual impairment charity elsewhere and I would certainly want to lend weight to any complaint.

Unfortunately my local sight loss charity is in Taunton 30 miles away and so apart from being on their general mailing list I don’t have much interaction with them and doubt they would assist but thanks for the idea.


Thank you everyone for the replies. I’m sorry I’m slow responding. I’m very worried about making a complaint because I fear the repercussions but I can’t just ignore what has happened on this occasion.

I am thinking of e-mailing the below complaint to the Accessibility Manager at GWR. I’m worried they won’t accept it this way as I think you are supposed to use the form on the website but web based forms often time me out with my visual impairment. I plan also to send a copy to my MP and the Department for Transport.

Does anyone please have any comments on the letter I plan to send which is below:

Dear

Passenger Assist Reference Number:

I am registered severely visually impaired and after much thought feel it it’s important that I make this complaint to yourselves though I am worried about the potential repercussions for me when I need to use your Passenger Assist service in the future.

On Friday 2nd August 2024 I arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill station at just after 9:15am expecting to be able to check in at the Ticket Office for my pre booked Assistance and to be able to buy a ticket for the 9:34am train to Weymouth (and to return later that day). Unfortunately the Ticket Office was closed and the station was unstaffed during its scheduled opening hours.

I am aware the station has been short staffed on an ongoing basis and therefore had checked with a staff member on Tuesday 30th July that the station would be staffed on Friday 2nd August and I had been informed that although a member of staff was going to be on Annual Leave that day cover had been arranged so travelling would be ok. On Thursday 1st August the Passenger Assist Team had also told me when I made my Assistance booking by telephone that the station would be staffed on Friday 2nd August. Additionally I checked the station information page for Yeovil Pen Mill on the GWR website as previously advised by your Accessibility Manager and there was no information to suggest the station would be unstaffed when I planned to travel.

When I arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill station to find the Ticket Office closed and no GWR staff on site I didn’t know what to do and started to panic. I would have to cross the steep stepped footbridge to get to the platform for my train and I am not confident/comfortable that I can do this safely without staff sighted guide assistance. GWR are aware of this and I understand a note has been placed by one of your Managers on my Passenger Assist profile stating I need staffed stations for assistance and should not be expected to use the station when it is unmanned.

I did not know what to do so telephoned the Passenger Assist team. My mobile phone indicates I made this call at 9:19am and it lasted 13 minutes. During this call I understand Passenger Assist staff were trying to find a way forward but appeared to be unable to do so while I was on the phone. Unfortunately I eventually lost contact with the Team when it seemed they inadvertently transferred me to someone’s voicemail.

It was a few minutes before my train when I lost contact with the Passenger Assist Team. While on the phone I had decided to try and walk along the platform by the Ticket Office (which has step free access) to where the barrow crossing is in the hope there may be a signaller around who may see me with my white cane and allow me to use the barrow crossing to get over to the other platform for my train.

I cannot see people in detail but eventually I thought I could possibly see another person on the platform opposite. I called across to them asking if they were the signaller and they said ‘yes’. I explained my disability and asked if I could use the crossing as I needed to catch the train which I could now hear coming in. The signaller said ‘There is nothing there so you can cross.’ I crossed the crossing and then started running up the platform with my white cane. I heard someone shouting ‘Don’t run’ (perhaps the guard or the signaller) but now I was really panicking and on auto pilot. Using my hearing I believed that the train had stopped some way from me possibly by the steps/bridge. I realise that I was totally wrong to run on the platform. When I reached the train the guard said ‘You’re here’, they opened the door for me and asked if I could do the step to which I answered ‘hopefully’ and got on the train. The guard kindly helped me find a seat. When I got on the train I think I was probably starting to look visibly upset though I was doing my best to try not to cry so I don’t know whether the guard had put two and two together about what had happened or not. I didn’t have any further interaction with the guard again until Weymouth when they kindly helped me get off the train. They then advised me to speak to the guard on the way back as they didn’t think there was anyone at Yeovil. I let the guard know at this point that I did not have a Ticket and we agreed I would buy this at the Ticket Office at Weymouth and an Assistance Staff Member at Weymouth took me to do this.

This experience has very much knocked my confidence travelling from Yeovil Pen Mill and at the moment I do not feel able to travel again from the station. This is a problem for me which I do not know how to overcome as I need to use the station to travel to ad hoc self employed work, medical appointments and for leisure purposes.

Your Accessibility Manager will be aware that I have been raising concerns about staffing and assistance provision at Yeovil Pen Mill station since pre COVID. I feel sad that I am repeatedly having to raise the same issues and am exhausted and drained by it.

I will be sending a copy of this complaint to my MP and the Department for Transport.

In response to this conplaint I would like:

1. To be informed why Yeovil Pen Mill station was not staffed to provide my pre booked Assistance on the morning of Friday 2nd August and why this issue was not flagged to anyone eg Passenger Assist prior to my arrival? Also why Passenger Assist seemed unable to contact anyone to help me when I telephoned them?

2. Re-assurance that Yeovil Pen Mill station will now be staffed its scheduled staffing hours.

3. To be told how I should find out reliable information about staffing hours should the station be short staffed.

4. To be informed what I should do if I turn up to the station again having pre booked assistance and similar circumstances occur as on Friday 2nd August.

I thank you for reading through this complaint and hope to hear from you in the near future.

Yours sincerely

 

[6Gman]

Yes station staff are aware and so is a Senior Manager at GWR. I understand from the Manager they have put a note on my Passenger Assist profile that I need to use staffed stations for assistance and that alternative arrangements need to be made for me if Yeovil Pen Mill is not manned.

Surely I should be able to expect at least one member of staff to be there during the stations scheduled staffing hours though?

Unfortunately my local sight loss charity is in Taunton 30 miles away and so apart from being on their general mailing list I don’t have much interaction with them and doubt they would assist but thanks for the idea.


Thank you everyone for the replies. I’m sorry I’m slow responding. I’m very worried about making a complaint because I fear the repercussions but I can’t just ignore what has happened on this occasion.

I am thinking of e-mailing the below complaint to the Accessibility Manager at GWR. I’m worried they won’t accept it this way as I think you are supposed to use the form on the website but web based forms often time me out with my visual impairment. I plan also to send a copy to my MP and the Department for Transport.

Does anyone please have any comments on the letter I plan to send which is below:

Dear

Passenger Assist Reference Number:

I am registered severely visually impaired and after much thought feel it it’s important that I make this complaint to yourselves though I am worried about the potential repercussions for me when I need to use your Passenger Assist service in the future.

On Friday 2nd August 2024 I arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill station at just after 9:15am expecting to be able to check in at the Ticket Office for my pre booked Assistance and to be able to buy a ticket for the 9:34am train to Weymouth (and to return later that day). Unfortunately the Ticket Office was closed and the station was unstaffed during its scheduled opening hours.

I am aware the station has been short staffed on an ongoing basis and therefore had checked with a staff member on Tuesday 30th July that the station would be staffed on Friday 2nd August and I had been informed that although a member of staff was going to be on Annual Leave that day cover had been arranged so travelling would be ok. On Thursday 1st August the Passenger Assist Team had also told me when I made my Assistance booking by telephone that the station would be staffed on Friday 2nd August. Additionally I checked the station information page for Yeovil Pen Mill on the GWR website as previously advised by your Accessibility Manager and there was no information to suggest the station would be unstaffed when I planned to travel.

When I arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill station to find the Ticket Office closed and no GWR staff on site I didn’t know what to do and started to panic. I would have to cross the steep stepped footbridge to get to the platform for my train and I am not confident/comfortable that I can do this safely without staff assistance. GWR are aware of this and I understand a note has been placed by one of your Managers on my Passenger Assist profile stating I need staffed stations for assistance and should not be expected to use the station when it is unmanned.

I did not know what to do so telephoned the Passenger Assist team. My mobile phone indicates I made this call at 9:19am and it lasted 13 minutes. During this call I understand Passenger Assist staff were trying to find a way forward but appeared to be unable to do so while I was on the phone. Unfortunately I eventually lost contact with the Team when it seemed they inadvertently transferred me to someone’s voicemail.

It was a few minutes before my train when I lost contact with the Passenger Assist Team. While on the phone I had decided to try and walk along the platform by the Ticket Office (which has step free access) to where the barrow crossing is in the hope there may be a signaller around who may see me with my white cane and allow me to use the barrow crossing to get over to the other platform for my train.

I cannot see people in detail but eventually I thought I could possibly see another person on the platform opposite. I called across to them asking if they were the signaller and they said ‘yes’. I explained my disability and asked if I could use the crossing as I needed to catch the train which I could now hear coming in. The signaller said ‘There is nothing there do you can cross.’ I crossed the crossing and then started running up the platform with my white cane. I heard someone shouting ‘Don’t run’ (perhaps the guard or the signaller) but now I was really panicking and on auto pilot using my heating I believed that the train had stopped some way from me possibly by the steps/bridge. I realise that I was totally wrong to run on the platform. When I reached the train the guard said ‘You’re here’, they opened the door for me and asked if I could do the step to which I answered ‘hopefully’ and got on the train. The guard kindly helped me find a seat. When I got on the train I think I was probably staring to look visible upset though I was doing my best to try not to cry so I don’t know whether the guard had put two and two together about what had happened or not I didn’t have any further interaction with the guard again until Weymouth when they kindly helped me get off the train. They then advised me to speak to the guard on the way back as they didn’t think there was anyone at Yeovil. I let the guard know at this point that I did not have a Ticket and we agreed I would but this at the Ticket Office at Weymouth and am Assistance Staff Member at Weymouth took me to do this.

This experience has very much knocked my confidence travelling from Yeovil Pen Mill and at the moment I do not feel able to travel again from the station. This is a problem for me which I do not know how to overcome as I need to use the station to travel to ad hoc self employed work, medical appointments and for leisure purposes.

Your Accessibility Manager will be aware that I have been raising concerns about staffing and assistance provision at Yeovil Pen Mill station since pre COVID. I feel sad that I am repeatedly having to raise the same issues and am exhausted and drained by it.

I will be sending a copy of this complaint to my MP and the Department for Transport.

In response to this conplaibt I would like:

1. To be informed why Yeovil Pen Mill station was not staffed to provide my pre booked Assistance on the morning of Friday 2nd August and why this issue was not flagged to anyone eg Passenger Assist prior to my arrival? Also why Passenger Assist seemed unable to contact anyone to help me when I telephoned them?

2. Re-assurance that Yeovil Pen Mill station will now be staffed its scheduled staffing hours.

3. To be told how I should find out reliable information about staffing hours should the station be short staffed.

4. To be informed what I should do if I turn up to the station again having pre booked assistance and similar circumstances occur as on Friday 2nd August.

I thank you for reading from this complaint and hope to hear from you in the near future.

Yours sincerely

I think that's an excellent letter. The only suggestion I would make is to drop the reference to when and how you obtained a ticket as it's not relevant to the issue and you did nothing wrong.

Good luck.

 

[Haywain]

Surely I should be able to expect at least one member of staff to be there during the stations scheduled staffing hours though?

Yes, you should be able to rely on it but reality will occasionally get in the way. Staff might be ill, or might be delayed on the way to work, for example. I just don't think staffing levels are such that you can get an absolute guarantee.

 

[Kath123]

I think that's an excellent letter. The only suggestion I would make is to drop the reference to when and how you obtained a ticket as it's not relevant to the issue and you did nothing wrong.

Good luck.

Thanks I’ll take that out before I send the letter.

Yes, you should be able to rely on it but reality will occasionally get in the way. Staff might be ill, or might be delayed on the way to work, for example. I just don't think staffing levels are such that you can get an absolute guarantee.

Thanks for replying again. I understand reality happens. But say a staff member is ill or delayed and they then inform GWR does this then get flagged to Passenger Assist so people can at least be aware of the situation? In the situation mentioned in this thread the station should have been staffed for two hours before I arrived but when I telephoned Passenger Assist nobody seemed aware it wasn’t.

With the barrow crossing, it should be noted there are two prohibition sigs "do not pass this point" prior to it on both platforms - there for good reasons.

That said, FirstGroup removing GPR cover and not staffing stations is a common theme recently, which also needs reporting to the DfT via your MP. Writing to the company merely gets a letter and a low value voucher.

Sorry I forgot to reply to this sooner. Thanks for letting me know what the signage says. I think I found a sign by the barrow crossing but with my sight I couldn’t quite read it so wasn’t sure if it said ‘Don’t cross’ or ‘You can cross if clear’.

 

[LKF747R]

This is clearly a totally unacceptable situation that put you at significant risk of physical harm and everyone involved should hang their heads in shame.

To pick up a few specific points:

Please do not consider using the barrow crossing without staff assistance. It would place you at great risk.
There is no way a penalty fare/further action against you would be appropriate. You bought your ticket at the first opportunity as required.
Only you can decide how you want to pursue a complaint. Personally I would write to customer services and to the head office of GWR (someone on here may be able to tell you who/where the Chief Executive can be located) and also to your local MP - I believe Yeovil has a new MP so he/she should be pretty keen! Is there a local visual impairment charity/group who could also take up the matter?

I'll declare an interest - I chair a local visual impairment charity elsewhere and I would certainly want to lend weight to any complaint.

As a second port of call you could contact BBC Radio 4's Tuesday program "In Touch" which deals with sight loss and tell them your experience of booking assistance. This is an area they regularly revisit at listener's behest so I am sure Mr Peter White their visually impaired presenter would respond to your letter too.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Something this thread highlights and that no one else has yet picked up on are two major faults and flaws with the passenger assist system as it stands
1. The booking process either by phone or using the app simply generates a contact to the often outsourced customer contact Centre who are simply relying on info on their systems that would say to that X or y Station is or isn't staffed, usually with little or no. Regard to what's actually happening in real time. In other words, station going to be unstaffed for every every morning shift that week as the staff member in question is on holiday and no replacement could be found. This results very often in inaccurate information being shown to the passenger or shown to the call centre person dealing with the assistance request by phone. Passenger assist needs to be handled in house about staffing availability or other live. Real-time conditions needs to be disseminated to that department in house on a regular basis. Apologies if I've inaccurately portrayed any operators that do do this and do keep information up to date but my own experience which is extensive suggests that the former is almost always the case
2. If a train is cancelled or a station going to be unstaffed or closed or similar, the system should synchronise with other systems. In order that flag is generated for someone in operations control on the day that says for example X station is about to become unstaffed as the member of staff has been taken ill and had to leave and automatically generate an action to reroute or divert the passenger who has booked assistants from that station, they are so so many things where actually if you allowed passengers who use these facilities to design their operation and usage it would work so much better, but that would cost money and mean actually providing a decent service which so many operators don't seem to care about now. Whether it will get better under Great British railways is anyone's guess as they will still be subcontracted third-party services that are simply gaining information off a screen and simply nationalising the railway isn't going to put a new system in that automatically flags. Eva station's going to be unstaffed and picks up that a passenger requires assistance at it.

 

[Dai Corner]

Just to mention that it is possible to find out whether a station is unstaffed, short staffed or otherwise doesn't have the usual facilities by looking under Station Updates on Journeycheck. Presumably this is updated by Control as and when issues occur.

The GWR Journeycheck page is

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

 

[Kath123]

Just to mention that it is possible to find out whether a station is unstaffed, short staffed or otherwise doesn't have the usual facilities by looking under Station Updates on Journeycheck. Presumably this is updated by Control as and when issues occur.

The GWR Journeycheck page is

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

Thanks for this - I’ve been told previously by the Accessibility Manager at GWR I should check the station facilities page for the station I am needing to use as a message should come up on this page if reduced staffing hours so they say for Yeovil Pen Mill I should check here

Yeovil Pen Mill train station | Departures, arrivals and tickets | GWR

Buy tickets online and check train times from Yeovil Pen Mill train station to be ready for your next journey.

www.gwr.com

Thanks for giving me another option. I didn’t know about JourneyCheck.



I plan to e-Mail the letter early this afternoon so any further comments greatly appreciated.

 

[rs101]

i

Just to mention that it is possible to find out whether a station is unstaffed, short staffed or otherwise doesn't have the usual facilities by looking under Station Updates on Journeycheck. Presumably this is updated by Control as and when issues occur.

The GWR Journeycheck page is

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

Presumably the Passenger Assist team should be aware of that and using it too?

 

[Kath123]

As a second port of call you could contact BBC Radio 4's Tuesday program "In Touch" which deals with sight loss and tell them your experience of booking assistance. This is an area they regularly revisit at listener's behest so I am sure Mr Peter White their visually impaired presenter would respond to your letter too.

Thanks for this. Do you know how I’d contact them?

 

[Haywain]

Thanks for this. Do you know how I’d contact them?

There's a link here with email address and phone number: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxww/contact

 

[Kath123]

There's a link here with email address and phone number: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qxww/contact

Thank you - much appreciated.

 

[Dai Corner]

Presumably the Passenger Assist team should be aware of that and using it too?

One would hope so. If I had booked assistance I'd check myself and contact the Passenger Assist team if it appeared I'd be affected.

As an aside, I wonder if non-availabilty of booked assistance is grounds for abandoning a journey and claiming a full refund?

 

[Kath123]

As an aside, I wonder if non-availabilty of booked assistance is grounds for abandoning a journey and claiming a full refund?

Hi Dai I don’t know the answer to this. It would be interesting to know. I did think of just going home when I found out there was nobody at the station to assist me as part of me didn’t feel
like going to Weymouth anymore after what happened but I decided to stick with it. On that occasion I would have got no refund as I hadn’t managed to buy a Ticket yet. Ultimately I just want Assistance to work.



Thank you to everyone for feedback on the letter. I sent it as a Word Document attached to an e-Mail to the Accessibility Manager at GWR Friday. They replied this morning to say ‘Hi Kath. I have received. I will review and also send onto the customer services team, who manage the complaints process. Thanks’.

I then telephoned the Accessibility Manager to follow up their short e-Mail but they haven’t had time to read the complaint yet. I asked if they knew what is happening with staffing at Yeovil Pen Mill. They said they don’t. They also basically said they’ve told the station so many times what to do if they aren’t going to be staffed their scheduled hours that they don’t know what else they can do but they acknowledge ‘It is effecting your life’.

From the response this morning I really fear nothing positive will happen as a result of the complaint. And the thing is it DOES effect my life. I need to be using the station to travel to medical appointments as well as ad hoc self employed work but now I don’t feel confident to go back there and travel from there again. Does anyone have any ideas how I might be able to get my confidence back travelling fron the station again? Is there anyone here who has been through a similar situation and found a way through it?

Thanks.

 

[starlight73]

As an aside, I wonder if non-availabilty of booked assistance is grounds for abandoning a journey and claiming a full refund?

You’re eligible for a refund if GWR assistance doesn’t turn up - from page 35 of the Accessible Travel Policy:

If you travel with GWR and your booked assistance fails, you will be compensated.
If GWR fail to provide your booked assistance this will be 100% of the cost of a single ticket, or 50% if a return ticket is held. If another train company was responsible for the failure, you can contact them directly, or we can liaise with them on your behalf and provide you with a full explanation in response, including why it happened and what mitigating actions we intend to take as a result.

Not sure if this is useful, but can GWR give you a direct phone number for the station office? This might mean you can call on the day to check it’s staffed (though it’s not your job to check this and they need to do better). I’m disabled but don’t have experience of Passenger Assist myself - maybe someone else can answer there.

They ought to have a procedure for what to do if the station is unexpectedly unstaffed. I’d think this could be something like:

• being able to contact the guard on the train who could assist you over the Barrow crossing (can guards do this or not?)
• or for them to book you a taxi to the nearest station you can use

It must feel really frustrating for you and you’re right to raise this with GWR

 

[island]

Not sure if this is useful, but can GWR give you a direct phone number for the station office?

They probably won't, but perhaps someone on the forum who does have the number might be able to help.

 

[Kieran_MF135]

Hi

Apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum. I wasn’t quite sure where to put it.

I am a visually impaired adult.

On Friday I turned up at Yeovil Pen Mill Station at around 09:15am as I had booked assistance to travel on the 9:34am service to Weymouth. When I arrived at the station the Ticket Office was shut despite the scheduled opening hours for the Ticket Office being from 7:20am weekdays. There were no GWR staff on site. My Passenger Assist confirmation stated staff were supposed to meet me at the Ticket Office to take me to the train.

The station had told me on Tuesday that a member of staff was going to be off on Friday but that it was going to be covered so ok to travel and when I made my booking by telephone with Passenger Assist on Thursday I was told both Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth would be staffed.

After arriving and finding the Ticket Office shut I felt in a very difficult position. I’m worried some of you may judge me but I have a significant visual impairment and do not feel comfortable crossing the stepped footbridge at the station without a staff member to guide me and a Manager from GWR has agreed I should not to have to do this alone and has placed a note on my Passenger Assist profile saying I shouldn’t be expected to travel from Yeovil Pen Mill if the station is unstaffed.

I therefore didn’t know what to do. The train was due to come in on the platform where I would have to cross the footbridge.

I rang GWR Passenger Assist to explain to them the station was unstaffed and asking them what to do. The conversation continued for 13 minutes but it appeared they could not contact anyone to help me. The conversation finally ended when they transferred me to voicemail. I don’t know if this was an accident.

During the call a passenger had kindly come up to me to offer to help and I asked Passenger Assist whether I should accept that help and they said it was up to me. I’m always grateful for the kindness of strangers but I know they are not trained to guide me and fear that if something goes wrong their act of kindness may come back to haunt them. I’m also worried that if I start to let Customers do the assistance for GWR that GWR will start expecting this all the time.

In the end I walked down the platform the Ticket Office side which has step free access and went towards the barrow crossing.

I know there is a signaller who has a hut on the other platform and I desperately hoped they would see me with my white cane and let me across the crossing.

With my visual impairment I can’t see people in detail but as the train was coming in I thought I could see a shape which might be a person on the other platform. I shouted across asking if they were the signaller. They said yes. I told them my disability and asked if I could use the barrow crossing. They grumpily said ‘There is nothing there so you can cross’ and walked off.

I crossed the crossing and then began to run along the platform with my white cane in a panic as I could hear the train had come in but had parked up the platform closer to the steps and bridge.

I heard the guard or signaller shout ‘Don’t run’ but by that time I was panicking and on autopilot so continued. I know I did wrong here as running around a train station platform is not acceptable or safe especially if you are visually impaired.

When I reached the train the guard said ‘You are here’, opened the door and asked if I could manage the step to which I replied hopefully and luckily did manage to get on. The guard then found me a seat and then left me alone for the rest of the journey until Weymouth. When I was boarding the train I think the guard may have been able to tell I was starting to be visibly upset about what had happened though I was trying to hide it and I don’t know if the guard had definitely picked up on this and if so whether they had put two and two together about the circumstances.

The guard didn’t speak to me again until Weymouth when they assisted me off the train and advised me to speak to the guard on the return journey to Yeovil as it appeared nobody was at Yeovil. I told the guard I hadn’t managed to buy a ticket due to the Ticket Office at Yeovil being closed. The guard said they had walked through most of the train selling tickets but hadn’t got as far as me. We agreed I should go to the Ticket Office at Weymouth to buy my Ticket.

So I went to the Ticket Office at Weymouth and explained I hadn’t been able to buy a ticket at Yeovil and could I buy it there. They let me but I detected they appeared a bit uncertain whether they should and I’m guess I’m lucky I didn’t end up with a penalty fare/fine. Im
A bit worried though that they could still choose to pursue that I didn’t have a ticket before boarding as they have my personal details from my assistance booking?

When I came back from Weymouth Friday afternoon the guard did my assistance at Yeovil but the Ticket Office was open.

This experience has really affected my confidence to travel in future. I don’t feel able at this time to go back to Yeovil Pen Mill. But I need to be able to use the station to travel to medical appointments and to travel to ad hoc self employed work as well as for leisure.

I don’t know whether to write a complaint or to ask whether the station can be helped in any way? Unfortunately this experience is one of many where I have encountered difficulties with assistance and staffing at my local station. I am tired, I don’t know what to do anymore, I have been talking about these issues to GWR since pre COVID. I feel that getting the station staffed properly is simply a battle I will never win. And if I complain I feel more scared/uncomfortable using the station because I fear what they will think of me and it strains relations.

A disabled friend online has suggested threatening legal action but I really don’t want to have to take things that far if I can avoid it. However I have had enough.

It is ridiculous though that on a hot summers day Yeovil Pen Mill was not staffed - the station was busy with many going to Weymouth.

Sorry this post has been so long.

PS In future if there aren’t staff at the station am I allowed to just walk across the barrow crossing if I think it is safe or do I need to have staff permission?

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I could handle the situation better if similar happens in future?

So speaking from personal experience of where I had pre booked assistant not provided or refused or had failed completely and sometimes ending up getting stranded.

Also if you do ever ending up being stranded or missing pre booked trains due assistance failing they must provide you a viable alternative free of charge.


You can Sending in complaint to GWR would help but I will give some advice and recommend you send in a letter before action.

From the fact if the barrow crossing incident that is highly dangerous and could have had severe consequences at the station.

You might be able to get redress depending on the Acciblety policy

If you have booked assistance and the assistance has failed or not met with the standards you are entitled to, you have the right to complain and potentially to refunds or compensation. This is your statutory right and will not affect the standard of service you will face in the future.

Also with legal proceedings you can get compastion for injury to feeling have a look at the Vento Bands if your going down the legal way , they might also offer out of court settlements.

if legal action is taken for example they refuse to believe they are in breach of the Equality Act. And the court rules that they have broken the law.


I have personal experience and currently in process of possibility of taking a Rail company to court for disability discrimination and seeking compensation for it within the Vento Bands.

Remember don't be afraid to Exercise your Rights and it absolutely disgusting how we treated on a daily basis and that it disabled people are still facing discrimination. And I know personally the effort it takes and toll to chase this up and explain it and sometimes feel like they don't really care especially when for example the same station does it multiple tines after multiple complaints.


Also if they did try and give you a penalty fare that there is discrimination and the fact is there was no accibile ticket retailing facilities or help to buy a ticket. And are permitted to buy on board or at the nearest opotentially.







The law

service provider under Section 29 of the Equality Act 2010, which requires you to make reasonable adjustments to ensure Disabled people can access your service. Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 requires you to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the disadvantage Disabled people

Rail companies are required by the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments for Disabled people to ensure they can use their services as everybody else. And failing to provide it is discrimination.
I can suggest that you send a letter before action to them
Quote form disability justice program

"However, you don’t always have to make a complaint before starting legal action. You can send a ‘letter before action’ (the first step in a possible court case) instead of making a complaint. This may be taken more seriously and the company is likely to respond by giving you the information you need to decide whether or not to continue with legal action"

I have also attached a file that has letter before action template
I have also linked to websites
Disability justice program public transport discrimination guide
problems with pre booked assistant

One would hope so. If I had booked assistance I'd check myself and contact the Passenger Assist team if it appeared I'd be affected.

As an aside, I wonder if non-availabilty of booked assistance is grounds for abandoning a journey and claiming a full refund?

I mean I have with GWR ,

 

[Dai Corner]

Rail companies are required by the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments for Disabled people to ensure they can use their services as everybody else.

'Reasonable' being the operative word.

In the OP's case what is it reasonable for GWR to do to enable to enable her to travel in the event of the person who was supposed to be manning Yeovil station being ill on the day and unable to work?

 

[rs101]

'Reasonable' being the operative word.

In the OP's case what is it reasonable for GWR to do to enable to enable her to travel in the event of the person who was supposed to be manning Yeovil station being ill on the day and unable to work?

GWR should have contacted the OP as soon as they were aware of the staff shortage to see if the OP still wanted to travel or reschedule to another day?

 

[Haywain]

can GWR give you a direct phone number for the station office?

I'm not sure that is necessarily helpful - an unanswered phone does not mean an unstaffed office.

 

[Kieran_MF135]

'Reasonable' being the operative word.

In the OP's case what is it reasonable for GWR to do to enable to enable her to travel in the event of the person who was supposed to be manning Yeovil station being ill on the day and unable to work?

That not an excuse a reasonable adjustment being failed to be provided

A Reasonable adjustment would be
If your booked assistance fails and you are left stranded or unable to access the rail service you’ve booked, the rail service must provide a viable alternative. This can be a different train, bus or taxi, provided free of charge to get you to your destination or the next accessible leg of your journey.


They failed to provide a reasonable adjustment and as such subjective the passenger to discrimination


I have also faced discrimination where ramp been refused due to I'm not in a wheelchair and It only for wheelchair users. Some gaps between the train and platform are quite large I rather not fall between the train and platform again and since that incident I had I now refuse to get off if not provoided or will press the red button into it is provided even if i ended up delaying said train.

GWR should have contacted the OP as soon as they were aware of the staff shortage to see if the OP still wanted to travel or reschedule to another day?

They're should have contacted and gave options for alternative transport.