Wheelchair users fuming over lack of rail access (From Warrington Guardian)

Wheelchair users fuming over lack of rail access

YOUNG wheelchair users are furious they were unable to join classmates on a train journey because there was no access for them at the railway station.

Pupils from Green Lane School were planning to travel by rail from Padgate Station to Warrington Central Station.

However, there is only wheelchair access on the Manchester-bound platform at Central Station.

This meant that the two wheelchair users in the group would have had to continue on the train to another station, turn around and come back again.

Class teacher Jackie Standish said: "Instead they travelled on the school minibus, which caused them great distress as they had been looking forward to their train journey, and it would have been a valuable experience for them.

"We were shocked to be told that we would have to stay on the train until we reached another station that did have disabled access and then wait for the next train back to Warrington.

"Not only would this incur greater costs for the extra travel but adds time onto the journey.The children were very disappointed, but there is also a wider issue as this has not just affected us but other people as well."

Dave Thompson, head of equality and diversity at The Five Boroughs Partnership, said: "The issue of accessibility is the missing link in the chain of independence for people with disability.

"Locally and nationally we are striving to get jobs for people with disabilities, and there have been major improvements in education, and with accessibility, particularly in the leisure industry.

"But the sooner we get round the table and realise that non-accessible transport is a major issue the better."

In December the Guardian highlighted the problem when Sankey Bridges man Jason Thompson, who is a wheelchair user, faced the same problem at the station.

A spokesman for Trans Pennine Express, which took over management for the station from First North Western this week, said that the problem will be looked into to see if anything could be done.

Services are under pressure from Government to be made accessible to people with disabilities by October 2004.