Disabled People’s Access to Transport

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the criticisms of the existing Access for All programme is the expense of the projects that have been delivered. Having a road map of the station upgrades to provide certainty and consistency for contractors would speed up the delivery and reduce the cost of delivering lifts in the stations where they are so badly needed.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Lab/Co-op)]

I commend the Chair for this excellent report and for shining the light on such an important issue. I can think of numerous times when I have been on a bus and have had to be very curt with the driver to argue on behalf of a disabled person in a wheelchair who wants to use the space, after the driver has blatantly told them to wait for the next bus. That sort of thing is unacceptable. Does she agree that we need to look at the enforcement of the equality legislation as it stands and at better training and awareness so that disabled people in wheelchairs can use public transport?

[Ruth Cadbury]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, who chairs of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. As I said, the culture change goes from the top to the frontline, and staff need both to be trained and to have the confidence that they will be supported if they do assert the rights of disabled people.