Railway Stations: Accessibility
Debate between Matthew Offord and Andrea Jenkyns(5 years, 8 months ago)
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Dr Offord
Although I went to university in Nottingham, I cannot say I know the hon. Lady’s constituency very well, so I will allow the Minister to respond to that point when she sums up.
It is obvious that more can and should be done. In April 2017, the Equality and Human Rights Commission published a report about how disabled people fare in in their day-to-day lives in the UK. On transport, the report stated,
“Transport options for disabled people are very limited because of the need to use only transport forms that are accessible, and these tend to be expensive.”
A few months later, in November 2017, the Department for Transport published the results of its research into disabled people’s travel patterns and attitudes to travel. It found that although being disabled does not always lead to less frequent use of train services, it does lead to problems with trains:
“It is well-established that people with disabilities travel less and for different purposes compared with people without disabilities”.
Andrea Jenkyns (Morley and Outwood) (Con)
I have been campaigning on this for six years in my constituency, in Morley. People get on the train on one side to go into Leeds, but they cannot go back because there are steps. Does my hon. Friend agree that disabled people rely heavily on public services and that it is vital they can access them to ensure good quality of life? The Department for Transport should invest heavily in that area.
Dr Offord
My hon. Friend illustrates a point that I will come on to in my speech. My constituents who are here today feel very strongly about that.
Leonard Cheshire, the UK charity for disabled people, highlights the issues facing many disabled people when trying to access train station platforms. Its research and analysis, based on data provided by the Office of Rail and Road and the National Rail website, shows that more than 40% of railway stations across England do not have step-free access, leaving many disabled people unable to travel by train. Research with more than 1,600 disabled adults shows that 35% of working-age disabled people have experienced problems using trains in the past year as a result of their disability.