Transport for All voice support for Southern Rail judicial review
Transport for All
On the 2nd March, Transport for All (TfA) with assistance from Fry Law, wrote to the Royal Court of Justice to ask to intervene...
On the 2nd March, Transport for All (TfA) with assistance from Fry Law, wrote to the Royal Court of Justice to ask to intervene in Association of British Commuter’s (ABC) Judicial Review case on the Department for Transport’s handling of the Southern Rail crisis.
Last month the ABC’s applied for a judicial review of the Secretary of State’s approach to the Southern Rail crisis, the case was crowdfunded with total donations reaching over £26,000. The case is being brought to address (1) the lawfulness of the DfT’s approach to enforcing the Southern Rail management contract, and (2) the failure of Southern Rail to provide adequate access to disabled passengers.
TfA will be asking to providing evidence on Southern rail’s failure to provide adequate assistance, and the impact this has had on the Disabled and older passengers.
Accessible public transport is a life line to inclusion for many Disabled people who disproportionally rely on it to go about their every-day lives. The Southern rail crisis caused disruption and misery to Disabled and older people, leaving many unable to travel to work and increasingly isolated.
Our accessible transport helpline receives dozens of calls from Disabled and older people who find themselves unable to access the rail network because they simply can’t rely on assistance from staff.
‘’On roughly two-thirds of my journeys, when I arrive at Victoria there is no one there to assist me with a ramp, even though the staff at my home station have phoned ahead to let Southern Rail staff at Victoria know. So I end up stuck on the train’’ commented Chris Stapleton, a wheelchair user.
‘’The effect of Southern’s unreliable assistance is that every train journey becomes horribly stressful, and every time I arrive at my destination I have a tight knot of anxiety in my stomach – will there be someone with a ramp to assist me? Will I be locked into the train again, or have to get random strangers to go and hunt for staff, or be forced to shout or press the emergency alarm?’’
This case would be the first case test to the Secretary of State’s duty to uphold Disability Equality in the franchising process, and could cause a seismic shift in the DfT’s approach to protecting the rights of Disabled and older people.
Transport for all hope that our experience in the wide range of obstacles Disabled and older people can face when accessing the transport network and the impact of Southern rail’s failures on our ability to travel will assist the court when they consider the case.
