Disabled Train Fares and Greater Anglia trains

Mourek

I wonder if any of you good people can help me work out how to battle the latest issue I've come up with while booking advance train tickets.

I'm a wheelchair user and was planning to travel from Norwich to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago at the same time as an able-bodied friend. The advance fare when I phoned was around £14, which is what my friend paid. However, it involves taking the tube between Liverpool Street and Euston, which is impossible in the time necessary to change (around 40 minutes) as the Circle Line is only wheelchair accessible going clockwise from Liverpool Street. I asked if I could catch a later connecting train from Euston to give time to get across London, and was told that I would have to buy an open return to do that, which would cost around £65. So in effect I'm penalised by £50 for being disabled to take the same journey as my friend. Anyone needing a carer to travel with them would have to pay twice this.

I emailed Greater Anglia to complain and got a fairly inadequate response. They confirmed you are unable to extend the change times when booking online (even though I wasn't - I was on the phone to their accessibility 'support' line). They said that it was possible to extend the time to change, but only when buying the tickets in person at the station. I've two issues with this - 1) they didn't say this on the phone, I only knew retrospectively through complaining. 2) It seems particularly inadequate that disabled people - many of whom will struggle to get to the station in the first place, through physical restrictions / need for carers / transport, etc. - are required to make an extra journey to book advance tickets, a journey not necessary for able bodied people able to book the same journey from the comfort of their homes for a quarter of the price.

The response email I got from the station has no link to reply to their response, it simply states that facts and thanks me for contacting them. As often when dealing with these large organisations I feel like a very small, lonely voice being ignored by their policy which unfairly discriminates against disabled people. So I wondered if any of you could give me advice on what to do to actually force them into correcting this ridiculous need for disabled people to an extra journey to receive the same discount as anyone else. Thanks in advance!

elverson

As an aside do you need to go via London? You could change trains at Ely instead which has ramp access to all platforms.

martindow

Both Liverpool Street and Euston Square on the Circle line are fully accessible according to the link below which shows A symbols. Are you sure there are only lifts in one direction?

content.tfl.gov.uk/avoiding-stairs-tube-guide.pdf

Edit: According at the link above Euston Square is the problem as it is only partially accessible. Westbound is accessible so Liverpool Street to Euston Square is step free. On the return eastbound is not accessible, so a bus to Kings Cross and Circle Line to Liverpool Street seems the best bet but it will take a little longer.

It would be worth contacting TFL to double check that this is accurate.

Mourek

Thanks for your replies.

I did actually end up going via Ely in the end, but it still cost around £55 so considerably more expensive than the discounted rate which is only available via London. I guess my problem is that it's not that I'm trying to get a discount because of disability, but am required to make an extra trip to the station to get the same rate as an able bodied person can get from home.

As for accessibility at the tube stations the maps are often misleading. At Liverpool Street the clockwise platform for the circle line is on the same level as the exit barriers, so is accessible. However, to get to the anti clockwise platforms you have to go up and across a footbridge and there's no alternative way of getting there, which is why the journey is impossible (unless, I guess, you've a spare couple of hours to do a complete lap clockwise!). I go to London quite a bit so am reasonably cued up on which platforms are accessible, e.g. the circle and metropolitan line at Kings Cross are now both accessible and reasonably easy to get to. But as a whole the tube is very hit and miss, and the staff at the stations don't tend to know the details of what the wheelchair signs on the map mean (e.g. that Circle line can only be reached on the clockwise platform at Liverpool Street). The one exception is the Jubilee Line, the Eastern half of which is all accessible, Roll on Crossrail, which will at least make it easier to get to central London when it opens.

Incidentally, there is a regular bus between Liverpool Street and Euston, but it wouldn't be quick enough to make a 40 minute transfer, especially because of the extra time waiting for ramps to get on / off trains takes.