Disabled access row over station's broken lifts

Mr Bailes said the lifts at Alvechurch station 'keep breaking down'

Network Rail is set for talks over complaints about disabled access at a railway station.

Alan Bailes, a Worcestershire county councillor representing Alvechurch, said the lifts at the town's station "kept breaking down".

He said that as a result, people with physical disabilities were unable to reach the northbound platform. One possible solution, he said, would be to install a footpath from the road to the northbound platform.

The BBC has contacted Network Rail for comment.

Bailes told a council scrutiny meeting the lifts had been out of use for six months.

He added: "They've now been fixed but they keep breaking down.

"The result of that is that passengers who want to go north towards Birmingham, if they've got disabilities or pushchairs, can't get over to the northbound platform because there's no facility."

The only alternative when the lifts were out of use, he said, was to get on a train, go to another station further up the line and change platforms there.

But he said: "By the time you've done that you've missed your appointment – to me that's totally unsatisfactory."

The councillor said he had put his footpath plan to Network Rail and estimated it would cost £50,000.

Gary Woodman, the council's assistant director of economy, told him: "We'll take it away. We'll have a conversation with the ward member and with Network Rail, and obviously the cabinet member."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.