Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone'

Kath Vickery has started a petition calling for better assistance arrangements at her local station

A severely visually-impaired woman said she crossed railway tracks alone to catch a train, after station staff she had booked to help her did not turn up.

Kath Vickery has now started a petition to improve assistance arrangements after feeling "too anxious" to use her local station - Yeovil Pen Mill in Somerset - following the "really scary experience".

Great Western Railway (GWR) apologised and said it was exploring how to "deliver more robust staffing".

Figures show 10 out of 62 stations (16%) across the West of England have either no step-free access or issues with at least one platform. The Department for Transport said improving accessibility is "at the centre" of its decision-making.

Ms Vickery uses a cane and needs assistance when navigating railway stations. She said the incident happened in August 2024 - although she only started her petition recently after other more minor incidents.

Yeovil Pen Mill has a stepped footbridge to get to one of its platforms, but staff are able to help people across the tracks using a private level crossing reached by a ramp, if needed.

"When I got there I was a bit stuck because the ticket office was shut and that's usually where I find staff," she said.

"I didn't feel comfortable going across the bridge on my own. I walked down to the track crossing in the hope someone would help.

"I rang the passenger assist call centre, I had a 13-minute conversation with them - they accidentally cut me off transferring me to someone - in the end I managed to attract the attention of someone at the station who told me I could cross, so then I had to run across the track crossing and up the platform to get my train.

"It was a really scary experience for me and obviously not great for safety, and still really affects me now."

Ms Vickery said she had to cross the tracks on her own when her booked assistance was not available

Passenger assistance can be booked in advance for rail journeys - by phone, online or using an app - and is confirmed with the passenger

When assistance has been booked, if staff are then unable to fulfil that, the passenger is meant to be informed and GWR said it offers alternatives including a free taxi to the nearest accessible station.

Staff are meant to be available at Yeovil Pen Mill from 07:20 to 18:25 on weekdays, other than a lunch break, with shorter hours at weekends.

Ms Vickery used to use the station every week or two to get to medical appointments and ad hoc self-employed work in Bristol and Weymouth.

She said she has recently had to turn down work in Weymouth as she felt unable to rely on the assistance she would receive at Yeovil Pen Mill.

Ms Vickery said losing the option of using the railway station long-term would be a "disaster" for her, with the only alternative to Bristol being a three-hour bus journey.

"It's not like I've got the choice between driving and catching a train - the choices I have are very, very limited and that's why making sure the station is staffed its scheduled hours is so very important to me," she said.

She said she had two cancellations of assistance in the last year in addition to the experience in August 2024 when she was not informed the station would be unstaffed.

"I think it's really important that disabled people have equal opportunity to use services and that includes train stations - and in order to use the train station I need there to be staff there," Ms Vickery said.

A spokesperson for GWR said: "We recognise that staffing gaps during holiday periods have impacted advertised opening hours at Yeovil Pen Mill, and we apologise for any inconvenience this causes passengers like Kath who rely on staff assistance.

"While our dedicated team works hard to maintain coverage, we know that we need to increase the staff relief pool to consistently staff all stations during peak leave periods, and we're exploring opportunities to deliver more robust staffing."

Source: National Rail

According to the disabled-led campaign group Transport for All a quarter (25%) of UK train stations have step-free access with 11% of stations staffed at all times.

Of Somerset's 10 national rail stations, four (40%) do not have step-free access to all platforms, which can be used independently of station staff, according to information listed on the National Rail website.

For example, Castle Cary station, on the Paddington mainline, has a stepped footbridge to the westbound platform meaning passengers need staff available to help them across the tracks.

Across the West of England, 10 out of 62 stations (16%) have either no step-free access, like Avoncliff and Freshford in Wiltshire, or issues with at least one platform.

Nailsea and Backwell station, which has steps to one platform and a very steep slope to the other, was due to have had ramps installed at both platforms more than 10 years ago but £1m funding was withdrawn in 2014 after a deadline to start the work was missed.

There is a stepped footbridge leading to one of the platforms at Yeovil Pen Mill

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said it was "taking action to make rail travel easier and more reliable for disabled passengers".

They added this included investing more than £10m to upgrade the Passenger Assist scheme, publishing a rail accessibility roadmap and improving information about the facilities available to provide support to passengers at stations.