Wetherby wheelchair user 'felt an extra burden' over train access

A disability rights campaigner has said he felt like "an extra burden" after he could not board his chosen train home.

Doug Paulley, a wheelchair user, tried to get a Northern Rail service from Chesterfield to Leeds on Friday.

But when he attempted to board, a pillar blocked access to the train's ramp, and staff said they could not get the wheelchair onto the train.

Northern said staff would normally move the train forward slightly and it would investigate why this did not happen.

Mr Paulley, from Wetherby, who uses an electric wheelchair, said these situations happened "so often" he now carried a camera.

"When the train turned up it managed to stop at just the wrong spot; the only door where I could get on, for the wheelchair space and accessible toilet, was opposite a pillar on the platform," he said.

'Everyone got on apart from me'

"The guard put down the ramp but there just wasn't enough space. In the end, they just picked up the ramp and the train left without me which was frustrating.

"Everyone else got on apart from me."

Mr Paulley said he had to wait another hour for the next train.

He said Northern "very kindly" offered him a taxi but could did not meet his needs.

A video of the incident now has more than 2.1m views and seems to have "surprised and disgusted people," he said.

"It seems to have caught a bit of a note.

"There's been quite a reaction, people are so surprised and slightly disgusted that staff didn't just move the train slightly.

"For me it was just like, 'well this sort of thing happens all the time'."

Northern said: "If a passenger requires the wheelchair ramp, ordinarily our colleagues would arrange to 'shunt' the train forward a few metres to resolve the problem.

"We are investigating why this did not take place."

Mr Paulley said many of the train and station staff he met were "very obliging and helpful".

But he said: "There's this culture among some train staff that disabled people are an extra burden they shouldn't have to cope with.

"I felt like that in that moment."