Northern apologises after wheelchair-user misses train at Harrogate

Transport rights campaigner Doug Paulley said the experience had left him "stressed" and left his travel in "disarray"

Train operator Northern has issued an apology after a wheelchair-user with impaired hearing missed his train due to a last minute platform alteration.

Campaigner Doug Paulley said he could not hear the change being announced at Harrogate Station on Wednesday.

Mr Paulley said staff also failed to make him aware of the change and information displays were not updated.

Northern has apologised and said accessibility was "vitally important" to the company.

Mr Paulley missed his train at Harrogate Station on 26 July

Mr Paulley was waiting for the 18:06 BST service from Harrogate to Leeds. He said he had booked assistance in advance and made staff aware when he arrived.

However, he only noticed the platform had been changed when other passengers started to leave the waiting area.

By the time he found a member of staff to clarify the change he said it was too late to reach the new platform.

Mr Paulley, from Wetherby, said "I was really upset. I was the only one that was left behind, everybody had gone across".

However, he praised the train conductor on the next service who wrote him a note asking train and tram crews to accept his ticket which was only valid for the earlier services.

Northern has since apologised saying Mr Paulley "didn't receive the standard of customer service that we normally expect of ourselves".

The operator's regional director Tony Baxter said: "Once station staff were made aware of what had happened, Mr Paulley was helped on to the next available train."

The company said accessibility on the railway was "vitally important" and that it was making "significant improvements" across the network.

Mr Paulley's experience comes after plans to close hundreds of station ticket offices were announced earlier this month.

As part of the proposals, ticket office staff would be redeployed onto platforms and more "face-to-face support" would be available, the Rail Delivery Group said.

However, Mr Paulley said the changes were "problematic" and said not having a designated help area would make things more difficult for vulnerable passengers.

Mr Paulley said staff often help him across the rail line when no lift or ramps are available

He said: "Guide dogs are trained to take people to ticket offices, if staff are on platforms they've got no chance, if staff are on another platform that I can't get to, then I'm stuffed."

Mr Paulley has also joined forces with activist Sarah Leadbetter.

The duo has applied for a judicial review, claiming that the ticket office consultation process was too short and inaccessible.