This is an extract of an email sent to Anglia Television:
I would like to tell you about the very distressing events night / early morning, when we were returning by Greater Anglia train from Liverpool Street to Manningtree. We were so upset by what happened that it has taken a few days for us to compile this account.
I am aged 79 and use Manningtree station.
My wife has just celebrated her 66th birthday, and at last is entitled to her State Pension. We were also celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on the same day.
My wife has mobility problems and is dependent on a folding electric wheelchair, weighing 26kg, to get around. (She has been awarded the full mobility component of the DWP’s Personal Independence Payment benefit, so that will give you an idea of the extent of her needs.)
As a special treat to ourselves we booked to go from London to Salisbury and back on a train pulled by “Flying Scotsman”.
We set off from Manningtree at 05:52 on Tuesday and had a very interesting day. Unfortunately the return trip was delayed by 45 minutes so after a mad taxi dash from Victoria to Liverpool Street we got on the 23:02 train home. At the ticket barrier the lady attendant asked if we’d booked assistance - we said we hadn’t and could manage to load the wheelchair into the train ourselves despite the 8” height difference between train and platform. (It is interesting to note that the old-style multiple unit train has wheelchair spaces, so clearly GA think this is acceptable.) In any case, we could not have anticipated having to get this particular train, so even if we had booked assistance it would not have been available when we actually needed it.
We alighted at Manningtree on Platform 3 at 00:12 on Wednesday and went to the lift so we could use the subway to Platform 2 and the exit.
To our horror the lift was locked out of service and there were no station staff on duty. We could not get to our car and go home!
Two people who had got off the train offered to take the chair down the subway stairs, but this would not have helped because my wife can’t get up and down stairs.
We tried the assistance point - one button connected us to the 999 service, which was not appropriate, and the other to a call centre where the person answering had no clue where Manningtree was, let alone how to get help to us.
Someone on Platform 2, the other side of the tracks, told us that
1. The station staff is reduced to one person at 21:00
2. That person goes home at 23:00 and locks the lift.
3. After that there is no-one to assist passengers, for example someone who might fall down the subway stairs on a frosty night.
4. The track crossing used by staff is inaccessible with gates and spiked railings (and of course there is no way to contact the Colchester signal box to check if crossing the track was safe!)
Just then the departure board showed us that there was the Norwich train coming (the 23:30 from London, arriving at Manningtree at 00:28).
We used this to get to Ipswich only to find the lift there for the footbridge was broken.
Fortunately the very helpful GA night manager was available to get us across the tracks and helped us get a taxi back to Manningtree station, eventually arriving there at 01:55 on Wednesday, almost 2 hours to cross the tracks!
My wife was by then in tears, having been up for 22 hours, and said she had completely lost her confidence in being able to go anywhere independently.
I am furious that Greater Anglia do not consider the effect on disabled persons when deciding on station staffing, and also incredulous that they leave a single person to look after a station at any time. I cannot imagine how scary it must be for that staff member to be on one’s own at night in an isolated location and left vulnerable to assault, accident, health emergency or any other mishap with no-one to turn to.
In our view, the station should be staffed until the last train has arrived and a check made that the station was clear and no stragglers remained
