Wheelchair user misses train because guard didn’t see her

The disability campaigner shared the devastating reality of what it was like trying to catch a train while in a wheelchair – an experience most able-bodied people wouldn’t give a second thought.

Despite arriving at the Upper Holloway station, in London, with plenty of time to get the train to Harringay, Ms Pennick sat for an extended period outside the ticket office waiting for help.

“The assistance point was seemingly closed [and there was] no one visible behind the glass. I can’t reach the window to bang on the glass, so tried shouting ‘hello?’ for ages,” she said in a tweet this week.

After an extended wait, a guard’s voice eventually responded, but so much time had passed that Ms Pennick was becoming close to missing her train.

Adding to her frustration was his response when she asked if he heard her calling out for help.

“No love, no,” he responded, before letting her know she wouldn’t be able to take the next train, in two minutes, but would need to wait for the one after in 15 minutes.

She then asked how she would best get his attention next time she need to catch the train.

“Bang on the window,” he shot back, with Ms Pennick reminding him, “I can’t reach! I’m in a wheelchair”.

“Yeah, well normally I’ll come around to the front,” he said.

Ms Pennick told him that was exactly where she had been waiting.

“Then I apologise, I didn’t see you, sorry,” he replied.

“I might have been doing something, [getting] something to eat, to be honest with you.”

Ms Pennick responded asking him to clarify and he responded with, “something to eat”.

She then showed herself on the platform as the train she intended to catch arrived, highlighting her disappointment she was unable to board it.

“This is my train that I won’t be getting on, I guess I’ll just watch it go,” she said, alluding to the guard not having a ramp ready for her in time to get on.

Ms Pennick’s video formed part of her campaign against rail firms announcing plans to close ticket offices in a bid to “modernise” its railways.

Train operators told staff last week that almost all of the 1007 remaining officers, except at the busiest stations, would be shut down within three years.

The wheelchair user said it was already hard enough to get assistance with guards at stations and feared an even more dire situation if offices were removed entirely.

“If ticket offices close, this would be a worsening of an already bad situation. It is already so difficult to turn up at a station and get the assistance you need,” she said.

“Moving staff out of the *designated place* they are *supposed* to be will make this a thousand times harder.”

Ms Pennick clarified that overground stations, like the one in her TikTok video, weren’t part of the current proposal, however the same situations would unfold at stations that were.

Her tweet gained support from thousands of people who were similarly disturbed at the company signalling its intention to remove staff from stations.

“Prime example of why all stations should be staffed. I had a colleague who collapsed on a station platform and staff saved his life,” one response read.

“It’s always the disabled community that get dumped with the burden of consequences of cuts. I know they are aware of the impact it will have, they just don’t care,” another said.

“This is wholly unacceptable. What sort of Society we are living in is just beyond words. I am sorry for your experience,” someone else wrote.

Keep the conversation going, email brooke.rolfe@news.com.au