Several wheelchair users were stuck on a train for five hours with no one to assist them off the carriage and staff ignoring their pleas for assistance, leaving them in “horrendous pain” and feeling like “second-class citizens”.
Disabled passengers travelling from London King's Cross towards Gatwick and Surrey were “shocked by the lack of care” they experienced by Thameslink staff who did not come to their assistance on March 18.
Their journey home almost immediately started to go wrong when passengers were told that the train would be diverting to Elephant and Castle.
The doors opened at Blackfriars Station where the majority of passengers got off the carriages.
However, there was no ramp in place for the disabled travellers to disembark onto the packed platform, and before they could flag for assistance, the doors closed and the train pulled away from the station.
Disabled passengers abandoned on train for FIVE hours as staff 'ignored' pleas for help: 'I felt like a second-class citizen'GB News/ Getty
The disabled passengers were stuck on the 'not in service train' for hours
GB News
Trish Duffy, 38, one of the wheelchair users trapped on the train told GB News: “At this point, we started to panic a little bit.”
Duffy, who had been travelling home following a hospital appointment, added: “I’m already in a lot of pain and I was longing to get home.”
Unfortunately for the 38-year-old, who is an amateur sports player, it would take her almost five hours to complete the journey that should have been an hour.
Another disabled passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, was forced to take matters into their own hands after being “left with no information on a train going to a station which was not accessible”.
Trish Duffy, 38, was one of the disabled passenegrs trapped on the train
GB News
They told the People’s Channel: “With no other way of getting help or information I pressed the emergency button which brought the train to a halt.
"However, the driver did not respond for a long time and when he did I explained the situation but there was no response or attempt to get me to repeat what I had said.”
The train driver finally appeared about 15 minutes later, where he turned off the alarm, “refused to answer any questions”, and then walked back to the front of the train.
They added: “During the time when I pressed the alarm and the remaining non-disabled passengers were starting to blame me for delaying their journey and saying discriminatory things to me. One person told me I should just go down the stairs.
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Their journey home almost immediately started to go wrong when passengers were told that the train would be diverting to Elephant and Castle
Geograph
Stuck on the train, Duffy’s thoughts went straight to her autistic child, who had been left alone without his mum for hours
GB News
The passengers were stuck at Loughborough Junction for two hours
Wikimedia Commons
“I have been commuting to work for many years now and have never pressed the emergency button, having had this reaction I would be extremely hesitant to do this again if I needed assistance.”
Finally arriving at Elephant and Castle station, a non-accessible station, the wheelchair passengers had to remain on the train whilst others disembarked.
The disabled passengers, who had been told to stay put, were informed that they would be going to Blackfriars, however the journey was nothing but smooth.
For the next couple of hours, the disabled travellers were stuck on the train being driven forwards and backwards to different stations, unable to disembark and “with no option but to wait”.
The delays were blamed on a fire that broke out at Farringdon, however, the group did not receive this information from Thameslink staff, instead receiving updates from one of the passenger’s local station that they called to ask for details.
Mark Elphick, 62, a veteran who had both knees replaced, described the whole ordeal as “horrendous”, with the passengers being left in the dark.
“One staff member even waved to us whilst we were stuck on the train,” he said.
Stuck at Loughborough Junction for two hours, Duffy’s thoughts went straight to her autistic child, who had been left alone without his mum for hours.
Mark Elphick, 62, a veteran who lost both his legs below the knee whilst on duty, described the whole ordeal as “horrendous”, with the passengers being left in the dark
GB News
The unexpected lengthy journey also meant that Duffy did not have her medication on her, causing her to experience a lot of discomfort.
“I’m in a lot of pain. I haven't got my medication with me because it's a medication I'd take in the evening. And I should have been home hours ago. All three of us really were in a lot of pain at this point,” she said.
One of the passengers said that for the whole time they were at the station, they only got the “occasional announcement”.
They said this was voiced over the tannoy “as if there were 100 people on the train however he knew it was just us”.
Finally leaving Loughborough Junction and pulling up to Blackfriars, the staff “seemed uninformed of the situation.”
“One of the disabled people on the train was a war veteran with prosthetic legs. He could barely walk and I had to argue with the staff to get him a wheelchair,” the anonymous passenger said.
They were helped off the carriage and moved to the next train, though the experience made the passengers feel “as if we were objects and not human beings”, with one staff member referring to them as a “wheelchair”, rather than a wheelchair user.
Moving once more, the journey hit a snag once again when the train unexpectedly terminated at East Croydon, where the lift was also out of order.
The out of order lift at East Croydon station
GB News
Duffy said: “I had to push my manual wheelchair being in extreme pain at this point to the top of the ramp to access that platform. It wasn’t until I got near the top that I was offered any help.”
All three managed to get home, finally completing the journey in five hours when it should have taken one or two.
“I was also unable to go to the toilet for that entire time as I cannot use the loos on trains on a good day and my legs were shaking so much from the pain I would have fallen over,” one of the disabled passengers said.
Duffey reflected on the five-hour ordeal: “It made you feel like a second-class citizen. Just treating you like you don’t exist.
“Everyone else was able to complete their journeys with relative ease but no one thought about us and no one checked in on us.”
Elphick said since the ordeal he has been feeling “depressed”. He suffers from PTSD following his time in the armed forces and incidents like this really impact his mood.
He said: “People need to look out for disabled people, we’re not invisible.”
Elphick noted the significance of the incident occurring on the day the Labour Government announced cuts to the welfare state, saying that many disabled people in the UK are being cast aside.
Head of Accessibility at Govia Thameslink Railway Carl Martin told GB News: “We would like to extend our sincere apologies for what happened. A fire broke out at Farringdon station in the centre of London which led to very severe delays to all our Thameslink services.
"Wheelchair users are able to get off at Blackfriars station on their own if they are in the central accessible carriage where we have raised platform humps to provide level boarding but Elephant & Castle station, where the train was afterwards diverted, has no lifts and is not accessible.
“When we learned about the group on board, a decision was taken to return the train to Blackfriars as quickly as possible. However, the fire had stopped all trains from running and there were several stuck between stations. Loughborough Junction station, where this train had to stop and wait, also has no lifts.
“Knowing that we had the group on board, our controllers made it their priority to move the trains trapping it as soon as the line in central London reopened and return it to Blackfriars as soon as possible.
“We are sorry about the lack of information. Our understanding is the passengers were in touch with staff and messages were passed to Blackfriars to prepare for their arrival.
“We take the wellbeing of all our passengers extremely seriously, especially those who are disabled, and very much regret what happened. We hope to be able to speak with the passengers to understand more and learn from their experience.”
