General Discussion
We all are aware of the shortfalls of Dawlish railway station when it comes to the disabled, but this morning I realised that they are anti disabled.
I took my disabled friend there this morning, upon arriving we discovered there were no seats on platform two except for the ones not under cover.
My friend who cannot stand for more than a couple of minutes, perched himself on the edge of a planter, magically a BR employee appeared and berated my friend for sitting there as he could damage the plants. Which I noticed needed sorting out anyway as most had gone to seed.
I pointed out the lack of seats and that my friend was disabled.
In al fairness five minutes before the train was due he turned up with a chair.
When the train arrived, it stopped after the canopy and all the passengers had to trudge through the rain to alight.
Well done Dawlish railway station.
This might be something that Friends Of Dawlish Station can address? They're certainly supposed to be looking after the donated planters.
You can't blame the station though for where the train stopped lol, but you've made a very point about the lack of cover.
Why not? They're are all the same service, I would have thought the station could instruct the trains where to stop and start.
@Elvis. I think FGW own the railway station so they are the people to go to with that query. Usally when a disabled person wants to get on, they have a ramp ready to get on a train. Also any member of staff getting angry about plants(?) should be reported. By the way that was a FGW member of staff, not BR.
There is signage at all stations/platforms indicating where trains have to stop, the location of which is determined by the number of coaches on the train. Train drivers have to abide by the signage.
In an ideal world, the entire length of platforms would be under cover. Likewise all pavements to stop people walking to train stations from getting wet lol.
@ Our Soul. I agree with you but Dawlish Is a small station with little cover. Which reminds me I got to buy a umbrella. lol.
I dont really care who owns what or who does it, I just think it doesn't do the image of our town any favours.
Hopefully the chairman of Friends of Dawlish Station will be on here soon to offer a solution to your dilemma.
Hi Elvis, the reason the seats are missing under the canopy is because a large sink hole appeared on the platform last week. The seats had to be removed whilst the engineers worked to remedy the problem. They worked incredibly hard and managed to get the platform safe for airshow day but they are now continuing with the work. Once it is finished the benches will be back in place.
I have just just got back from Bristol and having seen your post in my lunch break today I had a good look at all 10 planters. All except one are in very good condition and have not gone to seed. The one that looks a bit straggly is in that state because we did not have access to it for nearly a week so it went unwatered but is now picking up. The FoDS watering team water on four or five days every week and do a really good job. All are volunteers doing this in their own time. Our next planting day will be in early October because, like any garden, there are times of the year when you need to cut back and replant. We are always happy to welcome new members so do feel free to join us and help keep the station looking good.
Thanks for the explanation re the seating Margaret. Maybe some signage (communication is all) would stop people like Elvis and his disabled umbrella-less friend from having to complain against BR...
To be fair, it all happened so quickly and took everyone by surprise that they had done the first part of the work before any signs could have realistically been produced. Because it happened leading up to airshow day it proved to be a worst case scenario for the station manager and, to his credit, it was dealt with incredibly efficiently to ensure the safety of passengers on airshow day. There is now only a small area sectioned off but I would think the newly laid platform area needs to have time to settle before the benches are put back in place.
Thanks again Margaret. What you say makes sense. Hopefully someone will now put up some signs to inform customers during the interim period until the seating can be replaced.
I think that the staff at the railway station are very helpful and try their best to help all passengers. Unfortunately they are constrained by a lack of investment in better facilities at the station.
For example, a lift is required to make both platforms properly accessible for disabled passengers, and for those with wheelchairs or pushchairs.
If you arrive from Exeter after about 5pm there are no staff on duty to open the 'barrow crossing' (padlocked gate across the tracks). Anyone in a wheelechair is stuck on Platform 1 - completely unacceptable !
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/SME/html/NRE_DWL/objectvalues/1739-0000039.html
This is not a new problem
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=8795.0;imode