London Bridge Protest this Wednesday: ABC join Transport for All for Southern Rail challenge!

We have fought as hard as we can on this issue and have been met with a wall of silence from both Southern Rail and the government. So, we’ll be taking to the station platform once again to make our voices heard; and stand in solidarity with those who no longer have the freedom and flexibility that the rest of us take for granted.

SIGN UP HERE: Please join us for the London Bridge protest this Wednesday at 6pm.

Where and When?

17:00-17:30 – Short briefing at the Heeltap bar, Borough Highstreet, SE1 1NX, before walking together from 17:30 to London Bridge Station
18:00 – Meet on the upper concourse of London Bridge Station for the start of the protest. The protest will be taking place outside the building.

The Message

Transport for All hear daily of the unacceptable treatment faced by so many disabled and older travellers on our Railways. Whether it’s booked assistance failing to turn up, inaccessible platforms or a lack of accessible facilities on trains – what is clear is that our railways are failing disabled and older passengers.

Southern Rail’s withdrawal of ‘turn up and go’ assistance comes after the controversial introduction of driver only operation on their network. Without guards to provide assistance there is no guarantee that disabled and older people will be able to board or leave the train at unmanned stations.

The normalisation of 24-hour advance booking across the entire Southern Rail network is a giant backwards step for access rights and we refuse to accept that disabled people should be paying the price.

Speakers

Speakers will include the paralympian Anne Wafula Strike, Faryal Velmi and Alan Benson of TfA, and junior doctor Hannah Barham Brown.

**We’ll also be hosting an exclusive premiere of a new song from “Southern Fail: The Musical”, performed by Mark Brailsford of Brighton’s The Treason Show!**

Hannah Barham-Brown, junior doctor:

“As a doctor I have no idea when I will be leaving work or even going to work. It’s impossible for me to book 24 hours in advance for my travel, and I cannot be 2 hours late for work at a busy hospital while I wait to board a train. We’re not asking rail companies for perfection, we’re just asking for the very basic access that we need to go about our everyday lives.”

Faryal Velmi, Director of Transport for All:

“It’s shameful that Southern Rail are allowing disabled passengers to bear the brunt of their failures to deliver a reliable service. We have heard daily from disabled transport users stranded on freezing platforms, or forced to crawl onto trains when rail companies have failed to assist them. This unacceptable backwards step for access simply cannot be allowed to stand so we’re coming together to demand that Southern Rail reverse their decision”

Emily Yates, Co-founder of Association of British Commuters:

“We believe that Southern Rail is turning the clock back on access rights; just another part of the collateral damage that has been caused by the Department for Transport’s year-long war with the unions. We urgently need nationwide standards of accessibility in relation to DOO – not only for the sake of disabled travelers but also to prevent the dispute spreading nationwide. Ultimately, this is the responsibility of the Department for Transport, whose duty it is to hold train operating companies to account and ensure they comply with Equality law.”

About our alliance with Transport for All

Transport for All are the UK’s foremost defenders of access rights for the disabled and we were overjoyed to welcome them to our judicial review case last month. They have now written to the High Court asking to intervene and provide evidence of the extensive impact the Southern Rail crisis has had – and still has – on disabled passengers.

Transport for All will be represented by Chris Fry, the award-winning Equality and Human Rights lawyer who recently gained a significant Supreme Court victory on the right to bus access.

We are looking forward to working with them to set a new precedent for rail access rights – the aim of our case is to compel the Department for Transport to accept their responsibility for enforcing the Equality Act 2010, and ensure that all train operating companies comply in future.

Please join us at London Bridge this Wednesday! – SIGN UP HERE