A disabled woman’s £500 train journey turns into a nightmare with a closed toilet
Birmingham: A disabled woman recently had a rough experience on an Avanti West Coast train. She paid a whopping £500 for first-class tickets, mainly to have access to an accessible toilet. But guess what? The toilet was closed!
Her child reached out to the Guardian to share their frustration. They mentioned that the nearest working toilet was seven carriages away, which was a huge problem since her father couldn’t push her wheelchair that far.
They were really upset. The family had planned this trip to London to celebrate a special birthday after years of not traveling. But when they found out the toilet was out of order, it turned into a disaster.
The mother, who uses a wheelchair, and her elderly father were left feeling uncomfortable and worried. They even thought she might have an accident. It’s tough enough for disabled folks to afford expensive train tickets, let alone deal with this kind of hassle.
To make matters worse, Avanti suggested they get off at the next stop, which felt really disrespectful. Getting a refund seemed like it would take forever, but they just wanted to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
After the Guardian stepped in, Avanti finally apologized and offered a full refund along with new tickets for a future trip. They also promised to have a chat with their accessibility manager to discuss what went wrong and how to improve things.
