Disabled passenger felt like 'second-class citizen' after wheelchair space on train blocked by catering trolley

A disabled woman was left feeling “like a second-class citizen” when she boarded a Greater Anglia train to find her allotted wheelchair space taken up with a catering trolley and boxes of food.

Hollie Brooks, a 29-year-old audience development manager and freelance journalist from Durham, was travelling from Norwich to Colchester on 30 August when the incident occurred.

Having booked a wheelchair space with a companion seat well in advance, Hollie was surprised to hear from a member of staff on the platform that the trolley was currently in her space, but was assured it would be moved.

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Upon boarding, Hollie discovered that the cart was still in the space she had booked. She was required to sit on the other side of the aisle, in a space which didn’t have a seat opposite for her boyfriend, Richard.

“I’d booked a wheelchair space with a companion seat as I get travel anxiety since becoming disabled three months ago,” Hollie tells The Independent. “I had a full-blown panic attack on the way back.”

The boxes of food and water bottles also blocked the space so that Hollie couldn’t turn her chair around and had to face the window, meaning she couldn’t communicate with her partner at all.

“One of the worst things was that people were queuing up to get tea and coffee,” she says. “It felt like a health and safety nightmare waiting to happen – the train could have jolted at any time and someone could have spilt hot coffee over me. I couldn’t have jumped up or moved.”

She adds: “I also couldn’t get to the toilet as the queue for the catering cart was blocking the aisle. People kept tripping over my feet and the wheelchair.”

The member of staff who was manning the trolley told Hollie it was Greater Anglia policy to use one of the wheelchair spaces in first class for catering facilities if the buffet car wasn’t in use.

“It felt like Greater Anglia were ignoring my needs and the needs of other disabled passengers,” says Hollie.

“Greater Anglia said they would have moved the cart if another wheelchair user had got on. But why take that risk? And how long would that passenger have had to wait on the platform to board?

“There was nowhere else for the trolley to go, the member of staff told me as much.

“It’s as if they just don’t expect disabled people to be out and about. They’re not prepared at all.”

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The experience left Hollie, who only became disabled three months ago after viral meningitis and sepsis caused her to lose the use of her left leg, feeling like she was a secondary consideration.

“I felt like a second-class citizen. It felt like serving tea and coffee was more important than my wellbeing, a paying customer. It makes you feel like you do not matter.

“I’m not asking for anything special – just my basic rights.”

The train company responded to Hollie on Twitter, saying: “Hi. There are two wheelchair spaces in this carriage. If there had been two wheelchairs, staff would have moved the trollies, so that both wheelchair users had their space. We are sorry Hollie is upset as we’re trying hard to improve travel for all people with disabilities.”

She says the reply made her feel “patronised”: “Their response made it sound like I wasn’t mentally capable of having a clear view on anything. Their response takes every bit of onus from them and puts it onto me, and every other person, disabled or not, who found their behaviour unacceptable.”

Hollie says she wants to see train companies change their behaviour and attitude towards disability right from the people at the top to staff on the ground.

“So many train companies come back and trot out the same old line – ‘We want to make journeys as comfortable as possible for disabled passengers’,” she says. “But they don’t put it into practice.

“Disabled people’s whole lives are a struggle, but at the same time we’re happy, we’re content. We’re the same as anyone else and just want to be treated that way – we need a little extra help sometimes, that’s all.

“We need to educate from the top down and the bottom up; conversations need to happen and they need to happen now.”

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said of the incident: “We are sorry to hear Hollie was disappointed with her journey yesterday.

“Hollie had booked assisted travel at Norwich station and staff helped her on and off the train. She had a disabled seat in first class. Several members of staff checked that she had enough room and was comfortable.

“This train had a static trolley service instead of a café bar. The static trolley was located across the aisle from Hollie’s seat, in an unused disabled seat. Had this area been needed during the journey, our staff would have moved the trolleys.

“We want all of our customers to have a good experience when travelling with us. We have recently taken a group of passengers with different needs to Switzerland where they gave their input on our new trains, which are due to be introduced next year.”