6 May 2009 End of line transport report at The Houses Of Parliament
Hi I’m Veronica I’m 24 and from Shrewsbury. I have CMT and work as a Graphic Designer for The Neuromuscular Centre in Winsford. Yesterday I attended the launch of the end of line report, into the state of public transport in the UK at the Houses of Parliament, This is the first Trailblazing event I have attended and I was really amazed at everyone’s views and experiences on using public transport, and by how much the MP’s showed a keen interest in getting changes implemented as soon as possible. I travelled down to London by train and after a short tube journey I arrived at the Houses of Parliament to find everyone having their photos taken and being interviewed by the press. Bobby called my over and I managed to get in on a few of the photos and even got interviewed by the local news station. I met a lot of fellow trailblazers who all made me feel very welcome and we then headed across to the meeting rooms ready to put the campaign across to the mps. I felt this went really well, and they seemed to genuinely want to see change happen! I thought the idea of getting train operating companies etc to get their staff to try their services in a wheelchair was a great idea, maybe it’s the only way they will really see how difficult our lives are. After all we all just want some independence and to be able to get around as easily as everyone else! As someone who doesn’t use a wheelchair I often find the amount of stairs at a train station really difficult, especially if I have luggage to carry when visiting friends or going on holiday. I used a local train service from Shrewsbury to London Marylebone yesterday, it’s run by Wrexham and Shropshire railways, it takes a little longer but it is much cheaper and a lot more luxurious, there is an old fashioned buffet coach and the staff will even carry your purchases to your seat, they even assist you to get off the train… but they assist everyone so you don’t feel any different! An anytime open return cost me £26.40 with my railcard, the journey itself is very relaxing and not having to change at Birmingham new street is great, that often puts me off visiting London as the amount of stairs to climb to change platform can be very tiring and if there are last minute platform alterations it can be a nightmare!! The train was quiet and whenever I have used the service I have never had to stand, unlike other train companies! I am not sure as to how easy it would be for a wheelchair user to use this service as they use quite old carriages, I do know they are currently changing their carriages for more modern ones, I shall however look into this and keep you all posted, but they certainly care about their customers! London I still find quite tiring to get around. The tube is a great, fast way of getting about but the amount of stairs and passageways to walk round before getting onto train are very tiring. It was lovely to meet others yesterday who suffer with this problem too and it was great to make the mps aware that there is a great range of people who suffer with transport issues. I really do hope change happens… and I really do think we should take them up on the offer to return in a year to see how things are progressing! Hopefully we’ll all soon be able to go anywhere we want with as little hassle as possible!!
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