Rail Services: Disabled Access

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Transport – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 23 February 2017.

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Photo of Paul Maynard Paul Maynard Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport) 12:00, 23 February 2017

I would be very concerned at any suggestion that it is appropriate, in any way shape or form, for passengers with a disability to travel in the guard’s van. Indeed, most of our rolling stock these days does not have a guard’s van to travel in. Like the hon. Lady, I have received a number of worrying complaints. I have met the Office of Rail and Road, which scrutinises the licence conditions under which all train operating companies operate. It is conducting a very careful evaluation of the thresholds for triggering licence conditions, which is why it is doing a mystery shopping exercise. Over and above that, I want to ensure that where individual passengers have an inadequate level of service, they too have a route to go down to seek redress from train operating companies.