Disabled customer "humiliated by GWR staff"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Not sure it's a good idea to suggest that the chap on platform 11 was a stupid or deliberately foolish person, nor that he was born out of wedlock.  Such suggestions are personal attacks (although disguised in common slang) which are outside our posting ethos here.

[JayMac]

No date, no time, no identifying description. Hardly 'personal'.

What it is though is an all too common demonstration of the attitude of a hard core minority of staff on the gateline at Paddington. Who revel in the tiny bit of authority they wield.

[grahame]

... is an all too common demonstration of the attitude of a hard core minority of staff on the gateline at Paddington. Who revel in the tiny bit of authority they wield. ...

It does appear that way - that's assuming that the person wasn't performing in a safety role (such as lookout for a person working on the platform 11 track) which meant he was unable to leave his post, and had Hobson's choice between shouting and appearing rude, or letting the couple walk all the way to the barrier just to have to walk back.

[devonexpress]

Funnily enough the article also says she was on her first journey in a scooter from Burnham to London. Really?

Nichola Charvis, from Burnham, said her confidence was destroyed as she made her first solo journey in her wheelchair from Burnham to London Paddington.
Miss Charvis, 31, suffers from a neurological condition which means it is difficult for her to walk. She attempted the journey on Wednesday last week to try and build confidence having only been wheelchair-bound since July.

I'm not sure what's "really?" about that, unless on top of everything else you're calling her a liar?

If so, it's rather strange that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), having (presumably) investigated rather than just speculated, have apologised and admitted that "We’re really sorry Nichola had a bad experience travelling with us, this did fall short of the standards we set to provide for our customers".

Anyhow no doubt her confidence is totally shattered now, and it'll no doubt be a relief to certain members of the GWR fraternity that they will probably have one less pesky disabled person to deal with.

Is it really so painful for the GWR/railway advocates on here to admit that maybe, just maybe, the railways get it wrong sometimes and need to up their game? (especially as the Company admits this is the case) - you will probably find that the sky doesn't fall in.

Let's all hope for our own sakes that we never find ourselves in the same position.

You never have anything positive to say about GWR though.