| Re: Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by Marlburian at 12:28, 10th October 2025 |     |
... Freshford is a curious case ... in terms of both county and accessibility.The station in indeed in Somerset (BaNES) but can only be reached by rail from Wiltshire - the red and blue line on this map shows the county boundary...
As we're digressing a little: Julie Davis in From Blackout to Bungalow, her comprehensive account of Wiltshire in
the Second World War, frequently refers to "Freshford on the Wiltshire-Somerset border", but notes it as being in "Som." in the Index.
Tidworth could be described as on the Wiltshire-Hampshire border; it's said that one entered the station in one county and boarded a train in the other, a story confirmed by contemporary maps that show the county boundary going across the platform. Boundary tweaks in 1992 brought the entire town under Wiltshire.
| Re: Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by grahame at 11:54, 10th October 2025 | |
Minor point regarding the map. Isn't Freshford just over the border into Bath & North East Somerset rather than Wiltshire?
Freshford is a curious case ... in terms of both county and accessibility.
The station in indeed in Somerset (BaNES) but can only be reached by rail from Wiltshire - the red and blue line on this map shows the county boundary
(taken from a Neighbourhood Plan map - bright yellow, straddling the border.
I am at a loss as to why Freshford is described as inaccessible. The Bath bound platform is accessed through a gate, without steps, off the public road. The Westbury bound platform can be reached from the adjacent public byway crossing that's used by wheeled vehicles to access the meadows opposite, with a slope then up to the platform - loose surface for sure, and with a tiny lip, but much better than many I have seen. For sure there is a footbridge to access this second platform that does not have a lift or sloped ramp, and there is a sign extrolling pedestrians to actually use the bridge.
| Re: Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by bobm at 10:27, 10th October 2025 | |
Minor point regarding the map. Isn't Freshford just over the border into Bath & North East Somerset rather than Wiltshire?
| Re: Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by grahame at 21:51, 9th October 2025 | |
Great Western Railway (GWR) apologised and said it was exploring how to "deliver more robust staffing".
I am probably not going to make myself many friends by pointing out that "exploring how to" and "studying how we can" responses sound good, but may also be a very good way of appearing to followup but not actually going ahead and addressing the issue on the ground. That just might be explaining that it cannot reasonably be addressed, which they have partially done ...
At Yeovil Pen Mill, perhaps passenger who need to access a train at the outer platform and can't get across could wait on or be taken to the main platform, over the barrow crossing, by the train manager. And isn't there always a signalman around? Has to leave his box to hand over tokens, so why not help with the crossing - of all people he knows about rail safety. Dear GWR - hope this helps "explore how to" ... how about implementing it
| Re: Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 20:39, 9th October 2025 | |
Nailsea and Backwell station, which has steps to one platform and a very steep slope to the other, was due to have had ramps installed at both platforms more than 10 years ago but £1m funding was withdrawn in 2014 after a deadline to start the work was missed.
Picking up on a couple of points there:
1. I would have rephrased that, in that there are very steep steps to one platform (Platform 1) and a reasonable slope to the other (Platform 2). I do know, I've used them both, many times; it's my local station.
2. The £1 million plus price tag put on improvements did include provision for lifts. In my personal opinion, that would be inappropriate expenditure for just the few passengers who would actually benefit from them at NLS. The provision of an access ramp to platform 1 would be appropriate, but it, too, wouldn't be cheap: the platforms are built on top of a Victorian embankment, which was basically piled up with rubble from elsewhere. It's dimensions mean that it is perfectly stable for mainline railway purposes, but the outside edges are effectively a scree slope. When I did some work with the Severnside Community Rail Partnership, we were told not to allow any of our Community Payback workers up onto the embankments, to cut back undergrowth, for those safety reasons.
Just as an aside, there is no possibility of a foot crossing on the railway lines at NLS: the line speed here is 100mph and not all trains stop.
Chris from Nailsea.
| Visually-impaired woman 'had to cross track alone' at Yeovil Pen Mill - Aug 2024 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 17:47, 9th October 2025 | |
From the BBC:
A severely visually-impaired woman said she crossed railway tracks alone to catch a train, after station staff she had booked to help her did not turn up.
Kath Vickery has now started a petition to improve assistance arrangements after feeling "too anxious" to use her local station - Yeovil Pen Mill in Somerset - following the "really scary experience".
Great Western Railway (GWR) apologised and said it was exploring how to "deliver more robust staffing".
Figures show 10 out of 62 stations (16%) across the West of England have either no step-free access or issues with at least one platform. The Department for Transport said improving accessibility is "at the centre" of its decision-making.
Ms Vickery uses a cane and needs assistance when navigating railway stations. She said the incident happened in August 2024 - although she only started her petition recently after other more minor incidents.
Yeovil Pen Mill has a stepped footbridge to get to one of its platforms, but staff are able to help people across the tracks using a private level crossing reached by a ramp, if needed.
"When I got there I was a bit stuck because the ticket office was shut and that's usually where I find staff," she said. "I didn't feel comfortable going across the bridge on my own. I walked down to the track crossing in the hope someone would help. I rang the passenger assist call centre, I had a 13-minute conversation with them - they accidentally cut me off transferring me to someone - in the end I managed to attract the attention of someone at the station who told me I could cross, so then I had to run across the track crossing and up the platform to get my train. It was a really scary experience for me and obviously not great for safety, and still really affects me now."
Passenger assistance can be booked in advance for rail journeys - by phone, online or using an app - and is confirmed with the passenger. When assistance has been booked, if staff are then unable to fulfil that, the passenger is meant to be informed and GWR said it offers alternatives including a free taxi to the nearest accessible station.
Staff are meant to be available at Yeovil Pen Mill from 07:20 to 18:25 on weekdays, other than a lunch break, with shorter hours at weekends.
Ms Vickery used to use the station every week or two to get to medical appointments and ad hoc self-employed work in Bristol and Weymouth. She said she has recently had to turn down work in Weymouth as she felt unable to rely on the assistance she would receive at Yeovil Pen Mill.
Ms Vickery said losing the option of using the railway station long-term would be a "disaster" for her, with the only alternative to Bristol being a three-hour bus journey. "It's not like I've got the choice between driving and catching a train - the choices I have are very, very limited and that's why making sure the station is staffed its scheduled hours is so very important to me," she said.
She said she had two cancellations of assistance in the last year in addition to the experience in August 2024 when she was not informed the station would be unstaffed. "I think it's really important that disabled people have equal opportunity to use services and that includes train stations - and in order to use the train station I need there to be staff there," Ms Vickery said.
A spokesperson for GWR said: "We recognise that staffing gaps during holiday periods have impacted advertised opening hours at Yeovil Pen Mill, and we apologise for any inconvenience this causes passengers like Kath who rely on staff assistance. While our dedicated team works hard to maintain coverage, we know that we need to increase the staff relief pool to consistently staff all stations during peak leave periods, and we're exploring opportunities to deliver more robust staffing."
According to the disabled-led campaign group Transport for All a quarter (25%) of UK train stations have step-free access with 11% of stations staffed at all times.
Of Somerset's 10 national rail stations, four (40%) do not have step-free access to all platforms, which can be used independently of station staff, according to information listed on the National Rail website.
For example, Castle Cary station, on the Paddington mainline, has a stepped footbridge to the westbound platform meaning passengers need staff available to help them across the tracks.
Across the West of England, 10 out of 62 stations (16%) have either no step-free access, like Avoncliff and Freshford in Wiltshire, or issues with at least one platform.
Nailsea and Backwell station, which has steps to one platform and a very steep slope to the other, was due to have had ramps installed at both platforms more than 10 years ago but £1m funding was withdrawn in 2014 after a deadline to start the work was missed.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said it was "taking action to make rail travel easier and more reliable for disabled passengers". They added this included investing more than £10m to upgrade the Passenger Assist scheme, publishing a rail accessibility roadmap and improving information about the facilities available to provide support to passengers at stations.
