Taxi Driver Online

This should perhaps be seen in the context that it's a powered wheelchair, as mentioned by the train company towards the end of the article.

Please note also that the wheelchair user here is a journalist and a 'disability activist', which again helps contextualise the article.

Not that I'm trying to downplay how awful the experience must have been for her, but it reminded me of the earlier ombudsman piece - others suffering similarly or worse, but it never hits the headlines in the same way.


Wheelchair user waited four hours at 'freezing' Colchester train station for a taxi home

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-n ... rs-3566950

Hollie-Anne's trip from the station should have taken just 15 minutes


Image: Hollie-Anne Brooks/BBC

A wheelchair user was left waiting almost four hours "sat in a freezing waiting room" for her taxi at Colchester station.

Hollie-Anne Brooks was left stranded at the station on Tuesday (November 19) after there was a 'mix-up' with her taxi booking.

She pre-booked the wheelchair accessible taxi service through Greater Anglia to take her from Colchester to her home station, Wivenhoe, which is not fully wheelchair accessible.

The 30-year-old arrived at Colchester from London at about 11.15pm but it wasn't until 3am the next day that a taxi arrived to take her home, a journey which only took 15 minutes.

She took to twitter, tagging Greater Anglia, to post updates throughout her four-hour ordeal, which left her feeling "utterly fed up of the shoddy service provided to wheelchair users".

The freelance journalist said: "I’m so so fed up of trying to live and work and being utterly screwed over by the disgusting rail companies and transport systems and their lack of decent disabled access."

She posted a series of videos explaining how she had booked the taxi service 24 hours in advance and in an emotional outburst described feeling 'so alone'.

At 1.45am she was still stranded and posted an update to say that staff at the station were looking into getting a room at the nearest hotel.

At this point Hollie-Anne said :"I'm freezing cold, my body is shutting down."

The taxi due to pick Hollie-Anne up broke down on its way to the station, and the only other suitable taxi available had to come from Ipswich - 18 miles away.

By this point Hollie-Anne was worrying about her medication and posted another video of her crying at the station on Twitter.

A taxi finally arrived at 3am, almost four hours after Hollie-Anne arrived at the station.

At 3.15am Hollie-Anne finally made it home and said she "got into bed and just sobbed".

She said: "I can’t even put into words how horrific this has been mentally and physically."

What Greater Anglia had to say

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said: “We were aware of Hollie-Anne’s travel plans and had booked a taxi to collect her from Colchester. Unfortunately, the taxi we had booked broke down en route to the station.

“After calling several taxi firms in Essex and Suffolk we were able to source an alternative from Ipswich. There are a limited numbers of taxis able to accommodate a powered wheelchair and this number reduces further late at night.

“Our staff did all they could to help Hollie-Anne complete her journey keeping her as warm and comfortable as possible while she waited in the customer service office with a hot drink. We also tried to book a local hotel room for her.

“Once we sourced an appropriate taxi, Hollie-Anne was able to continue with her journey.

“We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused. We have contacted Hollie-Anne directly again, as we would be keen to meet with her to discuss her journey.”
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This in a BBC piece helps explain the involvement of the train company. The BBC article doesn't mention the powered wheelchair aspect, though.

step free access at a cost to the tax payer of about 1.5 million all for her benefit

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Got to feel for the lady, but I'm not sure what more could have been done.

There aren't that many vehicles about that time of night that can take a powered wheelchair, and maybe those that are out are already booked up.

One also wonders if the train firm have set suppliers and that limits their supply when things go awry.

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IDFIMH

Or maybe the train company is as bad a payer as Arriva is here in Chester, we still haven’t been paid for work carried out in August! That’s why most of us are refusing to cover the station call-outs now.

That could well be part of it. I don't know who's got the Greater Anglia franchise at the moment. First Group used to be very slow at paying.

I stopped doing rail work 20 years ago for the same reason train companies don't pay up

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

A lot of our guys got their fingers burnt by the Fraser Eagle scandal and haven’t done any station work since then.

mine was central trains=national express I had to write off about £200 after they insisted the paperwork(quadruplicate form) was missing and wouldn't pay even though I submitted my copy

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector