Morning.
It's a beautiful, grey, rainy, autumnal day.
I've had to take a trip on Greater Anglia.
I'm gonna meet someone that's over here
and we're gonna have a fun and different day, for me,
but what's normal for them, to explore
what happens in the world of accessible travel.
GEOFF: Over here... Have you brought an umbrella?
He's been in one of my videos before. Today, you're in the whole thing.
- This is all about you. - Oh, crumbs. Oh, no.
This is Dominic. We're going to take some trains.
- Yes. - With you in your wheelchair.
You're gonna show me the world
- of how accessible travel works. - Yeah.
I've had to book this all in advance because I have to give notice
up to 10pm the night before if I want to guarantee travel.
Now that doesn't mean, though, that they won't provide me travel
if I just turn up to go.
So, essentially, you can turn up and go,
but I might have to wait a little bit if they've got other people to assist.
I'm just very mindful that we're going to Sudbury
and I want to make sure that I've got access to a toilet on the way.
So I'm just using Access Map to have a quick look and see, are there toilets at Sudbury?
No, there's not. Toilet at Marks Tey? Yay!
[door beeping]
DOMINIC: Normally, if you're buying a train ticket,
you've either got the ticket office option ... great.
Human being? Fantastic.
Or one of these. Ticket machine.
But one thing that people don't know: you can get help.
You've got this talkie-thing,
so you can plug a set of headphones in.
And you can get some help in making the machine work.
Hit the Ticket Assistance button here.
I'm not going to 'cos I don't want to upset them.
But, "Do you want to connect to our customer service advisor?"
Fantastic.
Hello!
GEOFF: So for you, if the station doesn't have a lift,
and there's no access, then you just can't use it?
No, they have to sort out alternative transport.
If you don't book assistance
you come onto the ramp and say, "Hi, I'd like to go to..."
in this case, Marks Tey and onto Sudbury.
How would you book assistance, and is it better to do that?
If you want to guarantee your assistance, book it in advance.
Life is spontaneous.
So rail operators know this, and they don't...
You're not a bad person if you don't book in advance.
You have a life, as a person living with a disability.
And that's the real thing here for disabled people,
to have that confidence.
If you can't book that's absolutely fine.
If staff need time to get ready...
For example, if it's a really short journey between stations,
they might say, "Do you mind getting one after so we can make sure
that there's somebody there to meet you?"
You just to be prepared for that.
[muffled platform announcement over tannoy]
GEOFF: Just explain the amazing feature of the new Intercity.
Look at that.
[door beeping]
- It's level! - [Geoff laughs]
GEOFF: How do you know between a 4 or an 8 car where it's gonna be?
STATION ASSISTANT: Normally on a four-car 360, there's only one accessible point.
That's where we're standing now.
You just learn on the job, basically.
It's also designated by a sign on the door as well,
- DOMINIC: I'm getting old, mate.
ASSISTANT: I'll let Marks Tey know you're coming.
GEOFF: We're in a Class 321. No accessible area?
DOMINIC: It's down the other end, and we thought it was down this end
because they've taken the yellow stripe off the side.
So we were looking for a particular stripe that wasn't on this one.
But actually, normally,
on a blue train, on a Class 360...
the wheelchair accessible area with a toilet
is in the middle of the train underneath the pantograph.
On the Class 321, it's at one end of the train or the other.
Usually the country end.
But this is what travel used to be like on a very regular basis
for many wheelchair users.
Because you didn't have an accessible carriage,
you sat in the doorway or the guard's van.
GEOFF: We're gonna a few stops to Marks Tey.
So, what, somebody at Chelmsford has called Marks Tey
- to say you're in this carriage? - Yes.
So when we get there, they should be there with the ramp.
- DOMINIC: Thank you very much, sir. - ASSISTANT: You're welcome.
GEOFF: We're at Marks Tey.
Dominic... I think he's just found the accessible toilet area.
- Have you got a RADAR key? - Yeah. You know what a radar key is?
So RADAR was the organisation that used to look after it,
and I think they still do, or it might be Disability Rights UK now.
But the important letters are N, K, S.
National Key System.
So every disabled toilet in the UK
where it's fitted with a radar key lock,
one key and you open the toilet.
So... I don't normally say this,
but... come with me.
There's space!
I can turn.
One of the common problems is,
with an accessible toilet, there's not always enough space.
But I mean, I can spin around in here. That's great.
[Dominic continues chatting]
Whilst we were chatting, our train has pulled in.
It's one of the new three-car Stadler FLIRT units.
Dominic's about to board.
DOMINIC: Bit of a challenge because this platform's on a curve.
There's still a whacking great gap.
The step's out but there's still a gap.
So I need a member of staff.
Because there are still ramps available.
This is the cool thing.
But I don't know where there's a member of staff.
ASSISTANT: So that holds tight under the plaftorm.
So we made a big fuss about the new Stadler train at Chelmsford
and then we're on one anyway here.
- This is the three-car... - Three cars.
It's the mini-version of the big Intercity train.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Welcome to this service for Sudbury.
ANNOUNCEMENT: We will be calling at Chappel and Wakes Colne..
DOMINIC: So we used to have these dot matrix that would fail,
and you wouldn't get all the information you need.
And the thing is, when you're looking for facilities on the train,
and you want to know what's going on, you need precise, clear information.
So on the signs,
normallt when people read them, they're looking for the shape of the words.
Not for the word itself, they're looking for the shape.
To really understand, "That says Sudbury."
"That says Chappel."
And that's why they're brilliant,
because dot matrix, they're not very clear.
But LCD is.
It's really cool. It's really good.
GEOFF: You can't see, I'm a little bit gobsmacked.
I genuinely never considered that.
If you have the shape of the writing,
and it's an actual shape, more than a dot matrix,
it can help some people understand the word better.
That's incredible. That had never occurred to me.
[door beeping]
ANNOUNCEMENT: Sudbury. Yhis train is now terminating. All change please.
GEOFF: Is it game-changing,
having a boarding ramp built into the train?
DOMINIC: Yep.
I talk of it like... empowerment.
Basically, I didn't need anybody to help me get off the train.
I did exactly what any of my peers who aren't wheelchair users would do,
which was, I got on, I got off, I got on, I got off...
That's the basic sort of thing of getting on a train,
and I did that without any assistance at all.
Is there anything you can do about the rain? 'Cos you're getting wet.
- Unfortunately not. - And the camera's getting wet.
Let's take you somewhere dry. Come on.
We've had a spot of lunch,
we're back in the station, trains-a-pullin' in,
and actually, we've got to go back to Chelmsford.
At Marks Tey there's a footbridge,
and we need to cross to the other side, which we can't do,
So we've got to go north to Colchester
and then cross over, and reverse
to come back south to get to Chelmsford.
DOMINIC: I want to show you a little trick.
Press and hold.
- Stays open now. - GEOFF: What?
How did you... what?
DOMINIC: Until the driver forces the doors to close, they'll stay open.
Gives you extra time.
DOMINIC: Thank you, sir.
That's it. So now, we have to get the lift.
To go down under the tracks,
up the other side,
and go and get a train to Chelmsford, the other way.
We weren't expecting to make this train
'cos the connection was too tight,
but it's running a couple of minutes late, so we can get the new Stadler.
But is there going to be someone with a ramp?
I don't know what's happening with the ramp.
GEOFF: Are we getting...
[beeping]
GEOFF: We weren't meant to make this train.
This is the xx:07, it's xx:11 now, so a couple of minutes late.
And we saw it come in.
From my point of view, 'cos it was me,
I just think, "Oh, I'll just run..."
Shouldn't run on platforms... I'd walk quickly
and just jump on the rear carriage.
But you obviously wanted to come down to Coach C.
DOMINIC: Yeah.
GEOFF: I was thinking, what if it goes without us?
DOMINIC: Because this is a dedicated area,
I'd rather be here and safe , so I can reverse my wheelchair against something solid
that the toilet's there if I need it...
And if there's an emergency
the staff will know to check in this area
for somebody who is a wheelchair user or has mobility disabilities.
GEOFF: We're back at your car, outside Chelmsford station.
So you said to me, what are the takeaways from today?
But actually I think, Geoff, what are the takeaways for you?
Yeah, I became acutely aware...
Simple things, when we were crossing the road in Sudbury
I just step out wherever I fancy,
and you're going, "Hang on, where's the ramp?"
You wanted to very deliberately get on Carriage C on the Stadler train.
There's a bit of drama in the video, and you were pacing down the platform.
So it makes me aware that I just think, "Get on at any door"
but you obviously have to go, "I want to get on that door."
But... I can't remember where we were, there was a genuine moment
when we got off at Sudbury,
and you were like, "I just got off the train by myself,"
And you were like, "I'm empowered." And I was like, "Oh!"
'Cos I take that as read, as granted.
And for you... and it's not just Greater Anglia,
even though we're doing it on their service,
other operators are having this too.
And we got off the train just now, and I went, "What about the ramp?"
And you went, "Don't need a ramp. We got level boarding."
You were off the train, just like I would.
But when you got off at Sudbury, you were like, "Yeah!"
You punched the air! In a little moment of celebration.
Dominic... I've had a fun day.
- Have you really? - I've learned things.
Thank you so much. Covid handshake.
Thank you.
Dramatic shot of you driving away?
- Or dramatic shot of... - Yeah, you can have a dramatic shot.
Dramatic shot of Dominic driving away.