Disabled woman left for two hours in pouring rain on train station platform slams railway's 'disgusting' wheelchair service
A disabled wheelchair user has said she is 'disgusted' with a rail company after they left her sat on a station platform for two hours in the pouring rain.
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Kirsty Hoare of Shifnal had to eventually be carried over a railway bridge by her husband, after the pair had waited for more than two hours for assistance from West Midlands Railways.
The 35-year-old, who suffers from multiple physical conditions, became a powerchair user earlier this year due to her physical disabilities.
While her local train station in Shifnal is not accessible to wheelchair users, Mrs Hoare used the Passenger Assistance App offered by West Midlands Railways when she wanted to travel by train.
But the move left her marooned at a station when assistance failed to show up.
“I'd not long been a powerchair user when a group of us decided to go to Birmingham to visit a steam rally in September,” she said. “My husband and I decided to go by train. West Midlands Railways have a Passenger Assistance App, which I used to book some help well in advance.
“How it works is when there is a platform without wheelchair access, such as Shifnal, which has a stepped bridge, you arrange on the app to get taken to the nearest accessible station and they send a taxi to take you, and on the way back, they arrange for you to get off at the nearest accessible platform and collect you.”