My disabled mother paid £500 to travel near an Avanti accessible toilet … and it was closed
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The nearest one was seven carriages away and my father couldn’t push her in a wheelchair that far. My disabled mother and elderly father recently travelled by train to London for the first time in years to celebrate a big birthday. They paid £500 for first-class tickets on Avanti West Coast, primarily for the use of an easily accessible toilet. However, it was a disaster.
![[Zoe Wood]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/07/28/Zoe_Wood.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
My mother is a wheelchair user and my 80-year-old father is her carer. They were gutted to discover that the toilet in their carriage was not working due to a faulty door, and there were no other accessible ones in reach. The nearest was seven carriages away.
It was not possible for my father to push a wheelchair that far on a train. Disabled people are already at such a disadvantage, even in finding the money for such expensive train tickets. My parents were extremely uncomfortable and, to be quite frank, worried my mother was going to wet herself.
Avanti’s initial suggestion was to “offload” them at the next stop, which was demeaning and insulting. Of course, getting a refund will require a lifetime of effort but, more than anything else, I want to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
Name and address supplied. This was a horrible experience for your parents. After we contacted Avanti West Coast it apologised and offered them a full refund, as well as new tickets to travel at a future date. “We’ve also offered a phone call with our accessibility and inclusion manager to apologise directly, and speak to them about the circumstances of their journey to ensure lessons are learned,” it says.
