Paraplegic passenger told to take train 30 miles to reach opposite platform

A wheelchair-bound woman was told she would have to take a train for 30 miles in order to cross to an opposite platform.

Julie Cleary, 53, was hoping to use a new £2.8 million lift at Staplehurst train station in Kent so she could get out of the station after a day trip to London but was told she could not use it because of "health and safety".

Miss Cleary was told instead to catch a train to Ashford International Station, 15 miles away, and back so she would end up on the right platform which was just 20 yards away.



She said: "We'd come back from London and when we got back to the station we wanted to use the new lift to get back over the tracks and it was closed. The lights were on but there was a metal bar over the button. We couldn't use it.

"We were told to wait for the next rain to Ashford, cross the tracks and come back to get on the other side of the platform - which was 15 - 20 yards away. That was our only choice."

Miss Cleary, who has been forced to use a wheelchair since suffering a spinal aneurysm when she was 12-years-old, said she was told the high-tech lift could only be used when the station was manned and the only other way across was to take a 30 mile round trip to Ashford International station.

There's a news video here.