Recommendation 19

An unreasonable burden is currently placed on disabled people themselves in holding transport operators and authorities to account for fulfilling their duties. Legal action is rarely a practical option for most individuals, so it is especially important that complaints processes are made more accessible and effective. The user should not have to be an expert either in the law or in organisational structures across varied transport modes to know whether they have a valid complaint, to whom it should be addressed, how to contact that body and how to escalate the complaint if necessary. In the long term, there may be a case for rationalising the number of organisations who deal with transport accessibility complaints, but in the meantime, a unified ‘front of house’ service could make a meaningful difference to users. We note plans to establish a passenger standards authority in the rail sector, but this covers just one mode of transport and will not be an accessibility-specific body. (Conclusion, Paragraph 104) 77