Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
1st Report – Access denied: rights versus reality in disabled people's access to transport
Transport Committee
HC 770
Published 20 March 2025
Recommendations
14
Acknowledged
Embed accessibility as a core goal for Great British Railways in forthcoming legislation.
Recommendation
The establishment of Great British Railways presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix accessibility as a core goal and responsibility of the railway and as a guiding principle for its decision-making. The opportunity must not be squandered, and we urge the …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that focused work will continue on the design of Great British Railways over the next 12-18 months, including how accessibility will be approached within its customer-focused culture, but does not explicitly commit to fixing accessibility as a core goal through a full range of mechanisms.
Department for Transport
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20
Acknowledged
Establish a unified service with disabled people to receive and triage transport accessibility complaints.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Department for Transport work with disabled people’s organisations to design a unified service to receive and triage accessibility complaints or reports of failures, ensure that they reach the relevant operator, authority or regulator, and follow them …
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Government Response Summary
The government highlights existing work to improve information on rights and redress, and commits to exploring how complaints processes and escalation routes could be simplified, but does not commit to designing or implementing a unified complaints service within the specified timeframe.
Department for Transport
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21
Acknowledged
Analyse complaint data to identify systemic issues and report quarterly on service improvements.
Recommendation
Users of such a service must receive assurance that information about complaints and failures is being aggregated and used proactively to improve systems and services, not just to effect redress to the individual. In order to achieve this, the Department …
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Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the complexity of complaints and has worked to improve information for disabled people. It commits to undertaking further work to explore and assess how complaints processes can be simplified, including mapping processes with stakeholders to identify how data use and transparency can be captured, collated, and published.
Department for Transport
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28
Acknowledged
Mandate regulators with resources to proactively enforce accessibility laws and publish breach data.
Recommendation
The Secretary of State should immediately give regulators an explicit mandate, backed by the necessary resources, to be far more proactive within the scope of their current powers in identifying and enforcing against breaches of accessibility law and regulations by …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees on the importance of enforcing accessibility duties and, as a first step, will reiterate these duties in annual leadership directive letters to Arm's-length Bodies and agencies. The Department also envisages co-producing an accessibility charter.
Department for Transport
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Conclusions (3)
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Despite all the mechanisms in place to safeguard accessibility, proposals which risked significantly damaging disabled people’s access to the rail network by closing hundreds of ticket offices were published in 2023 and only withdrawn after a huge response to public consultation. This was a waste of time and resources and …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that effective governance, transparency, and meaningful consultation are fundamental aspects of accountable government, acknowledging the principles behind the committee's observation regarding ticket office closures.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Operators are at pains to emphasise the complexity of the systems they work within, especially when it comes to journeys involving multiple organisations or modes. But people are entitled to expect to be able to make complicated journeys to get where they need to go; disabled people are no different. …
Government Response Summary
The government states it has already begun developing an Integrated National Transport Strategy focused on delivering seamless and accessible journeys for all users. This strategy aims to make transport user-focused, safe, inclusive, and reliable.
26
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The confidence that regulators evince in informal methods of enforcement and its deterrent effect on other operators is not justified by the experience of travellers. We recognise that reputational incentives such as performance rankings have a part to play, as do informal collaboration and education, but failure to adhere to …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees on the importance of regulators fulfilling their accessibility duties and will reiterate this in annual leadership letters. It intends to establish a collaborative forum to identify practical steps to improve accountability and strengthen enforcement mechanisms, and to co-produce an accessibility charter.