Disabled man films Northern Rail refusal to help boarding train in Manchester

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

A train company has apologised after a disabled passenger filmed one of the guards refusing to help him board a carriage.

Father-of-one Qamar Khaliq said the train guard repeatedly refused to respond to his pleas for help at Manchester Piccadilly on Saturday.

The 35-year-old said he was left with no choice but to film the guard's reaction.

Northern Rail has apologised and is investigating the incident.

Mr Khaliq said what should have been a 10-minute journey back home to Guide Bridge in Audenshaw ended up taking him nearly two hours.

"I always arrive at least 10 minutes early to ensure I can get helped on the train without a problem. There were no platform staff around and I could not see a train guard. A passenger on the train got up to help me and knocked on the guard's window to say there was a man in a wheelchair who needed help. When I asked for his assistance he made a no sign at me and said 'I can't take you, you will have to get the next one'. When I asked him why he refused to answer me and then refused to speak at all and just ignored me."

Mr Khaliq started to film the guard's reaction. "Another train guard even yelled at me as I left saying the police would be coming and they would take my mobile phone off me for filming it," he added.

In the end, he said he left the station and instead boarded a bus, finally returning home at 2245 BST after initially trying to board the train for a 10-minute journey at 2036 BST that evening.

Pete Myers, head of service quality for Northern Rail, said: "We would help anyone who needs assistance. That's why we put ramps on our trains and why we have assistants too. I would like to apologise to Mr Khaliq. Whatever has gone on he could not make his journey without hindrance and that's not right."

[IndustryInsider]

Reminds me of an incident on the Cotswold Line a few years ago.  Nice shiny blue ramp holders were installed at most of the stations, but not all Senior Conductors had been issued with a key to unlock them.  Cue a very embarrassing scene where a lady with severe paralysis (her wheelchair was controlled by movements with her mouth) had to be lifted by the SC and a friend - along with her very heavy wheelchair - down onto the platform at Hanborough.

Whilst not wishing to condone what sounds like a very unfortunate incident, quite why the fact he's a father-of-one is worthy of opening the second paragraph is beyond me - did that have any bearing on the incident?

[Phil]

quite why the fact he's a father-of-one is worthy of opening the second paragraph is beyond me - did that have any bearing on the incident?

Suggests to me that he can't be paralysed completely from the waist down, but apart from that I'm inclined to agree. And I hardly think that was the message the writer was trying to convey in any case.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Guard suspended over disabled ramp row in Manchester

A train conductor has been suspended after a disabled passenger filmed him refusing to help him board a carriage.

Qamar Khaliq captured the guard's refusal on his mobile phone as he pleaded with him to provide a ramp so he could board a train at Manchester Piccadilly on Saturday.

Northern Rail has since emailed the 35-year-old to apologise for "the problems" he faced during his journey.

A company spokesman said a full investigation is under way.

Mr Khaliq, however, has said the suspension of the train conductor has not made a difference to how vulnerable he now feels. "I know there were a couple of other people involved in what happened to me and I am still going to avoid travelling by train," he said. "I don't feel as safe anymore by any means. Also I still don't know why he would not let me on, that has not yet been explained. The company are investigating so hopefully it will be revealed then."

Mr Khaliq said the 10-minute journey back home to Guide Bridge in Audenshaw ended up taking him nearly two hours because he had to travel home by bus. "When I asked for his assistance he made a no sign at me and said 'I can't take you, you will have to get the next one'. When I asked him why he refused to answer me and then refused to speak at all and just ignored me."

Pete Myers, head of service quality for Northern Rail, said in the email to Mr Khaliq: "I know that nothing I can say will reassure you at this stage, but we do take incidents like this very seriously indeed, and thankfully they are extremely rare. Incidentally I can confirm that we have taken steps to suspend the conductor from duty while our investigation progresses. I do hope that you can travel with us in confidence in the future and that once our investigations are complete we can meet together."

[devon_metro]

I don't really have a massive amount of sympathy with him. There are far better ways to deal with things than to film somebody. I certainly wouldn't be very happy if I was quite clearly being filmed at work without my permission.

[Tim]

I don't agree.  If he hadn't filmed the guard, would anything have been done about it?  I can't see Northern suspending a member of staff without some evidence which would not be there if there had not been filming. 

[JayMac]

A perfect example of when a member of staff should be filmed IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).

[devon_metro]

I don't agree.  If he hadn't filmed the guard, would anything have been done about it?  I can't see Northern suspending a member of staff without some evidence which would not be there if there had not been filming. 

But do we know the full story about what happened? The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) clip doesn't really show much happening at all.

[Tim]

No we don't know the full story which is why I am not apportioning blame to either side.  But I do defend the chap's right to film what he considered unreasonable staff action.   

I am sure that you wouldn't be happy being filmed if it meant you were caught doing something wrong.  But if you got into an arguement with jo public and a complaint was made against you, I am sure you would be greatful if there was film evidence (Station CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) for example) that put you in the clear.  I don't think you can have it both ways.  If it is acceptable for a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) to monitor passenger activity with a camera, it is equally acceptable for passengers to monitor what the TOCs staff do in the same way.   "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear".

[vacman]

I really dont think that Northern should be publicly saying that they have suspended the guard either, I expect the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) will now have a field day!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

that train be going to where i used to live :-)

[JayMac]

A fuller video from the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305662/Manchester-railway-staff-ignored-disabled-mans-pleas-wheelchair-ramp.html

Absolutely no evidence that the passenger was in the wrong. No evidence of abuse of staff, no evidence that the wheelchair space was unavailable, no evidence that the passenger didn't have a valid ticket for travel, no evidence that the guard was too busy to to comply with the DDA^» (Disability Discrimination Act - about). Yes, we don't know what went on before filming started, but it appears that the passenger only started filming because he was refused travel. And what was the point of the guard taking a photo of the passenger, except petulance? If the guard was in anyway concerned about the passengers behaviour as a reason for refusing travel he would've said so. Also we hear that old chestnut from the other staff member that the passenger is breaking the law by filming. But apparently, according to him, these staff are not breaking the the law by refusing to comply with the DDA.

I rarely get angry on behalf of others, but this is appalling treatment of a disabled passenger by Northern staff. The guard deserves nothing less than prosecution under DDA legislation and would do very well to keep his job. If the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) come to his defence in any way then that would just confirm to me what a crackpot union they are.

I also applaud Northern for publically stating that they have suspended the staff member concerned. No stronger message could be sent to all staff that this kind of behaviour toward the disabled is not acceptable.

[Super Guard]

I rarely get angry on behalf of others, but this is appalling treatment of a disabled passenger by Northern staff. The guard deserves nothing less than prosecution under DDA^» (Disability Discrimination Act - about) legislation and would do very well to keep his job. If the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) come to his defence in any way then that would just confirm to me what a crackpot union they are.

I also applaud Northern for publically stating that they have suspended the staff member concerned. No stronger message could be sent to all staff that this kind of behaviour toward the disabled is not acceptable.

I will preface this by saying if the facts are that the Guard was in the wrong (i've not been able to see the video yet), then it is an absolute disgrace and it is no way to treat any human being, never mind a customer.

However firstly, if the Guard is a fully paid-up member of the RMT, then he has the right to representation by them in any disciplinary action.  The RMT may not agree with his actions, but they will still defend him (that could mean pushing him to resign before he's sacked and lose his benefits etc).

I understand you are upset BNM, with justification, however anyone with an ounce of common decency that works on the Railway knows that what has happened is wrong, and I don't think any kind of message needs to be sent to us staff that this is not acceptable.  Please do not put us in the same boat as this Guard at all.

In fact it could be argued by the RMT that Northern have reacted more to negative media PR^▸ (Public Relations) by making a song and dance about the Guard being suspended to appease the public rather than investigating first and declining to comment on an employees status, which imo is pretty unprofessional on Northerns part.

[devon_metro]

I've been doing some background reading on a number of forums.

It would appear that he was given a valid reason for not being allowed to travel and then started filming when he was not satisfied with the reason. What the reason is i'm not sure. Whilst I agree on the face of it the treatment received is very bad the story represented is very one sided. It would appear that he ignored advice for the matter to be dealt with by Northern and went straight to the media!

Who knows...

[JayMac]

You both raise fair points, DG and d_m. I've also seen posts on other forums about this story and I may have got a bit hot under the collar on this one.

I've probably broken the golden rule about not speculating, but I can only offer my opinion based on the evidence available to me. I'd be more than happy to change my opinion once all the facts are in.

My apologies if I've caused any offence. I've said it before and I'll say it again; the vast majority of rail staff do a sterling job.