Great Northern and Thameslink can now further support disabled passengers at three Bedfordshire stations

Great Northern and Thameslink have launched a new mobile team in a trial to further support disabled passengers and other customers who need assistance at Arlesey and Sandy stations in Bedfordshire.

It means assistance should be available at the stations within 20 minutes every day of the week – weekends included – to provide a ramp to board every train that is running. Until now, Thameslink could provide assistance at the stations only when the stations were staffed, which was not all day, every day.

The team, which is based at Sandy, also covers Biggleswade station. Although this is not currently accessible to wheelchair users and mobility scooters due to the number of steps, the team is able to help other customers – whether it be an older person with luggage, someone who is visually impaired or parents with pushchairs.

Govia Thameslink Railway’s Accessibility Lead Carl Martin said: “We're constantly looking for ways to improve the level of service we give people who need assistance, to overcome the barriers that prevent independent travel on the railway.

“Our mobile assistance team could transform the lives of many of our customers. It will help us create a more accessible and inclusive railway, where everyone has the confidence to travel with us.

“We really want people to try out the service and let us know what they think about it through our customer contact centre.”

Customers request assistance when they arrive at the station, either by contacting the control centre from the station help point, using the ‘emergency and assisted travel button’, or by calling freephone 0808 168 1238 or texting 07970 511077.

If passengers prefer, they can book the mobile assistance team further in advance by contacting the assisted travel team either online, via the Passenger Assistance app, or by calling 0800 138 1016.

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Editors’ notes

Great Northern and Thameslink provides assistance at all their stations, whether that is via staff onboard trains or at stations, through mobile assistance teams or alternative transport to the nearest staffed accessible station. Find out more at Assisted travel | Great Northern Railway and Assisted travel | Thameslink (thameslinkrailway.com).

Passengers can feed back their experience of the service through the ‘contact us’ page at www.greatnorthernrail.com or www.thameslinkrailway.com which has various options to accommodate different disabilities.