THREAD
First hospital appt since Feb today & first train journey too. I arrived at Norbury just before 12:25, needing to get on the 12:46 to Clapham junction - a @SouthernRailUK service. The chap working the Gateline was sat in the ticket hall & denied ramp assistance..

Because he didn’t have a key for the ramp (!!!!) He said that there was no way he could get into the office to get the key because no one was working in the ticket office. No solution was offered so I said I’d go and get a coffee while he tried to sort something out.

I got my coffee (iced latte from Blend & it was delicious!) and went back to the Gateline, the chap was still sat in the ticket hall. I asked him for an update. His update was that someone should be starting work at 1 and when they arrive, he can get the key - I arrived at 12:25

20 minutes before the 12:46 I needed to be on. Basically he hadn’t done anything to try and help or work out what to do. @SouthernRailUK

So basically (yet again) it’s someone else’s fault that the member of staff on duty can’t assist. Kicking myself because this used to happen a lot so I actually BOUGHT a ramp key from eBay so that people couldn’t use this excuse but in my anxiety of leaving the house today I left

It at home as I was trying not to take “stuff” that could get contaminated. If I hadn’t asked him to try and get a key from another station then he wouldn’t have provided ramp assistance. Luckily, Steffi was working at Streatham Common and she is fab- @SouthernRailUK

She said she would come and bring a key on the next train & that meant the guy at Norbury was unable to continue to refuse ramp assistance. How is he on duty without a ramp key anyway - it’s literally his job!

So @SouthernRailUK when I went for a coffee to give him time to sort something out (I was TWENTY MINUTES EARLY FOR THE TRAIN I NEEDED) I had expected him to try and sort something out not just sit there and say the same thing when I came back... he shouldn’t be the only person

On duty with the responsibility for ramp assistance, without the correct keys. He should also have realised first thing this morning that he didn’t have the right keys, the keys should have been sorted as soon as he realised when he was starting his shift. I shouldn’t have had to

Suggest or ask him to try and get a key sent along the line because he should have done this himself first thing. He wasn’t happy that he had to grab the key from steffi & run over to me on the other platform to board me (but he wasn’t unpleasant or anything like that) I wasn’t

Particularly happy either. It’s not for me to think for him and coach him into finding a solution.
@SouthernRailUK I thought you were getting your house in order.

#SouthernRailAccessFails
#SameShitDifferentDay
#DisabilityRightsAreHumanRights

Cc @FryLegal @Christiane