Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of stations on the rail network do not have staff available to assist disabled passengers who arrive at a station without having made an advance booking.

Station staffing is a matter for individual train operating companies. Details of the staff available at individual stations are published on the National Rail Enquiries website. The Government does not hold this information.

As part of their licence to operate each train operating company is required to have a Disabled Persons’ Protection Policy (DPPP) in place. This sets out the level of services and facilities that disabled passengers can expect, how to get staff assistance and how to get help if things do go wrong. Within this policy, train operating companies must commit to participating in the Passenger Assist system.

The Equalities Act 2010 requires that train operating companies make reasonable adjustments to allow access to their services. For example, if a passenger cannot access a particular station, train operating companies are required to provide a free accessible taxi to the nearest accessible station.