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I can remember those days. I used to travel as my mums companion in the guards van, she had somewhere to sit, I didn't, those were far from comfortable journeys for either of us. The real palaver came when getting off, as that required a ramp, but sometimes none arrived so I had to assist in physically lifting my mum and chair off onto the platform! Larry -----Original Message----- From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keith Armstrong Sent: 19 October 2013 02:13 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Disability History - Travelling behind Bars - rail travel in 1980's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ys8-5wWyM or https://vimeo.com/77252859 Up until of the 1990's the only way British wheelchair users were allowed to travel (after having to book a day in advance and buying a rail ticket) was in a 'guards van'. Despite this type of carriage being known as 'the Guard's van', it was very rare for a railway employee i.e. a Guard) to actually be in the van. There was no heating, nor was there any additional seating for companions of wheelchair users, or Tannoy speakers or even an alarm. There was a charge of course for the train ticket, although a discount was given. I was once put on the wrong train by a British Rail employee and ended up in Slough. When I questioned the guard, he said that he had announced the destination three times on the speaker system, I had to point out that none of these speakers reached the carriage that I had been put in. I am amazed that, as far as I know, no female wheelchair user was ever sexually assaulted in this type of carriage, considering she would have no access to any alarm bell, nor would it be likely for any witnesses who could get help. The use of this carriage represents a policy of segregation of wheelchair users by the British Rail Board although people have been using wheelchairs in the UK for far longer than the existence of the train. At one time in the late 1980's I travelled to Birmingham and shared the guards-van with the disabled television presenter Sian Vasey. I asked her about her return journey. She told me that someone had left the window wide open which she could not close and was made ill because of the cold draft. Alan Kerr told me that he rarely travelled by train because of the guard's van. He said "I was travelling up from Chatham and was stuck in the cage and the door for the platform was on the other side. I recall screaming and shouting to get passengers to get the Guard to release me. Another major reason was and still is the accessibility of the station platforms". As of 2013 there are NO plans to make the new expensive CROSS RAIL fully accessible to wheelchair users. John Evelyn (a contemporary of Samuel Pepys) recorded the use of a wheelchair in his diary entry of the 11th January, 1672, the earliest passenger train in England only dates back to September, 1825, one hundred and fifty-three years later. [Oxford English Dictionary, (2nd Ed.), 1989, Vol. XX., p. 203.] What the lowering of the standards of living, the slash in income and the rise in train fares, rail travel is no longer affordable for the vast majority of disabled people in the UK. British Railways (BR) 'Guard's van': photographs taken in the late 1980's. http://jpgmag.com/stories/15541 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ys8-5wWyM ________________End of message________________ This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask] Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page. ________________End of message________________ This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask] Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.