Mum 'belittled' after luggage blocks wheelchair space

A mother said she was "belittled" after asking a passenger to move his luggage, which was blocking a train's wheelchair space.

Chantal from Churchdown, Gloucestershire, was travelling to London with her son Jenson, 11, on Sunday with CrossCountry.

They were forced to stand in an aisle blocking the way, until a passenger "reluctantly" moved his luggage after asking if they had first class tickets.

A spokesperson for CrossCountry said: "Wheelchair spaces are available in first and standard class and customers should never store luggage in these areas."

Jenson has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that weakens and degenerates muscles. He was travelling to London for his weekly treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

His family usually travel with Great Western Railway, but had to use a CrossCountry service due to cancellations.

They boarded the "packed" train at Cheltenham and went to first class, where the wheelchair space was, to find two large suitcases blocking it.

"Nobody approached us to say 'sorry, that's my luggage, I'll move it'," Chantal said.

After standing in the aisle for a while, she was forced to ask other passengers who owned the suitcases.

"Unfortunately one of the passengers acknowledged that they were his, but rather than being apologetic and wanting to help, he kept saying, 'have you got first class tickets?'.

"The wheelchair spaces tend to be in first class and if there is one in standard class and it's taken up already, you get put into first class," she said.

Eventually, the passenger "reluctantly" moved his suitcase, but she said they felt "really unwelcomed".

"Jenson was upset as well because he just went really quiet.

"We just felt judged and belittled by how he was approaching us and he seemed really reluctant to move his suitcases," she added.

Issues also reportedly arose when they arrived at Parkway Station to change trains and a ramp was not there to meet them.

"My main concern isn't just what happened to us. It's about all those disabled people who travel alone.

"It's a huge thing, a lot of effort to arrange to go onboard a train and then suddenly faced with the problems that we faced.

"If it was somebody on their own, they would have been just stuck in that aisle for the whole duration of the journey, with no one offering any help or support, so things just need to be changing," she added.

A spokesperson for CrossCountry added: "Our onboard colleagues are highly trained and work hard to make sure all passengers are as comfortable as possible, even on busy services."

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