A blind man has taken to twitter to complain about being allegedly left to ‘wander around the station’ by staff at Harrow on the Hill.
In a post on twitter yesterday morning (24 September), the man said: “TFL your staff at Harrow on the Hill refused to meet me, a blind passenger, off the tube, even at a 1m or 2m distance, to assist me to my next train. Consequently I have been wandering around the station trying to find The right platform, with the help of passengers”
The message continued: “and have now missed my connection. This is entirely unsafe and absolutely ridiculous — not providing sighted guide assistance is a huge failure, but not even providing assistance at a social distance?”
He added: “I did not have time nor need for a taxi to complete my tube journey, and still wouldn’t have been able to get assistance around the station to catch my train from Harrow when I arrived if I did. I’m angry, unsettled, and still not sure I’m on the right platform.”
To add, as they wouldn’t assist me onto the train, they also didn’t call ahead to my destination station, as protocol dictates. Hence no one met me off the train in a central London station — a great experience when you can’t see and aren’t familiar with the station. Not.
— Kelsey Trevett 💚🌱 (@CouldBeKel) September 24, 2020
TFL responded to the man saying: “Hi Kelsey, I’m very sorry that you experienced this on your journey this morning, I completely understand why this would be a stressful and daunting experience. Our staff are on hand to help wherever they can, however safety remains our top priority for both our staff”
They continued: “and our customers. As such our staff need to maintain social distancing when assisting customers. In light of the current pandemic, the way we assist our customers has also changed in the interests of keeping everyone safe. If our staff are unable to provide the help you”
“we’ll arrange a taxi to take you to the nearest accessible point on your journey. I fully appreciate that this may not be ideal or the best way to get to your destination, but this is what we currently have in place for safety reasons. Many thanks, Rachel”
