Concerns over staff completing disability awareness training have been raised
The Office of Rail and Road has issued a statement(Image: ORR)
Train operating company Northern is under official investigation by the railway regulator over its delivery of assistance for passengers with disabilities.
Northern, which runs trains across Greater Manchester and the region, came bottom in a recent study carried out by the Office of Rail and Road. The national regulator said it has now opened a ‘formal licence investigation’ into the operator to establish a number of facts.
The ORR said it first raised concerns last year and Northern launched an improvement plan. But the regulator said Northern reported in August that around 800 passenger-facing staff hadn’t completed disability awareness training.
The ORR’s investigation will look to establish how long those staff have been engaging with passengers with disabilities for. Bosses want to know the exact circumstances behind the issue and for Northern to provide credible assurances over future policies and training.
All train and station operators must establish and comply with an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) as a condition of their licence. Policies must be approved by the ORR and set out what provisions are in place for passengers with disabilities. Minimum requirements, covering areas like provision of assistance, staff training and passenger information, are set out to be adhered to.
In a letter to Northern’s managing director, Tricia Williams, the ORR said it was opening a formal investigation into whether the operator ‘contravened, or is contravening’ its licence.
Northern
Northern’s Accessible Travel Policy was approved by the ORR in February, 2021.
In the letter to Northern Stephanie Tobyn, Director of Strategy, Policy and Reform at the ORR, invited the operator to send it any information by the close of play on Friday. She said the ‘outcomes’ of the investigation ‘could ultimately result in a finding of breach of Northern’s Station Licence’ and ‘if appropriate, formal action’. What that action constitutes, and what sanctions, if any, Northern would face hasn’t been revealed.
The Manchester Evening News has asked the ORR for further comment.
It comes as the ORR published its first annual ‘benchmarking report’ on train and station operators’ delivery of passenger assistance. It assessed 14 train operators plus Network Rail for their reliability of assistance delivery and for passenger satisfaction from 2022 to 2025.
A total of 26,306 responses from passengers in a survey were analysed.
The term ‘assistance’ includes help with boarding, alighting and navigating stations, and is said by the ORR to be ‘a core requirement’ of a licence. Passengers can either book assistance in advance of a journey or utilise what is called ‘turn up and go’, or TUAG. That refers to disabled people’s right, under the Equality Act, to travel on public transport on the same terms as any other passenger.
The ORR said Northern recorded the lowest reliability score in the benchmarking assessment – with 16 per cent of passengers saying they received none of the assistance they booked.
Northern trains at Oxford Road(Image: Northern)
The regulator said in a statement published with the results: “Passenger assistance is essential for many older and disabled people. When it works well, it gives freedom and confidence. But as our reporting shows, there are too many instances where the service has not been delivered as promised, which can have serious consequences for the passenger.
“We are seeing demand for assistance grow. It’s essential that operators meet passenger needs and we’ve taken action on the poorest performing operators to ensure that the reliability and consistency of service for their passengers improves.”
Northern was renationalised in March, 2020.
A spokesperson for Northern said: “Earlier this year, Northern identified that some colleagues had not completed their disability awareness training within the expected timescales. We took that seriously, and we moved quickly to rectify.
“We have delivered all the actions from our improvement plan, and we will continue to work closely with ORR to monitor our progress and ensure a sustainable improvement. We are working hard to deliver the service customers expect and our scores from the last six months are showing that the changes we have made are already having a positive impact.
“Our priority is simple: every customer should be able to travel with confidence and dignity and get the support they need every time. We are committed to continually improving the experience for all customers across our network.”