DRIVER-ONLY TRAINS DISADVANTAGE DISABLED PASSENGERS

EARLY DAY MOTION 514 TABLED BY CAROLINE LUCAS – ACCESSIBLE TRAINS “That this House notes that in order for all passengers to be able to turn up and go at railway stations and on train services, stations must be adequately staffed and there should always be a second safety critical member of staff on a train; further notes that train guards currently provide a safety critical role, which gives a guarantee of a second person on a train to provide assistance to passengers who require it; notes that failure to provide the requisite staff to enable turn up and go travel should be considered a breach of train and station operators' safety and accessibility duties; is concerned that the Railway Safety and Standards Board warned in its 2015 report that under Driver Only Operation (DOO) passengers would face greater requirements to book in advance, possibly facing additional travel restrictions, which would represent a move away from the current goal of making the railway more accessible for all; believes that the proposal to remove a second safety critical member of staff on Southern Rail services would be detrimental to access especially at unstaffed stations; calls on the Government and Southern Rail to ensure passengers retain this guarantee at all times; and further calls on the Government to undertake an equality impact assessment of DOO, if it has not yet done so, and to publish this and any other relevant work it has carried out.” T he employer-funded Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has admitted that disabled passengers who require assistance are disadvantaged by Driver Only (DOO) Trains and that extending DOO will further disadvantage passengers. The report admits: “assistance for disabled access to trains is typically provided by platform staff, or by the guard at unstaffed stations. “With DOO(P) in operation, assisted access requires a member of platform staff to be available to help the passenger… if no staff are present the passenger may be forced to travel to an alternative station and arrange onward travel from there”. The report adds that extending DOO would mean disabled passengers would “face greater requirements to book in advance, possibly facing additional travel restrictions, which would represent a move away from the current goal of making the railway more accessible for all”. Additionally, a Parliamentary motion 514 tabled by Caroline Lucas (below) has warned that “train guards currently provide a safety critical role, which gives a guarantee of a second person on a train to provide assistance to passengers who require it”. RMT general secretary Mick Cash pointed out that even the bosses own standards body admits that disabled passengers are disadvantaged with Driver Only Operation. “This goes to the heart of the argument about the guarantee that Southern won’t give, that disabled passengers will face severe difficulties travelling, especially if they need to use unstaffed stations. “The fact that Southern want to plough ahead with their plans to remove Guards from trains shows that their actions are purely motivated by profit,” he said. without OBS staff in ‘exceptional circumstances’? It is not even clear if this new procedure has been approved or audited by the safety regulator. The union said that the notice seems to have been cobbled together by a management desperate to drive through Driver-Only Operation at any costs and who are unaware about their responsibilities under the Equality Act. RMT is demanding an immediate halt to the operational introduction by Southern of its new operational model and an investigation into the serious safety and access issues that have arisen. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that it was crystal clear that Southern had no workable plan for downgrading the role of the guards. “It is now allowing safety and access to be compromised in exactly the way that the union has warned. “Management has descended into total chaos with ad-hoc notices, which totally contradict statements and assurances given by the company, pinned up on notice boards in a classic case of making it up as you go along. “The bottom line is that the company is effectively admitting that they have got it wrong and that, in order to maintain safety and access, they need a second, safety- critical member of staff on these trains. “That is the issue at the heart of the current dispute and if the company had simply accepted that fact in the talks with the union, as requested, we could have reached a settlement. “The plans should be halted and the company needs to guarantee a second, safety- critical member of staff on these trains,” he said. Southern Rail is also withholding agreed backdated holiday pay and is demanding that staff agree not to take part in any further strike action before it is paid out which is a serious breach of legislation. Mick Cash said that it was despicable that the company felt it necessary to try and hoodwink staff into signing an agreement that sole purpose was to stop lawful industrial action. “This is just another outrageous and bullying attack by this basket case company on front line staff who are doing nothing other than fighting for public safety,” he said. DRIVER-ONLY TRAINS DISADVANTAGE DISABLED PASSENGERS RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2016 :: RMTnews 5