Congratulations to Nanny's friends in Transport for London (TFL), who are following the Disability Discrimination Act to the letter in respect of the Croydon tramlink.The new steps at Morden Road, which were to have made the access to the stop slightly shorter, have been demolished.
This is even more daft than it sounds, as they had never been opened!
Not content with this act of vandalism TFL have now sealed off the steps from the bus stop to the Eastbound platform at Sandilands.
This means that people are once more forced to climb up the shrubs beside them as a short cut, increasing the risk of trips and falls.
Where's Health and Safety when you need them?
It seems that the new steps at Sandilands are rumoured to be not compliant with the
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, it should be noted that the stop is
DDA accessible by virtue of the level access at each end.
The steps are merely an addition to the existing access.
However, Nanny doesn't give a toss about reality; just the letter of the law, which of course she creates in the first place!
Jobsworths.
ReplyDeleteI have no problems with provision being planned and created for those who have mobility difficulties provided the cost is in line with the likely usage. Regular use likely, no problem. Once in a blue moon and inaccessible without help - no point.
I can think of a few historic buildings which are pretty difficult for the fully fit. Perhaps they should be re-modelled?
Alternatively, with the able bodied being disadvantaged by having to take longer routes as you describe, why should they not demand to be allowed the use of electric scooters and similar peraphernalia? Might clog things up a bit of course ...
Perhaps forceing the use of longer routes is just a ruse to make people take more exercise?
Whilst we are on the subject, how about a bit of positive discrimination for spectacle wearers? Extra costs throughout their lives and no benefits at all to accrue. Surely that is discrimination similar to the the example under discussion?
And howcome nanny is still allowing planning applications for multi-storey buildings, especially private dwellings? Bungalows opnly I shoudl say!
It's even worse. At the moment if you want to go from East Croydon rail station to East Croydon tramstop (an 'intercahange according to T, lowercase italic f, L you have to walk about a quarter of a mile through the station, around a hoodie-infested corner and along a narrow, crowded pavement to the tramstop. There is an access directly from the station platform to near the stop which was closed down years before the tram came along. It would be quite simple, with a bit of renovation, to re-open this access. But of course, it involves steps which are not accessible to the small minority of disabled people who require the use of a wheelchair without spending a huge amount on lifts, etc., so therefore they are kept closed. The majority of disabled people who do not need wheelchairs, but might find it a bit of a drag to walk all the way round from the platform to the tramstop, can sod off as far as TfL and the 'disability lobby' are concerned.
ReplyDelete(And don't even mention the wheelchair spaces on the trams which don't work when the tram is going in the opposite direction to the way they were installed, because the geniuses responsible apparently didn't realise that trams, unlike buses, don't turn round at the end of their journey.)
Joined up thinking from Nanny's pals there.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what joined up thinking really means? What was whole and complete has been hacked apart and put together again incorrectly?
I loved this part of John Rimmer's post:
(And don't even mention the wheelchair spaces on the trams which don't work when the tram is going in the opposite direction to the way they were installed, because the geniuses responsible apparently didn't realise that trams, unlike buses, don't turn round at the end of their journey.)
Must be a ruse there somewhere. Is ther something at either end of the line they wish to pull down? It would be a perfect excuse!
"In order to satify the needs of the disabled passenger ion this service we must turn the trams around. So we need a large turntable and I'm afraid you homes are going to have to go to make way for it.
Shades of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
Hmm, maybe stretching reality a little too far?