Train Travel to London as a powered wheelchair user

ffiona

Can anybody advise how a user of a powered wheelchair can get from Burgess Hill or Haywards Heath by train up to The Sky Garden, Fenchurch Street, London?  Thanks.

poppy123456

Hi,

You need to contact the train company to arrange for assistance and they will get a ramp for you to get on and off the train.

SueHeath

Morning @ffiona welcome to this great group.
Hope you find the time to negotiate the site the coffee shop under categories is a good one to start with.

Hope your well this morning, sounds like your planning a nice trip.

Ross_Alumni

Hello @ffiona and welcome to the community, I hope you are well.

Regarding that trip, I'm not familiar with any of the locations you mentioned there, but as mentioned by Poppy you could contact your departure station and ask for assistance, and they should then alert your destination station of your arrival so that they can support you at the other end. 

Alex_Scope

Hi @ffiona you'd need to take a train from Burgess Hill to London Bridge, or from Haywards Heath to London bridge which is the quicker of the two journeys by 10 minutes or so.

From London Bridge it's a 13 minute walk (or wheel) over to the other side of the river Thames, to get to Sky Garden. It might be possible to get a taxi, but these can be pricey and honestly a bit hit and miss as to whether they'd take the chair, speaking from personal experience.

The tube isn't an option I'd advise in this case as you would need to change lines, and I don't think Monument (the closest tube to Sky Garden) has a lift. If you'd find it useful Transport for London (TfL) have a step free tube map, wherever there's a station you can't see, it's because it's not accessible.

Unfortunately there's no system to book train tickets and assistance at the same time, because that would be too easy! I would recommend the Passenger Assistance App to book assistance if you are comfortable using a smartphone. 

Otherwise I would use Thameslink's passenger assisted travel page to book your assistance for the train into London, you can do this via an online form, or using the phone number they provide. Normally with assistance outside of London, you are requested to arrive 20 minutes before departure so they have time to get a ramp. In London, TfL have a 'Turn Up and Go' system, which again, is hit and miss.

I hope this all makes sense and is useful for you, please let me know if you need anything further. If you haven't already I would also advise getting a disabled person's railcard if you are eligible, as it does help save money on long journeys. 

Alex

ffiona

Thanks, Alex, for this very useful information.  It will be the first time I've needed to use a powered chair for rail travel so I'm grateful for all the tips I can get.  The direct train to London Bridge makes it a relatively easy journey with the option of a bus or my own wheels across the bridge.  ffiona