Access to Travel Denied

A report by the Government’s Transport Committee is calling for an overhaul of laws, strategy and attitudes to get transport working for disabled people 

The report uncovers the harsh daily reality experienced by disabled people when using transport services and calls for an overhaul of the regulatory system that should ensure they are supported and protected from discrimination. 

From accounts of wheelchair users left on planes for hours, to taxi drivers refusing lifts to people because they have an assistance dog, and street clutter causing obstructions, MPs received shocking evidence of widespread failure by providers, across all transport modes, to uphold the rights of people with access needs. 

The cross-party Committee’s report also finds that progress with addressing disparities between disabled and non-disabled people’s access to services has in some cases gone into reverse since the Covid pandemic, despite policy aspirations to close the gap. 

In evidence heard by the previous Committee, before the 2024 general election, people with access needs – including non-visible disabilities such as autism, dementia, severe anxiety and learning disabilities – told the Committee that the stresses caused by poor reliability and a lack of assistance discourage them from trying to travel at all.  

A survey conducted by the Committee, which received 825 responses, found that 67% of disabled people, or those who assist them, encounter problems using transport either “always” or “most of the time”. Just 1.7% said they never experienced challenges when travelling. A further 50.8% said that at least one a month they would decide against making a journey because they expected to face difficulties whilst travelling. 

“It should be a source of national embarrassment that our country’s transport services effectively treat disabled people as second-class citizens, denying them access to jobs, leisure, support networks and essential services – denying them their rights,” said Transport Committee Chair Ruth Cadbury (pictured above). 

“This inquiry worked on the premise that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their condition or difference, and that services should be designed to enable disabled people to travel independently, not reliant on others. After all, services that work for disabled people also work better for everyone. 

“And yet, those who have been let down and want redress or compensation face a spaghetti junction of complaints processes that either fob them off or lead them on a road to nowhere. Even when complaints are resolved, lessons aren’t learnt, changes aren’t put in place, and it’s tempting to think that the small and occasional penalties for failure are accepted by providers as a mere cost of doing business.  

“Failures must go from being an everyday occurrence to vanishingly rare. In its reforms to transport services over this Parliament, the Government must ensure people with access needs no longer go unseen, unheard and unacknowledged. This should be underpinned with a new inclusive transport strategy, backed by long-term funding."

To find out more and to read the report’s key recommendations visit  https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6805/accessible-transport-legal-obligations/