Member

On the importance of improving disabled access, I did not want to speak about step-free access at stations, but there was a clerical error between my office and someone in the House—it was possibly my fault as well; I am not quite clear how it happened. I want to speak about the use of steps for access to taxis at stations, which is currently a live issue at Reading station. A number of local taxi drivers have raised it with me, and in particular I pay tribute to Haji Benares, who is one of the regular, long-standing taxi drivers at Reading station. He and his colleagues have pointed out that due to faults in the design of the new station, which is a huge asset to our community, there are issues getting disabled people in and out of taxis.