Member

If the organisations that must deliver the services to disabled passengers have no formal responsibilities, it does not matter what rights disabled passengers may have. Disabled people see this mismatch in many different parts of their lives; it is understandably infuriating. We have an Equality Act, a public sector equality duty and human rights but, if the service has no specific responsibility to deliver those things, it is unlikely to do so—or to do so consistently—because there will always be other priorities. That is why Amendments 116 and 121A set out the need for bodies to secure and advance the statutory rights of disabled passengers, ensuring access to all rail services; why Amendment 144A would give Great British Railways and the ORR a statutory duty; and why Amendment 186A would give the Passengers’ Council a duty.