Former paralympian sues TransPennine Express after being stranded on frozen platform

'It’s not about the money,' says Paul Cartwright

‘The disability discrimination act is now nearly 25 years old. Disabled people are still having to fight to be given equal rights and basic access,' the former athlete says

A former paralympian is suing the northern rail operator TransPennine Express for £5,000 after he was left stranded on Dewsbury railway station in sub-zero conditions.

Paul Cartwright, 54, from Liversedge in Yorkshire, was travelling from Manchester to Dewsbury on 26 February this year.

While Mr Cartwright has always used a wheelchair, the journey was the first he had taken after a leg amputation.

Following a number of delays, he did not reach Dewsbury railway station until 9pm that evening, despite leaving Manchester around 4.30pm.

Upon arrival at the station, Mr Cartwright was horrified to discover that the lift was not in service, leaving him trapped on the icy platform.

After three attempts, he finally spoke to a member of staff using the station’s emergency phone, who arranged for an express train to stop at the small station to collect him and transport him to Leeds station, from where he was provided with a taxi back to his car in Dewsbury.

Upon arrival at Leeds station, he was greeted by a man who offered him £50 as compensation for the incident, a gesture that made Mr Cartwright feel “extremely annoyed”.

“They obviously knew that they were in the wrong. When I got home, I was laying in bed tossing and turning thinking about it,” he told The Independent.

A barrister friend of Mr Cartwright who specialises in disability discrimination agreed to take on the case, saying that the worst companies he had to deal with around discriminatory practices were railway companies.

He also approached his local MP, Tracy Brabin, and an MP in Dewsbury about the incident, who wrote a joint letter to the CEO of TransPennine Express about his experience. Mr Cartwright said the MPs never received a response.

Four weeks ago, he finally received a letter from TransPennine Express acknowledging its responsibility for the fiasco and offering him £3,000, which he felt was an attempt to make him “be quiet”. Mr Cartwright insisted the money was not the issue, however. “If they don’t learn their lesson, the money is no good to anyone,” he said.

The case has now been to Leeds court, where Mr Cartwright said that TransPennine Express failed to offer a defence. It was subsequently transferred to Wakefield, which is his local court, and he is awaiting the judge’s verdict.

“This disabled person speaks for himself,” Mr Cartwright said. “I will pursue this as far as it needs to be pursued.

“The disability discrimination act is now nearly 25 years old. Disabled people are still having to fight to be given equal rights and basic access. We’re still being dealt a poor hand and being treated like a different species. This should not be happening.

“The UK still has such a long way to go in terms of disability rights. All that disabled people want is to have a normal life.”

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express told The Independent: “We were truly sorry to hear about Mr Cartwright’s experience at Dewsbury station back in February and we did everything we could to ensure he could get home.

“Dewsbury station does have customer lifts, but due to significant antisocial behaviour that has previously taken place in the lifts themselves we had to close this facility out of hours – when the station was not staffed.

“We appreciate that this is not ideal, but feel this is the right decision given that the safety of all our customers is of paramount importance to us.

“We are currently investing in new lift controls across our network, which will enable out-of-hours remote control of the lifts when stations are unstaffed, enabling 24 hour access for customers.”

Paul Cartwright represented Great Britain in the 1984 Paralympics at Stoke Mandeville, where he reached the final of the 100m race. He is also a UK pentathlete, powerlifting and fishing champion, with more than 80 national and international medals.

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