Anxious and unsafe': Half of blind people fear being stranded at train stations

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"Paul Goddard has to get a train to London Bridge next week, and already he is feeling anxious about what might happen. It's a journey 53-year-old Mr Goddard, who is blind, makes regularly, but one that fails him every single time. Having been let down so often by rail passenger assistance, he usually feels nervous, unsafe, and overwhelmed. His journeys are often uncertain, and he has been left stranded in an empty, dark train in the past."

The Independent requests donations to fund journalists and keep reporting free of paywalls so news remains accessible to everyone. Donations support sending reporters to cover developing stories across reproductive rights, climate change, and Big Tech. Paul Goddard, a 53-year-old blind man, regularly travels to London Bridge and frequently feels anxious after repeated failures of rail passenger assistance. Repeated let-downs leave him nervous, unsafe, overwhelmed, and sometimes stranded in empty, dark trains. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) surveyed nearly 1,200 blind and partially sighted people and found that half fear being left stranded at stations. Three in four respondents said they could not rely on rail staff for assistance and information, and more than 60 per cent reported not being consistently met when assistance had been booked.

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