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Walk the walk

I was a caretaker for my handicapped mother for many years so perhaps I have a heightened awareness of mobility and access issues, but if you have any kind of issues or restrictions be aware that you will run into issues in London.

Not in newer facilities, which by law must be accessible, but in older buildings of which there are many many. One trick I noticed is that oftentimes a pub will have a dining room, which is found at the top of a long narrow staircase. And then, if you make it that far and need to use the loo, you will either have to go all the way back downstairs or, in a novel twist, will have to go down a half staircase to a landing with restrooms.

This demi-floor restroom situation was also found in the Victoria & Albert museum. And while there must have been elevators in that museum, when we asked the guides at the door they got into a spirited but polite discussion about which elevators were open, and which were closed, and which were for members or staff only, and which stopped at which floor. In other words, to get to the top floors you will be climbing many stairs.

Also each Tube station was built at a different time to a different pattern, and there might be odd little diversions where you'll be walking along and come to a small staircase of 3 or 4 steps to a landing and then 3 or 4 steps down. Which could also do you in if you're dragging a suitcase. At Paddington Station the loos were also downstairs, and there were signs directing the handicapped to other bathrooms which were apparently all the way across the station.

The most interesting station I visited was Covent Garden. Apparently this is so deep that the only sane way to the surface is via elevators, of which there were 4 or 5 each of which carries 50 persons. So in other words they're big enough for a car. There are warning signs at the stairways that the climb up is equivalent to a 5 story building and you really don't want to do it.

Posted by
1637 posts

What is wrong with 5 stories? I agree, with luggage that would be a problem. But. without it should be easy. I climb 30+ floors of stairs a day and am in my 80s.

Posted by
249 posts

"Not in newer facilities, which by law must be accessible, but in older buildings of which there are many many."

The DDA does not discriminate between new and old or new public buildings. The law is based around making reasonable adjustment to allow those not fully ambulant or any other disability (being dementia friendly is also caught within in the remit of DDA) irrespective to use and access public buildings. Making reasonable adjustment could extend to to installing a call system, bell to a flight of steps or sinage. I know of a couple of POs where the Royal Mail have done just this and staff will come to indivdual on the pavement if called to do so.

In the event of a new build or a major rehab, most responsible public organistions will employ a DDA consultant to make the building as freely accessible of possible, budget permitting. However, given the number of old/listed buildings public in the UK it is simply not possible install hard building soloutions into all buildings, such as lifts or ramps et al and it is quite permissible to have a management solution instead.

Posted by
9263 posts

Not to be facetious but I always thought that lack of elevators and the commonality of stairs are why The Queen and Philip lived into their 90’s.

Posted by
249 posts

The majority of the Royal Estate would not be considered public, therefore it would sit outside the remit of DDA.

Often a building being listed clashes directly and head on with the DDA and in the vast majority of cases listing wins out as there nearly is always a mangement solution.

Posted by
8338 posts

We were in London in June, and my wife has a battery powered folding personal scooter. We found the older Tube stations to not have elevators, but some of the newer ones did.

The town could be better--or worse--for the handicapped. We were able to use the buses, and they're handicapped accessible.

We later ended up in Venice, and needless to say it's not handicapped friendly with all the arch bridges. Luckily my wife has already been there, and she stayed mostly in the train station area while my granddaughter and I explored the island(s).

Posted by
6113 posts

Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk) has maps online that show which stations have step free access and has access details for each station.

I use buses to get around central London more than the tube and each vehicle can be lowered to allow for wheelchair access. There are areas set aside at the front of the bus for those with limited mobility.

Many older U.K. buildings are difficult to adapt, but all new buildings since 1995 when the DDA became law must be fully accessible and each building where the public have access must make their access statement available. The DDA has been replaced by the Equality Act 2010 with a wider remit - service providers should make “reasonable adjustments” to the property.

Posted by
249 posts

Whilst the DDA has been parachuted into the wider Equalities Act, as far as construction professionals are concerned there have only been modest changes to it is 25 year history that apply to building adaption For example if one was undertaking a £1m rehab of a resturant it would not be deemed a reasonable adjustment to spend £250k of the budget on providing level access to the toilets, if that is what was required. As far reaching as the act is and the improvements it has made (which is very noticeable when outside Blighty) there will be never be a time when all public buildings will have level access.

Posted by
5466 posts

The main toilets / baby changing complex at Paddington Station are by platform 11. The old ones by Platform 1 accessible only by stairs are the secondary ones although there is also another accessible toilet in the reception area which is open at office hours.

Posted by
242 posts

Covent Garden is no deeper than the other stations on either side which have escalators. The issue from what I've heard is that while the wholesale markets were still open the station wasn't used enough to replace the lifts with escalators, and after it became a shopping/nightlife/tourist destination it became too expensive to acquire the buildings adjacent to the station, which would have been necessary to build an escalator shaft.

Posted by
249 posts

"never" is a very long time"

Working in the construction for over 40 years on major projects, mostly in the public sector - I stand by never in this instance.