Accessible transport: legal obligations

Transport Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 2 Feb 2023 Closed: 4 Mar 2026 Parliament page
A variety of legal obligations to ensure accessibility apply to transport operators and local licensing authorities across different modes of transport, and the Transport Committee has conducted an inquiry into these legal obligations and whether they are being met. The Committee published their report on Thursday 20 March 2025 Read … Read more
18 Recommendations
11 Conclusions
4 Reports
5 Oral sessions
19 Letters
5 Events
Activity timeline 37 events
21 Jan
2026
Correspondence
2 Jul
2025
Correspondence
13 Jun
2025
Report published
13 Jun
2025
Report published
13 Jun
2025
Report published
13 Jun
2025
Report published
13 Jun
2025
Correspondence
20 Mar
2025
Report published
20 Mar
2025
Report published
20 Mar
2025
Report published
20 Mar
2025
Report published
21 Feb
2024
Correspondence
Oral evidence sessions 5 sessions
13 Dec 2023
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Anthony Browne · Department for Transport Guy Opperman · Department for Transport Huw Merriman · Department for Transport John Kirkpatrick · Equality and Human Rights Commission Liz Wilson · Department for Transport
22 Nov 2023
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Anna Bowles · Civil Aviation Authority Councillor Linda Taylor · Local Government Association Jacqueline Starr · Rail Delivery Group Karen Dee · Airport Operators Association Loveday Ryder · DVSA Mr Keith McNally · Confederation of Passenger Transport Ms Alison Smith · Network Rail and Great British Railways Transition Team Rob Griggs · Airlines UK Stephanie Tobyn · Office of Rail and Road
25 Oct 2023
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Caroline Stickland · Transport for All Catherine Casserley · Cloisters Chambers Doug Paulley, Accessible transport campaigner Professor Anna Lawson · School of Law, University of Leeds Stephen Brookes MBE · Disability Rights UK
13 Sep 2023
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Accessible transport: ticket office closures
Andy Mellors · Avanti West Coast Anthony Smith · Transport Focus Christopher Brooks · Age UK David Horne · London and North Eastern Railway Company Katie Pennick · Transport for All Louise Rubin · Scope Mick Lynch · National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) Richard Allan · Chiltern Railways Simon Moorhead · Rail Delivery Group Stephanie Tobyn · Office of Rail and Road
14 Jun 2023
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Alan Benson MBE Christiane Link Stephen Anderson The Baroness Grey-Thompson DBE
Recommendations & Conclusions
7 results
Clear
10 Conclusion Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Ticket office closure proposals wasted resources and inappropriately burdened disabled rail users.
Despite all the mechanisms in place to safeguard accessibility, proposals which risked significantly damaging disabled people’s access to the rail network by closing hundreds of ticket offices were published in 2023 and only withdrawn after a huge response to public … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees that effective governance, transparency, and meaningful consultation are fundamental aspects of accountable government, acknowledging the principles behind the committee's observation regarding ticket office closures.
Department for Transport
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14 Recommendation Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Embed accessibility as a core goal for Great British Railways in forthcoming legislation.
The establishment of Great British Railways presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix accessibility as a core goal and responsibility of the railway and as a guiding principle for its decision-making. The opportunity must not be squandered, and we urge the … Read more
Government Response
The government states that focused work will continue on the design of Great British Railways over the next 12-18 months, including how accessibility will be approached within its customer-focused culture, but does not explicitly commit to fixing accessibility as a core goal through a full range of mechanisms.
Department for Transport
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15 Conclusion Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Transport systems and staffing lack sufficient resilience for complex accessibility requirements.
Operators are at pains to emphasise the complexity of the systems they work within, especially when it comes to journeys involving multiple organisations or modes. But people are entitled to expect to be able to make complicated journeys to get … Read more
Government Response
The government states it has already begun developing an Integrated National Transport Strategy focused on delivering seamless and accessible journeys for all users. This strategy aims to make transport user-focused, safe, inclusive, and reliable.
Department for Transport
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20 Recommendation Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Establish a unified service with disabled people to receive and triage transport accessibility complaints.
We recommend that the Department for Transport work with disabled people’s organisations to design a unified service to receive and triage accessibility complaints or reports of failures, ensure that they reach the relevant operator, authority or regulator, and follow them … Read more
Government Response
The government highlights existing work to improve information on rights and redress, and commits to exploring how complaints processes and escalation routes could be simplified, but does not commit to designing or implementing a unified complaints service within the specified timeframe.
Department for Transport
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21 Recommendation Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Analyse complaint data to identify systemic issues and report quarterly on service improvements.
Users of such a service must receive assurance that information about complaints and failures is being aggregated and used proactively to improve systems and services, not just to effect redress to the individual. In order to achieve this, the Department … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the complexity of complaints and has worked to improve information for disabled people. It commits to undertaking further work to explore and assess how complaints processes can be simplified, including mapping processes with stakeholders to identify how data use and transparency can be captured, collated, and published.
Department for Transport
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26 Conclusion Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Informal enforcement methods by regulators prove insufficient for addressing systemic accessibility failures.
The confidence that regulators evince in informal methods of enforcement and its deterrent effect on other operators is not justified by the experience of travellers. We recognise that reputational incentives such as performance rankings have a part to play, as … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees on the importance of regulators fulfilling their accessibility duties and will reiterate this in annual leadership letters. It intends to establish a collaborative forum to identify practical steps to improve accountability and strengthen enforcement mechanisms, and to co-produce an accessibility charter.
Department for Transport
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28 Recommendation Acknowledged
1st Report – Access denied: rights…
Mandate regulators with resources to proactively enforce accessibility laws and publish breach data.
The Secretary of State should immediately give regulators an explicit mandate, backed by the necessary resources, to be far more proactive within the scope of their current powers in identifying and enforcing against breaches of accessibility law and regulations by … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees on the importance of enforcing accessibility duties and, as a first step, will reiterate these duties in annual leadership directive letters to Arm's-length Bodies and agencies. The Department also envisages co-producing an accessibility charter.
Department for Transport
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Government Response AI assessment · 29 of 18 classified
Accepted 10
Accepted in Part 5
Acknowledged 7
Deferred 4
Not Addressed 2
Rejected 1
Total 18 recs + 11 conclusions
Correspondence 19 letters
21 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Minister for Rail relating to accessibility at stations, dated 15 January 2026
Parliament page
2 Jul 2025 To committee Letter from the Secretary of State for Transport relating to the Government response to accessible transport report, dated 26 June 2025
Parliament page
13 Jun 2025 To committee Letter from the Chair to the Secretary of State for Transport relating to the Government's response to the Committee's report on accessible transport, dated 11 June 2025
Parliament page
21 Feb 2024 Correspondence from the Minister for Maritime International and Security relating to maritime accessibility, dated 31 January 2024
Parliament page
21 Feb 2024 Correspondence from the Deputy Chief Executive, EHRC relating to accessible transport evidence, dated 13 January 2024
Parliament page
21 Feb 2024 Correspondence from Chair to Minister for Maritime International and Security, Department for Transport relating to maritime accessibility, dated 11 January 2024
Parliament page
24 Jan 2024 Correspondence from the Operations Director, Confederation of Passenger Transport relating to accessible transport follow-up evidence, dated 18 December 2023
Parliament page
17 Jan 2024 Correspondence from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport relating to oral evidence session follow-up from 13 December 2023, dated 12 January 2024
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17 Jan 2024 Correspondence from the Traffic Commissioner relating to Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000, dated 19 December 2023
Parliament page
22 Nov 2023 Correspondence from the Minister for Rail, Department for Transport, relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 14 November 2023
Parliament page
15 Nov 2023 Correspondence from the Managing Director, Chiltern Railways relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 8 November 2023
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23 Oct 2023 Correspondence from the Chair of the Committee to the Minister for Rail relating to proposals for rail ticket office closures, dated 20 October 2023
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20 Oct 2023 Correspondence from the Chief Information Officer, Rail Delivery Group relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 9 October 2023
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20 Oct 2023 Correspondence from the Managing Director, Chiltern Railways relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 11 October 2023
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20 Oct 2023 Correspondence from the Managing Director, LNER relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 11 October 2023
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20 Oct 2023 Correspondence from the Managing Director, Avanti West Coast Railways relating to rail ticket office closures, dated 11 October 2023
Parliament page
19 Sep 2023 Correspondence from the Chief Executive, LNER, relating to Accessible transport - rail ticket office closures, dated 19 September 2023
Parliament page
12 Sep 2023 Correspondence from Chair to the Rail Minister relating to rail ticket offices, dated 27 July 2023
Parliament page
12 Sep 2023 Correspondence from the Rail Minister relating to rail ticket offices, dated 11 September 2023
Parliament page