A disabled woman has hit the Great Western Railway after serious delays and a slew of complications forced her to sit in her own urine at a bus stop until 5am.
Judy Lawson, 55, boarded a 7:15pm train from St Ives to Plymouth after a recent day out with her daughter and grandson.
The train was halted for about three hours after another passenger reportedly pulled the stop cord, extending the journey from two to five hours.
Although the train was equipped with disabled toilets, the layout of the train meant that Judy couldn’t get in her power wheelchair, which she has become dependent on after her leg was amputated below the knee last year.
She said: ‘Once my seat is in, the toilet is right next to the arm of my wheelchair and the sink is next to my legs. So I couldn’t get out at all.’
Judy explained her situation to the conductor, who asked if the arm could be removed from the wheelchair, but this was not possible.
She continued: “Alternatively, he was looking for something I could pee in. In the end I had to sit in my own misfortune.
“It was embarrassing – I couldn’t go to the bathroom to change or anything like that.”
When the train finally arrived in Plymouth, it was well past midnight.
To make matters worse, an air conditioning unit broke and poured cold water over her as she waited for a slope to go down, she said.
Judy said the GWR staff on the train had been helpful and provided her with updates throughout the journey.
But even though they organized taxis for most passengers, they couldn’t find anyone to accommodate Judy’s wheelchair at the time.
She says she was left alone at a bus stop outside the station until 5am the next morning.
A GWR spokesperson said the company is “deeply sorry” and an investigation is underway to understand “the exact sequence of events” and where it “went wrong”.
The company has also stated that once the investigation is completed, they will contact Judy.
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