Disabled man left to crawl on to crowded train

By NATASHA HARRIS AND MATHEW DEARNALEY


A muscular dystrophy sufferer had to crawl on to an Auckland commuter train on his hands and knees after being told the train was running too late for an access ramp to be put down.

Tim Dempsey, 33, says he dropped to his knees to clamber on to a crowded carriage at Sturges Rd station in Henderson. Although he does not yet use a wheelchair, his weakening muscles mean he needs a walking stick, and he can barely walk up stairs.

But Mr Dempsey said the Tranz Metro train manager told him he could not use the ramp because the train was running late, by five minutes, and the ramp was for people in wheelchairs.

He said the manager told him: "The ramp is for people in wheelchairs - that's why it's called a wheelchair ramp."

"I was stunned," said Mr Dempsey, who is the Muscular Dystrophy Association's national fundraising manager.

"I had used it on my only other train journey in Auckland two months earlier when the train was running 30 minutes late.

"I was thinking, I'm going to have to get on the train and this was the only option I had, so I crawled on without any help.

"This is crazy. This is not some type of Third World country - this is Auckland, 2004."

A colleague from his work, physiotherapist Ruth McKenzie, was with him at the time and says she was appalled at his treatment.

"I was angry that Tim had to crawl on the train and in front of a carriage full of people. I was disgusted that there was such ignorance among public service people.

"They should know that access is access and if they have a ramp, they should use it."

Mr Dempsey said that when the train arrived at Britomart Station, the ramp was put down in about 30 seconds and he walked off, followed by a woman with a baby in a pushchair.

Two train staff who had seen the earlier incident apologised to him.

The incident prompted Ms McKenzie to send a letter of complaint to Tranz Metro and to the Auckland Regional Council and to offer them help to train staff to deal with people with disabilities.

Mr Dempsey said: "The important thing for me is, let's make sure this doesn't happen again and let's make sure they educate their staff about disabled access.

"Access is not always physical in the sense of a ramp; often it's people's attitudes. That train wasn't inaccessible, the train manager's attitude made it inaccessible."


Tranz Metro general manager Paul Ashton said an investigation into the incident had begun.

"If this is the way he was treated, it is totally unacceptable and unsatisfactory and we are taking immediate steps to find out what occurred and ensure we don't have a repeat."

Mr Ashton said the company had trained staff in dealing with customers with disabilities, but admitted that taking on a high number of recruits in the past 18 months had probably left a gap in "knowledge and competency to deal with this particular group of consumers".