To want signs on trains to show how to get your pram off safely?

[GreenSeededGrape]

The amount of people I see wheeling their pram forward off the train and then wondering how to actually get the thing off the carriage.

Just saw another person do it and they didn't even tilt the pram back on the wheels, they tilted it forwards

Yeh that gap at lewisham is massive the one at deptford is bad aswell I use to struggle with that one when I had not only the pram to get off but kids aswell. I hate people that stand blocking the doors drives me mad! Especially when it's one on either side.

Lauriefairycakes

I hate that platform at Lewisham, it has a curve in it which is why the gap is so massive, and its so low! I don't know how someone in a wheelchair or with a pram is meant to navigate it.

Maybe trains and platforms shouldn’t be so bloody far away from each other in the first place.

I realise that won’t change obviously.

Just help them!

And yes to that lewisham platform. It is actually quite dangerous in parts.

I’ve also seen someone slip between the train and platform. They were okay but we were all

At a station local to me, the drop between the train and the platform is so high that you can't get contact between the front wheels and the train even when the buggy is leant right back on the back wheels. It's shite.

Believeitornot

I need to do a long jump to get off there sometimes, and I'm quite tall!

Phew! Glad it's not just me with the Lewisham platform

I was in the front carriage which was right at the end of the platform - there's no way I could have jumped it myself.

Ooh!! Another thread slagging off pram users!! How lovely.

Don't be silly, Mammy, it's nothing of the sort.

A couple of the earlier posts seem to be the usual hating of pram users you see on mn (which oddly, I rarely ever met in real life, as in the town where I live, folk seem to be helpful when you have a pram). Not saying that’s the OPs intention though!

I personally needed help getting on and off the train with the pram due to the large gap; luckily there was always a few people willing to help!

aabidah86 Yes when I’ve been with the dcs I have to throw them up then climb in on all fours. It’s horrendous!

aabidah
There's no level access for any wheelchair users on SE fail - we've to rely on station staff actually appearing with ramps when they're meant to. Which is a bit of a lottery... Ramp at Lewisham in a wheelchair is terrifying. I've been lifted out of trains onto platforms at other stations when assistance have failed to appear, but that simply wouldn't work over that gap. (Lifted onto platform pales into comparison beside the time train pulled into Wrong Platform at Hither Green & while a staff member carried my chair over the footbridge, my father carried me...)

Am only an occasional wheelchair user (have a Use It Or Lose It type-disability) but have constant mobility problems (if that makes sense) & am terrified of that gap. Used to have Actual Nightmares as a child. Dread having to get my Brownies off the train there too - we always have a Leader or two hoiking them across the gap: feels slightly like they're bailing out of a plane...

Mammy I have 2 dc and live in London so always take public transport, I absolutely was not slagging off pram users!

With dd1 in my sleep deprived state I was walking with dh when he went to cross the road. I kept walking as there wasn't a dropped curb and didn't think I could cross. He showed me how to tilt the pram backwards and drop down gently off the curb

Seems ridiculous but I was so tired I literally couldn't think straight. Which is why I personally do think signs would be good.

But this thread has been a bit of an eyeopener.

All the trains I've been on in the last couple of months have had announcements explaining exactly this. Tbh, I thought it was ridiculous because surely everyone already knows this. Apparently not.

Hi green!! Didn’t think you were slagging off pram users, just a few comments after you !

I travel by train often and feel quite sorry for pram users. I don't think people always realise when they're getting on how far the gap is when you're getting off, it definitely feels bigger than when you get off and depending on the service I have to do a bit of a leap myself sometimes to make it! If you aren't used to it and haven't thought about it you only get a few seconds to figure it out and I think it's normal to be a bit flustered in those situations, especially if you're a bit sleep deprived.

I always offer to help with prams when I see them but I'm often beaten to it by whoever is nearest. Really sad to think of someone struggling when there are people standing around.

Lewisham is awful! I totally panicked when I had to get off there with a buggy.

I remember googling "how to get on and off train with a buggy" first time I travelled with dd, now I'm a fucking pro as I don't drive.

Um. I’ve been a pram user for about a fortnight and I’ve got no idea how I ought to be getting on and off trains.... I’m not in London, and not a regular train user but please could someone give me some quick pointers for when I do have to use a train?

(I’d hate to be silently judged, or to lose my baby down the side of the platform...)

It's best (usually) to get off the traim backwards and lift the back wheels onto the platform them you can put the front ones down.

I saw someone push a wheelchair off a train with a step down- forward facing, they tipped the poor person out of the chair and onto the platform (I didn’t notice until she was mid tip).

Am sure I have seen signs on Southern in the past? But agree that lewisham and Clapham junction are two of the worst for huge gaps.

Pre baby days I used to have to get on at lewisham for work. I hated that gap and was paranoid my shoe would fall down the gap. I even had someone on standby to rescue me and bring me another pair of shoes if that ever happened. Luckily it didn't.

I’ve seen plenty of posters around telling you to get off backwards.

Our local station is built on a slightly curved section of track and in places the gap is so massive that I find getting off forwards scarey . It's quite a big drop, too. Getting off backwards would be terrifying.

One of the things that I really like about my DP is that he will never stand by while someone struggles with a buggy, wheelchair etc. Even if it's not our stop he always helps people on trains or steep flights of stairs.

Same with my dh. He's carried dd2 pram up from tube then gone back down to help.