AIBU to think this is at best dangerous and worse lethal

[Mammajay]

Yesterday we took grandchildren by train and had to change at Clapham Junction ( London) and the gap between the train and platform was huge..about 40cns. Trying to get off with a baby in a buggy and a toddler on foot was frightening. Please share your experiences. AIBU to think this is a danger for many people.. including the less able;elderly;mum's with buggies and children etc. I had to jump across the gap,not being tall like my husband,as did my little granddaughter. I saw a lady on TV last week who had fallen between the train and track and lost an arm and leg as a result of the accident. Surely something can and should be done to improve this.

YANBU. I've often had to jump to get off a train, it's ridiculous.

I don't disagree with you, but it's going to be a bit expensive to rebuild all the stations / trains.

I commute through there every day and have had my toddler with me on occasion. It is a bit much if you’re not expecting it, but if you get on where the disabled space carriage is it stops in the bend and that bit is really not so bad. I always reverse off the train with the buggy.

When I’m on my own and travel towards the front of the train yes, it is a rather large jump off.

I've got knee problems and one of them doesn't bend very well and is inclined to give way.

I find getting off trains with a big gap terrifying, and it really puts me off using them, tbh, unless it's a route where I know it's not too bad.

Oh thanks skinnermarink..I didn't know there was a safer part of the train to get off.

Sorry Skinnermarink..how do you know where the disabled save carriage is..I have never heard of this before.

I hate it too when I’ve got my children and impatient commuters trying to get on and off. Not sure it’s an easy fix though to be honest.

Yes this is the case at Waterloo as well - if you get on/off at about the tenth carriage from the station concourse there is a massive gap. I agree it's not great!

I bloody hate Clapham Junction. I've witnessed someone fall down the gap and another time I got to the platform as they were hauling a buggy up. Fortunately no injuries in either case.

(I always feel really sick when I see untethered - for want of a better word - children on station platforms as it is, but Clapham Junction is on a whole other level)

Mind the gap

The gap is big enough for a buggy to fall down?

Agree it's bloody ridiculous and so dangerous.

Yes it's big enough for the front or back half of the buggy to get swallowed up!!! OP is not exaggerating. Have you never been yourself @Hellsbellsandspidersankles

Gap at my local station is huge in certain places along the platform - YANBU.

I agree with you it's always massive, feels like such a relief the odd time when it's a small gap

At my local station there's a huge drop rather than gap. About 10 years ago they built a hump on part of the platform to raise it up but it doesn't always coincide with the doors nor is the hump long enough for a 2 carriage train. Very difficult for elderly/infirm or anyone with a pushchair and totally impossible for a wheelchair user. I worry that I'll twist my ankle or knacker my knee jumping down at some point.

I think something needs to be done about this. I emailed Network Rail so will be interested to see what reply I get. They keep going on about needing guards on trains but there doesn't seem much being done about this hazard. They have ramps off buses ..there might be something they can do with trains or build up areas of platform. And if it costs money it will be money well spent. The poor woman who lost her arm and her leg on her way home from work would be testimony to that.

On one of the platforms I've used there, it's big enough for a buggy and parent to fall down after it. Seriously, a step ladder would have been handy.

So there are usually two on a 12 coach train. I know exactly where to get on at my ‘home’ station, but Whenever I’m travelling from somewhere else I ask. Sometimes it’s marked on the platform, sometimes a safe bet is where the wheelchair ramp is stored, but I always ask, the stewards if there are any about will know because they’d have to help in the event of someone in a wheelchair needing to get on. As a general rule of thumb for me it’s usually the last coach but one. That’s South eastern trains.

Bear in mind it took them 11 months to sort a lift at Clapham junction (before that I was lugging the buggy up and down stairs, sometimes with help, sometimes not) so it’s not a station where anything gets sorted quickly.

YANBU. It fills me full of dread sometimes getting my buggy off and makes me not want to travel around. I can’t imagine how scary it must be for some people who use wheelchairs or crutches etc. Even the doors marked for disabled entry are still not level at many stations even on the brand new (allegedly step free) Elizabeth line!

The transport system in London is not suitable for parents with prams or young children. It is very inaccessible.

Didn't the woman who lost an arm and a leg, slip on a wet platform

Actually, lots of it is, the stations that aren’t are the old Victorian ones that really I’m not sure realistically what could be done. I don’t drive and I live in London so I had to get pretty savvy about it, no money for taxis, and I know a lot of the stations inside out. My local station is a nightmare. No disabled access whatsoever. I’m lucky that there’s usually someone to help or I take a light buggy, baby under I’ve arm and pick up the buggy with the other. Or walk 25 min to use a step free station. But I agree, loads of it is so inaccessible it puts people off, and a lot of the time it’s only possible for me to navigate as I’ve only got the one baby to deal with.

I thought it was just me who had to make a jump for it. Then there’s the people who get off & suddenly stop so you risk crashing in to them. Or they rush past far too close to where you’re about to land. So even if you clear the gap you still have the worry of being flung backwards & into the gap.