Channel 4 News has an item quoting Sir Philip Craven saying that it's not reasonable to expect all London underground stations to be accessible to disabled people in the period from winning the Olympics bid for 2012 and the Olympics taking place.
He's right to say that everyone wins from having more accessible transport, and that everyone particularly includes older people. You can get down to the station from the street at Sutton, where I live, but the gap still yawns between train and platform, terrifyingly if you're a child and pretty edgy even if you're a big-striding reasonably-fit nearly retiree.
So I hope it's not going to be just an effort for London and just for the time leading up to the Olympics, because access to transport is a real issue for older people and families with younger children. I saw a woman with a buggy slip down between the train and the platform trying to get off over a large gap recently and I don;t think that short of thing should be possible.
We should be making the accessibility effort for everyone, not just people who have a recognised disability, and for all time, not just for the Olympics, and for all the country, not just London.
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