Network Rail 'failing' disabled passengers with broken lifts at Lewes Train Station

Network Rail have been accused of ‘failing disabled residents’ due to lifts at Lewes Train Station being consistently out of service.
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Sean Macleod, a Liberal Democrat Lewes District councillor, claimed the lifts at Lewes station have been broken numerous times this year- leaving passengers with mobility issues either stuck or unable to travel at all.

Councillor Macleod said: “I honestly feel like this is a never ending story. At least once a month I am writing to Network Rail Southern asking when their lifts are going to be fixed again. These lifts feel like they have had more parts than Trigger's broom.

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“There has to be a reason for their constant failures and given the rise in ticket costs passengers face, the current situation is simply not acceptable.

Sean Macleod, a Liberal Democrat Lewes District councillor, claimed the lifts at Lewes station have been broken numerous times leaving passengers with mobility issues either stuck or unable to travel at all.Sean Macleod, a Liberal Democrat Lewes District councillor, claimed the lifts at Lewes station have been broken numerous times leaving passengers with mobility issues either stuck or unable to travel at all.
Sean Macleod, a Liberal Democrat Lewes District councillor, claimed the lifts at Lewes station have been broken numerous times leaving passengers with mobility issues either stuck or unable to travel at all.

"This wouldn’t happen so often at a London station. There would be a clear long-lasting fix and the same needs to happen at Lewes Station."

Network Rail confirmed the lift on Platform One was out of action yesterday (June 15) as was awaiting the recalibration of an overspeed governor.

A governor stops the lift from going too fast and engages a gear to slow it down if it does so.

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The rail company said that the lift would be fixed very quickly.

Network Rail Southern region spokesman Chris Denham said: “We’re really sorry for the ongoing problem with the lift that serves Platform One at Lewes, caused by a need to calibrate a safety-critical piece of equipment.

"Although we’re confident it will be fixed imminently, we know that’s no help to people who cannot travel without it and we apologise for the disruption.

“We did have a series of issues with the lift on the other platforms at the station last year – four and five - and we carried out some improvements to them as a result."

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Councillor Macleod said the lack of information to tell passengers the lifts are broken, means they only find out when they get to said lift.

Because of this, councillor Macleod believes many people miss their train, or get off at Platform Four and have to wait for the next train to continue their journey to Brighton and back.

Network Rail said the lifts at Lewes are currently showing a 99.9% availability on Platforms Four and Five 5 and 99.82% availability on platform 1 in this financial year.

However, these statistics don't include issues with vandalism – which the company said was the most common problem with train station lifts.

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Last year the availability figures were 99.65% on Platform One and 92% on Four and Five – a statistic Network Rail described as ‘poor’ due to the station having a series of problems with that lift.

Chris Denham continued: “Sadly the most common cause of failures in lifts is vandalism and the reliability of the lifts themselves is very good – 99.9% in the case of platforms 4 and 5 at Lewes since April.

"We have undertaken some work in the background to speed up our responses to issues when they happen, including stocking up on components from Europe that are now often held up in transit, so we hope that people will see much greater availability of lifts from now on.”

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