Overview

This review is about my latest inward and return journey from Waverley Station. Overall the station has excellent, step free access. Special assistance was excellent. There are accessible and Changing Places toilets but there are a few issues which if addressed would make the station easier to access for disabled people.

Transport & Parking

The mainline station has excellent train services to other parts of Scotland and to England. The station is located at the east end of Princess Street, a major shopping street, on which there are several bus routes. St Andrew's Square tram stop about 5 minutes away, which connects with Edinburgh Airport.

Access

Station has step free access via lifts. There is seating with back support. During my last visit in July 2023, I suggested to station that the signage for special assistance could be improved. This has not been addressed. There is still at one side of rail information desk written Mobility Assistance. Signposting customers to this and the labelling on the desk itself could be more prominent and easier to identify. As this was my second time here I was able to find it based on past experience. The staff at the Mobility Assistance desk signposted me to the LNER Special Assistance lounge. He provide directions to go through a tunnel and turn right. There was NO signposting for this. When I arrived there was a sign (sorry I forgot to take this). Inside there was a desk, with a lowered section. There were some seats with arms and back support round the edges and a large wide open space. At one side there was a row of manual wheelchairs.

Toilets

The station has accessible and Changing Places toilet. I did not use them during this visit. There are no accessible toilet in the Special Assistance area, customers will have to go outside the lounge into another part of the station to use them. This is the ONLY special assistance area I've been to where there is not an accessible toilet as part of the facilities.

Staff

On the outward journey I was met off the train by a member of the special assistance staff with a wheelchair. There was no waiting for assistance to arrive and she took me to the exit. On the return journey the person at the Special Assistance desk was very helpful. When I arrived at the special assistance lounge the woman who served me was polite. I asked if there was an accessible toilet in the special assistance waiting area and when I was told no and I asked to feedback back my concerns about this, she advised me to contact the station directly. I explained that I had raised it with her as a member of staff and my expectation is that I have raised it with her and asked her to follow it up. I then said that I would wait in the waiting room until my train arrived (I was about an hour early but very tired) and she replied that most people don't wait there (all the time I was there I was the only one who used the facility). I asked her if there was a problem with me waiting there and she said no bit that most people don't. When I say to a member of special assistance I am going to wait in the waiting room, I expect someone to say ok, not to question that and compare me to other customers. I was in pain and fatigued. I just wanted a quiet place to rest before my train arrived. I found her attitude off. The special assistance person who took me to the platform in a wheelchair was very helpful and friendly.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Overall, Waverley ticks the box for accessibility. I received excellent support with Special Assistance for both journeys. However, I have a couple of concerns 1) Signage to and at the special assistance desk in the main concourse could be improved. Nothing has changed since I raised it last July. 2) The Special Assistance waiting room is not signposted, previously (July 2023) I was told to wait in the main waiting room area, therefore I do not know if it has recently opened. I am also very concerned that there is no accessible toilet within the waiting room area. This means as a solo traveller I would have to drag my case, crutch and myself through a crowded station to an accessible toilet and back. I have NEVER been to a special assistance area where there are no accessible toilet provision within the area. I would like Waverley Station to address both these issues which will improve the experience of disabled people using their services.

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