Overview

This major London transport hub is served by swarms of buses and is the terminus for many train services heading south of London. For the tube there is step-free access to all lines - see below for details. The accessible toilets are deeply problematic, and District and Circle line staff can be really terrible.

Transport & Parking

There is an NCP car park nearby and a further car park on Eccleston Bridge. It is possible to get assistance at short notice from the generally friendly platform staff if you want to travel by National Rail, even though Southern Rail and Southeastern Railway advise you to book assistance two hours in advance - but it's not obligatory to book assistance in advance. The station is served by swarms of buses and is the terminus for many train services heading south of London. For the tube there is step-free access to all lines. The Victoria Line is step-free from street to train. The District and Circle lines are step-free from street to platform, and manual boarding ramps are available, speak to staff at the ticket barrier before you travel, to seek ramp assistance for the District and Circle lines.

Access

The national rail part of the station is very accessible, lots of shops and cafés, and a shopping centre with further cafés and restaurants on two floors above the platforms. These facilities are approached using a mysterious lift hidden away ON Platform 14. If you are *arriving* at Victoria by National Rail, you may not be given assistance and will quite likely be left stranded on the train, even if staff at your starting station claim to have phoned ahead to Victoria to let them know you're coming and will need a ramp or other assistance. There is some deep flaw in the station's internal communications, and requests for assistance are sometimes ignored or 'lost'.

Toilets

There are two reasonably spacious accessible toilets on the main concourse, both accessible by RADAR key. There is also a Changing Places toilet at the same location. So far so good. BUT... Red emergency cords are very often tied up out of reach or are deliberately chopped off to make them too short. This is disgraceful and puts people in danger if they need to summon assistance after falling over. But the worst thing about these accessible toilets is that the toilet attendants keep peeping inside the cubicles, even when the cubicles are occupied! This is a gross intrusion and a gross violation of privacy, absolutely scandalous. I have complained to Network Rail (who manage these toilets) many times about this, but the toilet attendants still keep opening doors and peeping inside when the cubicles are in use.

Staff

Most National Rail platform staff are friendly and helpful, even if they appear gruff at first. Some platform staff are outstandingly helpful, friendly and professional, so much so that I have written to Southern Rail to praise them and to say thank you. District and Circle line staff are more variable. They can be quite rude, and quite patronising when talking to disabled people - I have more than once been spoken to as if I was a small child. They are also very unreliable with providing ramp assistance for people arriving on the District and Circle lines, which means you could get stuck on the train and carried far beyond Victoria Station. There's some sort of culture of rudeness and negligence at Victoria's District and Circle Line platforms which is not typical of TfL's tube staff as a whole. Because the Victoria Line platforms are step-free to train, I've had no interaction with Victoria Line staff except at the ticket barrier, where they seem friendly and helpful.

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