Closing Olympia service will 'cut off the disabled'

Impact: Deborah and Harry Estensen
12 April 2012

Disability campaigners today attacked transport bosses over plans to close a Tube route offering one of the few gateways to London for wheelchair users.

Kensington Olympia on the District line is one of just two west London Tube stations that has a disabled access interchange with the Overground.

Last week, traders around the Olympia exhibition centre warned that TfL's plans would cause the "slow death" of their business by cutting off customers who attend events such as Top Gear Live and the Good Food Show.

Now, wheelchair users fear the proposals will make them further isolated from the rest of the capital. Transport for London plans to close the U-shaped line between Olympia and Earls Court on weekdays and use the trains to increase capacity on the rest of the District line.

TfL said the changes, starting in December, will allow an extra 4,000 passengers to travel every weekday morning on the Wimbledon branch and 800 more on Ealing Broadway services during evening rush hour peak. The service will resume at weekends.

But in the week it will mean that the nearest disabled interchange between the Tube and Overground is at Willesden Junction on the Bakerloo line.

Harry Estensen, five, from Ealing, spent nearly a year in a wheelchair and his mother, Deborah, said the lack of access to the Tube stopped them enjoying family days out. Mrs Estensen, a HR manager, said: "It's very short-sighted of TfL because it's not just wheelchair users who benefit from the extra access but families with young children and the elderly too."

Legal journalist Husnara Begum, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, said that "removing this key interchange will be a real blow for many disabled people". Nearly 2,000 local people around Olympia have signed a petition against TfL's plans. Charity Scope urged TfL to explore options to allow disabled customers to continue using the train network.

A TfL spokeswoman said disabled Londoners would be well served by buses around Olympia. She said: "The weekday Olympia service is very lightly used."

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