Ashley Armstrong, 28, who has cerebral palsy, was travelling from Piccadilly on Sunday when he arrived at Heaton Park tram stop to find the lift was broken
Ashley Armstrong, a 28 year old with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair, was stuck on a Metrolink platform for an hour because of a lift breakdown at the tram stop in Prestwich.
Ashley tried calling for help many times from staff, but nobody picked up his calls. The resident of Walkden, who was travelling home from Piccadilly on Sunday (March 24), got to Heaton Park tram stop about 3pm and found that the lift wasn’t working. He kept pushing the help button on the platform and tried phoning for help but didn’t get any response.
Eventually, he gave up and had to catch another tram to the next stop and return to use the lift on the other side. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get onto the next tram with his wheelchair as it was too crowded. The reduced Sunday service delayed him even more.
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He said: “It was stressful. It was very inconvenient really. I was sat there pressing the button that you would expect to be working and I got no answer.”, reports the Manchester Evening News. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has said sorry for Ashley’s bad experience. They explained that vandals damaged the lift at Heaton Park tram stop on March 10.
The transport authority has confirmed that the lift is now fixed and working again as of this week. Ashley thinks there should have been a warning at Piccadilly station about the lift problem. He also wonders why nobody came when he pressed the help button, asking: “What is the point? “.
He said: “There also should be a message on the lines with lifts at tram stops when lifts are out of order. People in wheelchairs or people with mobility issues and prams should not have to find this out the hard way such as when they get to their destination.”
The TfGM website states that all 99 Metrolink stops are step-free, but some need lifts or escalators. Currently, seven tram stop lifts or escalators aren’t working, including Besses O’th Barn and Cornbrook.
Danny Vaughan from TfGM said: “We are sorry to hear about the issues faced by this customer, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have now passed on the details of this customers experience to the Metrolink operator so they can investigate. The lift at Heaton Park was broken because of vandalism on 10th March, and we were waiting for parts to fix it. But the lift is working again now.”
