A wheelchair user and accessibility activist has been left so “traumatised” by London rail staff who denied her help with boarding that she has said she never wants “to interact with them or use this station ever again.”
The incident occurred on the morning of 18 May 2025 at London’s Liverpool Street Station, where 26-year-old Anna Landre tried to take the train to Cambridge. She arrived 15 minutes before her train was due to depart and asked at the information desk for assistance boarding but was told staff were “too busy” to help.
In the United Kingdom, disabled passengers may choose to book assistance ahead of their journey when buying their ticket but that system breaks down 25% of the time, according to Caroline Strickland, CEO of campaign group Transport for All. An alternative for passengers requiring assistance is to exert their right to “Turn Up and Go” although only 11% of UK stations are permanently staffed, which makes the process “challenging,” Strickland said.
Was just fully denied the right to travel today at Liverpool St Stn, on any train, because @networkrail staff collectively refused to deploy a ramp for me.
— Anna Landre ♿️ (@annalandre) May 18, 2025
Why? One of them claimed I was “rude” for telling him I didn’t need the lecture he was giving me on why they’d failed to …
Landre missed her intended departure and after, asserting her right to travel and her plan to get the next available train, was denied service by staff who said she was “rude.” Landre rejects that claim and has requested bodycam footage of the interaction, during which she insisted she knew her rights and said, “I know the law. I don’t need a lecture on it. He just kept going and I said it again. I’m just waiting for the next train.”
Writing about the issue on X, Landre speculated that the staff member “did not enjoy a young disabled woman speaking assertively back to him in the same tone he was using.” She also points out that “regardless, ‘rudeness’ is not the standard for denial of ramp assistance. Abusiveness is, and I was certainly not that.”
An investigation is underway into why a wheelchair user was denied help to board a train.
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 26, 2025
Anna Landre has accused Network Rail staff of trying to lecture her on disability law — while refusing to deploy a ramp. pic.twitter.com/5wvwScy9AN
The account she gives involves at least five members of staff, two managers and two security guards in a show of force Landre denounces. “The fact is, disabled people reacting with anything other than gratefulness and deference for being granted basic human dignity is often perceived as rudeness. And the power nondisabled people have over our lives to enforce that dynamic is extraordinary. No trains for me today.”
Network Rail has since announced an investigation into the episode and a spokesperson acknowledged the level of service fell short, stating: “We are really sorry that Ms Landre had this experience when using our station. Our director for the Anglia region, which includes responsibility for Liverpool Street station, spoke with Ms Landre this morning and personally apologised for her experience.”
Network Rail continued: “Our aim is to provide a positive experience for each and every passenger and she should never have been denied assistance to board a train and we know we let her down.”
