A blind Birmingham couple are claiming that a that a train driver ignored requests for help, just before one of them broke a leg falling between the train and platform edge.
Jim Newbold and his wife Sally are planning to make a compensation claim against the operators of the train service, London Midland.
The pair were travelling with a sighted helper on the 13.05 service between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield City on August 9, when the accident happened as they struggled to leave the train at Lichfield. They claim that the driver said it was ‘not his job’ to help them.
The couple, aged 70 and 54, were on a day out to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Mrs Newbold, who has been blind from birth, was taken back to Birmingham and onto the hospital by her husband and their sighted companion.
Mr Newbold, who lost his sight when he caught measles aged two years old, said that he was angry because they had only asked for some help, and if the driver couldn’t help them, perhaps he could have asked someone from the station.
Staff at New Street had helped the couple onto the train but when they asked the driver if he could help them disembark at Lichfield he replied that it wasn’t his job to do so.
Mr Newbold said there had been no station staff on the platform at Lichfield, and that his wife had been hesitant about stepping off. Her stick slipped as she did so and her leg fell in between the platform and the train. Although their helper managed to get her back onto the platform, the driver just drove off.
He added that she had managed to get onto a train to Birmingham, but had been in a lot of pain. After two hour she was x-rayed and it was discovered that her leg was broken.
Mrs Newbold is now at Sandwell Hospital.
Nobody from London Midland was available to comment.
Dominic Moss, an expert injury solicitor, said he was appalled by what the couple had told him, and confirmed that Mrs Newbold had instructed them to take action regarding the company’s lack of duty of care.
