Heathrow Express has partnered with one of the country’s leading wheelchair basketball teams, London Titans, and launched a new ‘Heathrow Express charter’ to highlight the accessibility of its service.
The charter was created by Heathrow Express to support the team’s travel to this year’s EuroCup tournament, with the Titans travelling to the Finals in Turkey this week, and ensure a suitable experience on its trains for everyone by making accessibility for all a priority.
The charter’s goals are to continuously improve the quality of its accessible travel offering, deliver the commitments within its Accessible Travel Policy, and to cater for its passengers’ wide ranging needs so that everyone can use the service confidently.
As the only rail airport transfer service with completely step-free access, it includes maintaining this so that passengers with wheelchairs and mobility aids can travel from train to plane and back again with ease.
Heathrow Express has also partnered with mobility charities and organisations to understand the needs of every passenger and to ensure its staff receive regular training that enables them to deliver a service that is accessible to all.
London Titans’ coach Matt Sealy has praised the difference Heathrow Express’s support has made to himself and his players, which include Paralympic icon and BBC personality Ade Adepitan.
Speaking from the Eurocup tournament in Bosnia last month, he said: “Heathrow and Heathrow Express have helped our club enormously. I wouldn’t be sitting here in Bosnia without both of those companies’ support. EuroCup is very important for some of these players in being seen, especially young players, who are aspiring to be future GB players. They play at this level, and they get seen by international coaches. It makes a big difference to their careers.
“I have been travelling internationally as a wheelchair user since the age of 3. I am now approaching 41, and to say accessibility in the travel industry has improved during this time is a huge understatement! I’ve noticed so many changes in this time with a huge focus on attention to individual needs, for not just wheelchair users but vast other disabilities.
“The most important need for myself has been the understanding of organisations, such as Heathrow Airport and Heathrow Express, to see my wheelchair as a part of me, and not a piece of luggage. It is the only time my wheelchair leaves my body so I have to have complete confidence that it is being handled and looked after with utmost care and attention.
“Thankfully I get this reassurance from the moment of booking my travel, through to greeting staff at airport check in desks or train terminal platforms. When these staff talk to me with confident action plans of every process through the airport of where my chair goes once I board a plane and where it will be going and waiting for me at my destination, this vastly improves my confidence to travel independently.
Daniel Edwards, Business Lead, at Heathrow Express added: “We are delighted to be partnering with The London Titans in our 25th anniversary year and launching our new Heathrow Express charter. We already carry around 25,000 travellers a day between Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport and want to set and maintain new standards to encourage more travellers to this service.
“This means making sure everyone can look forward to a great experience, with peace of mind knowing that the facilities are globally recognised as compliant for all and that they will receive a warm human welcome at every stage.
There are highly trained colleagues onboard up and down the route to be on hand for any requests and we also pride ourselves in offering customers the spaces and features they need, like lots of luggage space, dedicated wheelchair areas, accessible toilets, and passenger information onboard.”
The Heathrow Express charter: top five goals for 2023:
- To ensure a travel experience on our trains that is suitable for everyone by making accessibility for all our priority.
- To ensure we work with our rail and airport partners to maintain a completely step-free service from train to plane and back again so passengers with wheelchairs and mobility aids can travel with ease.
- To continue to improve the quality of our accessible travel offering and continuously and consistently deliver the commitments made in our Accessible Travel Policy.
- To partner with mobility charities and organisations to understand the specific needs of every passenger who travels with us and ensuring our staff receive regular training to enable them to deliver a service that is accessible to all.
- To assist and enable everyone to be able to use our service confidently by considering the wide range of different needs of all our passengers.
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