Published 28 September 2026
Northern Trains has completed a full overhaul of how it manages disability awareness training for passenger-facing staff, after an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) found serious failings in how the training was delivered and tracked. The ORR announced on 8 September that Northern had finished all 23 actions required under an improvement plan agreed earlier this year.
The regulator’s investigation, launched after Northern failed to deliver disability awareness training it had committed to in its own Accessible Travel Policy, found that the operator also lacked adequate oversight to confirm which staff had actually completed the training. According to the ORR’s own announcement, Northern has since strengthened accountability for training, introduced better systems for tracking completion, closed gaps in existing staff records, and improved arrangements for new starters and refresher training.
Stephanie Tobyn, the ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform, said “disabled passengers should be able to trust that staff have the knowledge and confidence to provide the support they need,” adding that the investigation had found “serious weaknesses in Northern’s management and monitoring of disability awareness training.” She said Northern had “responded positively” and that the regulator would now return to its normal quarterly monitoring of the operator’s training records, as reported by THIIS Magazine.
The investigation began after Northern itself reported in August 2025 that around 800 passenger-facing staff had not received the disability awareness training it had committed to, a gap the ORR described as a significant historic failing in training and record-keeping. Rather than issuing a financial penalty, the regulator secured a £550,000 package of improvement measures from Northern in March 2026, saying that securing lasting changes to training and oversight would deliver more benefit to passengers than a fine. The September announcement confirms that package has now been delivered in full.
For passengers who use a wheelchair, scooter or other mobility equipment, staff training is not an abstract compliance issue. It directly affects whether ramps are provided promptly, whether staff know how to assist safely, and whether a booked assistance request is actually honoured on the day. Gaps in training oversight, of the kind the ORR identified at Northern, tend to show up as inconsistent experiences between stations and between shifts, which is often exactly what passengers report anecdotally even when an operator’s official policy looks fine on paper.
Passengers travelling with Northern who need assistance can still ask staff for a Radar key to access accessible toilets, and rail assistance can generally be booked in advance through an operator’s passenger assistance service, though turning up and asking on the day is also an option on most services. Anyone who travels with a mobility scooter should check an operator’s individual size and folding requirements before travelling, since these vary between train companies. Our guide to mobility scooters covers the main types available, and our wider mobility aids hub has more on planning trips and journeys with equipment.
The Northern case is a reminder that accessible travel policies are only as good as the training and monitoring behind them, and that regulatory follow-up, in this instance quarterly reviews by the ORR, plays a real role in whether commitments made on paper translate into consistent support at the platform edge.
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Published 28 September 2026