There has been word going around that a spokesperson for Northern Rail may have apologised about the latest incident with Sara Jane Harvey at Blackpool North Station. (Update on the update - ITV News reported that Northern have said sorry and agree that she was treated badly by their staff... after  they were invited to comment for a report ITV were making.)

Their spokesperson did apologise in August after Sara was held at Manchester Oxford Road Station for twenty minutes as a guard tried to make her carry her scooter off the train, despite the fact that staff had just assisted her on via ramp. (Again, after the story hit the news...)

They apologised to Tanyalee Davis in July after moving her out of the disabled space to make room for a pram and then publicly humiliating her, threatening over the tannoy to delay the train at Taunton until she stopped causing a fuss about the appalling way she was being treated.

There have been many empty apologies and murmurs about them changing their policies. They say that their 'ultimate goal' is to ensure that everyone, including disabled people can travel across their network... After so many of these incidents and apologies on the news this year, it seems that they are using the word 'ultimate' to mean 'final' rather than to mean their top goal. It certainly isn't a priority for them.

How many people has this happened to that didn't have access to the media and public to reach out to. How many times is this happening in the background where we don't see it? How many disabled people are stuck at home, afraid to even attempt a journey for fear of this kind of humiliation?

When are they going to stop with these 'spokesperson has apologised' announcements and actually take some action to train their staff and catch up to the 21st century with the rest of us?!