[nagdu] Blind man Dr Tom Pey may sue Eurostar after being left ontrain in Brussels

Lisa Irving lirving1234 at cox.net
Fri Feb 18 23:07:11 UTC 2011


Wow. I'm trying to put myself in this fellow's shoes. The critical side of 
me contends he has a voice, and perhaps a cell phone. I also can't help but 
to wonder if he manipulated circumstances to slam the point home about guide 
dog discrimination in Europe. I don't know. Obviously, we're not getting all 
the facts.

I have a problem with this educated man describing his exodus from the train 
as, "stumbling off". I can't imagine traveling without a cane as a back up. 
I understand his concern about the possibility of being denied a cab ride. 
Denial of Cab access is still an issue in San Diego. We have a large Muslim 
population and some of these folks drive cabs. Fortunately for those of us 
who live in a large metropolitan city, we have options; other cab companies 
we can call. My final thought is this. Do you suppose there are quarantine 
issues this man had to work around.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginger Kutsch" <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 3:35 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Blind man Dr Tom Pey may sue Eurostar after being left 
ontrain in Brussels


> Blind man Dr Tom Pey may sue Eurostar after being left on train
> in Brussels
>
> LEFT ALONE: Tom Pey, pictured here with his guide dogBy emma
> curry reporters at sevenoaks-chronicle.co.uk
> http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Blind-man-train-ordeal/article-3
> 231003-detail/article.html
>
> A BLIND man is threatening to sue Eurostar after he was abandoned
> on a train in Brussels.
>
> Dr Tom Pey, chief executive of the Royal London Society for the
> Blind (RSLB) and Dorton House in Seal, has accused the travel
> firm of disability discrimination.
>
> He was travelling to the European Parliament to press for
> improved rights for guide dog owners at a meeting of the European
> Guide Dog Federation, of which he is president, on Wednesday,
> February 2.
>
> He had left his guide dog in Seal, worried that Belgian taxi
> drivers may not want to take him, and was taken to the station by
> his secretary Alison Nield.
>
> Unable to get through the barriers, she asked a Eurostar employee
> to help Dr Pey on to the train and the train conductor to guide
> Mr Pey off the train in Brussels.
>
> But when they arrived, Mr Pey was left alone. He waited for half
> an hour before struggling out of the station himself.
>
> Dr Pey said: "It's really difficult to make your way around in a
> foreign country at the best of times, quite apart from being
> visually impaired.
>
> "I was also at a real loss without my guide dog.
>
> "I eventually managed to stumble off the train and remembered
> that the taxi rank was near a pizza restaurant. Only problem is
> there are two pizza eateries at Brussels station. It was most
> distressing."
>
> Ms Nield said: "I usually travel with him. Tom's quite brilliant
> but this situation was unacceptable.
>
> "It was luck rather than judgement that got him off that train.
>
> "At this end, Eurostar knew perfectly well he needed assistance.
> It's ridiculous."
>
> Tim Arnold, communications manager of the RLSB, said: "Eurostar
> are re-defining the word 'shameful'. They have a clear
> responsibility under the Equalities Act to make a reasonable
> adjustment for disabled people.
>
> "Tom's lawyers say he has a good case for disability
> discrimination."
>
> A Eurostar spokesman said: "This was obviously a distressing
> experience for Dr Pey and we have called him to apologise
> unreservedly.
>
> "Situations like these are thankfully rare, but are taken
> extremely seriously and therefore, together with our SNCB
> colleagues at Brussels Midi, we are investigating why this
> happened as a matter of urgency."
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lirving1234%40cox.net 





More information about the NAGDU mailing list