Great if you can fit
4
4
Date of visit: October 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment and moving around.
Overall Rating
Good
I have used Avanti West Coast to travel South from Glasgow a couple of times and it has been generally smooth and comfortable. The wheelchair spaces (reserved via the Passenger Assistance app) come with a table and two companion seats and are close to an "accessible" toilet. There is just about enough space for me to get onto the train and move between the wheelchair space and the toilet, but I am concerned that it would be more difficult with a larger powerchair/mobility scooter. The toilet is also not large enough to fit a chair and a carer.
Disabled Access In and Around
Average
There is one disabled space each in coaches B and D. Catering is in coach C; there is no food trolley that comes around to the seats. There is also a quiet coach available. The door to the train is a siding door opened by pressing a button. There are 2 steps up to a small landing and a corridor around the corner which takes past the disabled toilet, through another button-activated sliding door and into the coach with wheelchair space right at the start. The wheelchair space comes with two opposite-facing companion seats at the same table, although the table on the wheelchair side is higher and apparently height-adjustable by the staff. There are also two fold-down chairs below the window in the wheelchair space. There are 2 standard sockets and 4 USB ports available to charge electronics and wheelchairs, but unfortunately they seemed to be off when I tried to charge my chair. There is also a phone holder by the window and an emergency call button. The phone holder did an annoying rattle as the train was moving, but I stuck a bit of tissue in and it stopped it. There are announcements after every stop about the route and the food offering, plus occasional operational updates. There is a speaker just above the window by the wheelchair space. I recommend booking passenger assistance via the app for a ramp and to reserve the wheelchair space.
Accessible facilities: Step-free access to most areas
Accessible Toilets
Average
The toilet is accessed from the corridor. There is a sign with the word toilet (also in Braille), a wheelchair icon and a baby change icon on the door. The sliding door is opened by pressing a button. The entrance is quite wide and you need to get across a little hump (the rail of the sliding doors) to get in. There is not a lot of space inside, it was not large enough for me to turn in my powerchair but maybe with a smaller manual wheelchair you could. There is no space for a carer. When you come in, there are three buttons on the right. The top button is to close the door, the middle one to lock it and the bottom one to open the door again. You do not need to unlock the door before pressing the open button. The buttons have raised symbols and there is a sign explaining the functions of the buttons in black on white writing and Braille to the left of the buttons. There are lights on the buttons. The lock button glows red when the door is locked. There is also a larger round lock symbol above the buttons that lights up red when the door is locked. To the right of the door buttons is an emergency call button. There is a cover over it to prevent accidental pressing, so you need to pull it down first if you need to call for help. There is another emergency call button at floor height between the toilet and the door. There is an automatic announcement when locking the door that says to be careful because of train movements and unexpected stops. The toilet is to the left of the door and there is space for a left side transfer. There is a moveable horizontal grab rail on the right and a horizontal grab rail around the sink, which is to the left of the toilet. Also to the left are a single-sheet toilet paper dispenser and a bin, both built into the wall. There was not enough space for me to bring my chair to the sink, but I could reach well when sitting on the toilet. The tap is in the middle and the motion sensor on it is a little finicky. To its right, still above the sink, is a lever for soap. You have to push the lever and then the soap comes out behind it, so quite close to the back wall. To the left of the tap is a motion sensor hand dryer. There were no sanitary products in the bathroom, but there was a notice saying free pads were available from the food coach and you could ask for a “package for a friend” if you did not want to say you needed a pad. When exiting the bathroom, I recommend that you start turning as you are coming out, as the corridor is not very wide – wide enough for me to fit pretty comfortably, though, once I am facing the right direction.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
Excellent
Both the passenger assistance staff and train crew were nice and helpful. The conductor offered to get me something from the food coach when checking my ticket. Unfortunately I would probably not be able to go there myself because the aisles would be too narrow. Another wheelchair user boarded when I got off the train and they noticed that the bathroom was now out of order, so they let the assistance staff know and were helped onto another coach promptly and without complaint. The same thing happened to me on the way back, except for that the assistance staff noticed before I did.
