Changing Places toilet at Swansea station
4
4
Date of visit: October 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Good
The Changing Places toilet at Swansea station was very spacious and easy to locate. As with all the other toilets in the station, you have to go through the ticket barriers to reach the toilet. There is very clear signage with the Changing Places symbol which makes it easy to spot from the main part of the station. As the station is one level throughout, there are no stairs, lifts or ramps to navigate to get to the toilet. If you aren’t ready to board your train, the staff are happy to assist you through the ticket barriers. The toilet was accessed with a RADAR key and the door wasn’t too heavy. It had lots of space inside and had a large height-adjustable bench, a ceiling hoist, a Closomat toilet and a height-adjustable sink. Aside from one of the two toilet flushes being broken and the Closomat control being out of reach, the equipment seemed in good working order. Although, I didn’t see any instructions or weight limits anywhere.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
The station is all on one level so there are no stairs or lifts to access any part of the station. The main entrance was easily identifiable from the street with the National Rail symbol and Abertawe and Swansea on either side of it. There was another way to enter and leave the station which was on the side and this came out directly by some bus stops and places for taxis to stop. The ticket barriers had a wider barrier at either end and there was also always at least one member of staff by them. Once you went through the ticket barrier, there were the four platforms, the waiting areas and all the toilets. The flooring from here onwards was mainly concrete, however, the toilets had tiled floors. On one side there was a standard accessible toilet and on the other was a Changing Places toilet. To access the Changing Places toilet you need a RADAR key.
Accessible facilities: Single-level venue, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Good
I travelled to this place by train
At this station you can access train services operated by Transport for Wales and Great Western Railway. These provide services to Fishguard Harbour, Manchester Piccadilly, Carmarthen, Milford Haven, Shrewsbury, London Paddington, Cardiff Central, Pembroke Dock and other stations in between. The side exit from the station leads you out to where you can access a number of bus services, including 4, 4A, 16, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36, 49, 52, 54, 89, 91, 111, N91, X6, X11, X13, X13A and X26. This area was also where taxis stopped. The station had an area outside the main entrance where cars could drop off and pick up people. There were also two disabled spaces in this area. There was a large multi-storey car park directly next to the station. It is operated by Swansea Council and has around 626 spaces including 28 accessible spaces and six EV charging stations. It has a height restriction of 1.98 metres, is open 24/7 and is a paid car park. It’s also been given the Park Mark Safer Parking award; this is an accreditation by the British Transport Police, which means it has been vetted by them and has measures in place to make it safer to park in.
Accessible facilities: Drop-off or pick up point, Public or on street parking
Accessible Toilets
Good
The Changing Places toilet was absolutely huge and had more than enough space. Inside was a ceiling hoist, a height-adjustable changing bench, a Closomat toilet and a height-adjustable sink. The door did have a fixed, horizontal grab rail on the inside which made it much easier to close and it wasn’t a heavy door. It locked by pushing the handle up. To the right as you entered were the ceiling hoist and height-adjustable changing bench. There was a paper dispenser mounted on the wall for the bench, but it wasn’t stocked with paper when I was there. On the left as you came into the toilet was the Closomat toilet. It had plenty of room for a right- or left-side transfer and there were two grab rails on each side, one that could be raised and lowered as required and the other was a fixed, vertical grab rail. The two adjustable rails had a toilet roll placed on them which made it very easy to reach. The toilet had two large buttons on either side which could be used to flush the toilet. However, one of them wasn’t working and was covered with yellow and black tape when I was there. The other button worked well. This was a Closomat toilet, but the control had been dropped behind the sanitary bins which were placed next to the toilet. In the centre was the height-adjustable sink. The lever to control the height was on the right-hand side. It was a large, wide sink with a single tap which twisted to control both the temperature and flow of the water. On the left of the sink, a fixed, vertical grab rail was mounted to the wall. On the right was a manual soap dispenser and then another fixed, vertical grab rail. To the right of these was an automatic hand dryer, this was a Dyson one that required you to put your hands vertically down into the machine and pull them out again which might be a difficult angle for some people. There was one emergency cord by the toilet which was hanging freely to the floor. I didn’t see any privacy screens or information about the equipment, such as weight limits or instructions.
Facilities: Closomat toilet, Changing Places toilet
Staff
Excellent
The staff were really helpful and attentive. When I first arrived I passed through the ticket barriers before I realised I had missed the loos, so someone was very happy to let me through the barriers to get to them.
