GWR train, new large toilet. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Problem
One of my friends says she doesn't like the new toilets with the huge sliding doors. She wants a 'conventional' toilet.
I thought that all the carriages on the new trains had the big toilets for wheelchairs. I had been in one. I assumed that all carriages were identical.
I made the error we were told about when I did my first Philosophy course at University College London. People think that because they see one black swan, all swans are black. Not so.
My friend who was determined to find another toilet, went to the next carriage. No luck. When the ticket inspector came around, she asked him. He told her that another type of toilet was further up the train.
Off she went, and came back happy.
It turns out that the wide wheelchair-friendly toilets are not in every carriage. That's a nuisance. A person in a wheelchair doesn't want to be travelling all the way along to find one. Do they put the wheelchair spaces near the wheelchair toilet? Probably in that carriage. But, the next carriage probably also has a wheelchair space or two, but no wheelchair wide toilet.
I tried the smaller toilet by chance on my next journey (returning from my long weekend in Wales). It still had the sliding door, the same system. Admittedly, because of small space, all the buttons inside were in a column next to the door frame.
So, on the GWR trains, look out for a choice of types of toilet.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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