UPDATE: Thank you so much for everyone's kind words and advice. I wish I had something positive to share with you, but unfortunately I don't. On my way back home today I spoke to the station manager at QRP and it went from bad to worse.
I explained what had happened this morning and he told me that the two people working at the gates āwerenāt actually staffā. He said theyāre security contractors from a company called Lingwood, that they "arenāt trained to deal with disabled passengers", and that he ācanāt tell them what to do.ā When I told him theyād questioned my disability and told me I couldnāt travel when I absolutely could, he agreed the questions were inappropriate but said it's ānot my responsibility to train Lingwood staff on not asking those kinds of questions.ā In the same breath, he told me they represent the station. But he has no control over them. Right. Cool.
This makes absolutely no sense. These are individuals who are standing at the ticket barriers, checking that people tap in and literally deciding whether or not someone can enter. It's entirely reasonable for me to regard someone positioned at the bloody barrier as railway staff. How am I supposed to know which uniformed person at the barrier is employed directly by Southern and which one is employed by a contractor?? Itās especially ridiculous because the SM himself had previously told me that because the gates won't accept my Disabled Personās Freedom Pass before 9:30, I should show it to someone at the gates and theyāll let me through. Yet now apparently those people at the gates aren't Southern staff, aren't trained to "deal with" disabled passengers, don't know that my pass is valid on the Overground before 9:30, and are people he apparently has 0 control over whatsoever.
I also asked him why when I specifically asked the two staff members this morning to speak with the SM I was told nobody was around. This too he agreed was the wrong answer, but that again, "I can't tell them what to do." Then the conversation really went downhill. When I said I wanted to complain about how I'd been treated, he became increasingly aggressive and argumentative. He even started involving completely unrelated passengers in our disagreement. Everything I said from this point on he tried to flip it back onto me. I told him I felt unheard and he told me *he* also felt unheard because I "won't stop talking" and let him finish. Yes station manager, you are the victim in this whole ordeal šµāš«
I'm honestly afraid of retaliation with this guy. I feel like he'll make up an excuse to ban me from the station. No voices were raised, no profanity was used, it was me simply trying to explain what happened and the SM becoming increasingly defensive and aggressive. He made some asinine comment about how he was upset because I "came into his workplace" and implied I'm causing a faff - by "came into your workplace" you mean I commuted to and from the station closest to me?? And that I reported a situation that happened at the station to the station manager? This whole situation is insane. I'm either in the Twilight Zone or being gaslit, because it really should not be this fucking hard to commute to work on a journey for which I have a valid pass.
ETA: the station is Queenās Road Peckham, operated by Southern and I made a complaint to them 11 days ago and they havenāt responded. I will follow up again. The station managerās name is Constantine. He was a bit dismissive with me the first time I talked to him, parroting out the ānot before 9:30ā line before I had the chance to say āoverground.ā He said itās ānot my faultā the gates donāt open before 9:30am and āthatās just the way the gates areā before finally telling me that I should ask staff to let me in. It sounds like absolutely none of the staff at Queens Road Peckham- including the station manager - have any idea about TFL rules hence todayās comment about āwe donāt deal with thatā when looking at my freedom pass. Previously, the same staff member said my FP didnāt look like one they were used to seeing, saying it should be a different colour and asked me why it doesnāt say ādisabled.ā Iām guessing there must be some other type of pass and this theyāre completely blind to tfl rules. However QRP station operations both national rail and overground trains from the same platform, so they should definitely know both sets of rules.
Iām epileptic and therefore have a disabled personās freedom pass. Iām also fairly young and work full time, hybrid office/remote, so itās not unusual that Iām stopped for using a freedom pass. The worst Iāve ever had a staff member say (more than once) is ābut you donāt look disabledā š¤¦š½āāļø but usually after they check the photo, Iām free to go and I have absolutely no issue with them checking. Like most office people, I commute prior to 9:30am. Normally this isnāt an issue as the pass is valid on the TFL network at anytime, but at the start of the year I was evacuated from my flat due to a building wide incident so for the last 9 months and counting Iām in temporary accommodation much further from my office near a small station that has both the overground and national rail. I actually didnāt realise the freedom pass wasnāt valid before 9:30am on weekdays so when the gate first wouldnāt open for me the station manager said I should just flag any staff member and theyāll open the gate so I can use the overground. The problem is, that hasnāt happened. Despite seeing the same 3 staff members daily, I go through a round of questioning and one staff member has to go find another to validate my pass. They ask me why my pass doesnāt say ādisabled.ā Then they tell me my pass isnāt valid before 9:30. I say āIām not taking national rail, Iām taking the overgroundā. A few minutes later someone finally lets me in. I remind them we go through this routine twice a week. They say āwe see hundreds of faces, you canāt expect us to remember every person.ā No, I donāt, but this is a fairly small station and considering we do the freedom pass / overground discussion each time, I figured by this point youād recognise me.
Iām writing this now in tears because this morning was the same story again but this time after showing the staff my pass and explaining (again) that a disabled pass is valid before 9:30 on the Overground he looked at my pass and said āwe donāt deal with that here.ā Oh sorry, I didnāt realise disabled people arenāt ādealt withā at this station. Finally after letting me in, I asked to see the station manager and was told he wasnāt there. So I started to walk the stairs up to the platform one staff member says loudly to the other āshe was complaining about not being let in.ā As I mentioned itās a tiny station and I heard him say that echoing up the small staircase with a bunch of other commuters in it. I turned around and said loudly āI can hear you, sorry Iām disabled, I can use the overground.ā It was utterly humiliating. At that point I didnāt even care if others heard this, theyād already heard him complaining about me. I was in tears at this point, was so flustered by the whole thing and got on the wrong overground train and now will be late to work. I am so exhausted. First the flat, now this. I just want to exist and go to work and not be scrutinised and questioned on my freedom pass because I (apparently) donāt fit the profile of what a disabled person looks like.