Brighton station now has an audio guide for blind and partially sighted passengers

Blind and partially sighted passengers can now listen to an audio guide to Brighton station before they travel. Sight Loss Council volunteers wrote it with accessibility managers at GTR¹, the parent company of Southern³ and Thameslink.

Brighton is one of six stations with a guide, alongside Eastbourne, London Blackfriars, Sutton, Stevenage and Luton Parkway. Each one describes the station’s layout and facilities, so passengers can learn their way around before they go. There are also guides to Thameslink’s trains and most of Southern’s.

Dave Smith of the sight loss charity Thomas Pocklington Trust told the BBC that station websites show a bird’s-eye map, which doesn’t work for someone who can’t see it. “We wrote a guide that replicates those [maps] in a way where a blind or partially sighted person can orientate themselves,” he said.

GTR wants feedback, and the BBC reported that more stations could get guides as a result. Carl Martin, GTR’s accessibility lead, said: “It enables us to understand what matters most and, through lived experience, look at solutions to improve people’s confidence to travel.”

Sussex Sight Loss Council and GTR are holding a Coffee, Chat, and Navigation event at Brighton station on Wednesday 14 October, meeting in the Passenger Lounge. There is a morning session from 10:30am to 12:30pm and an afternoon one from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The event includes a guided station walk. Places are limited. Booking closes at 5pm today, and anyone bringing a guide or companion should book them a place too.

The guides are on the “Support whilst you’re travelling” pages of the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern websites. The organisers ask people to listen to or read the Brighton station guide before they come.