ALL railway stations in Wales should have tactile paving to warn vision-impaired passengers they are nearing the edge of the platform.

This is the call from Guide Dogs Cymru following a report into the death of a man with sight loss in London last year.

A report was released on February 19 into the death of Cleveland Gervais who fell from the platform at Eden Park Station and was hit by a train in 2020.

The report into the incident was compiled by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, who found that the absence of tactile paving at the platform edge could have been a factor in his death.

Guide Dogs Cymru put a Freedom of Information request to find out how many stations in Wales have the tactile paving. They found that 63 per cent currently do not have any.

Sue Sims from Ystrad Mynach, who has a guide dog called Saxon, has spoken of her experience using the local station. She said: “It has no tactile paving to stop bling people getting too close to the edge.

“I have to access the platform by crossing over a bridge and it takes you quite close to the track. I’m always quite scared because my guide dog is on my left, but the track is on my right.

“There is no tactile paving to indicate the edge, so I depend on the dog to go out wide, or there is a danger I could end up on the rails.”

The charity understands that there are plans to have the paving on a number of stations in Wales, including those on the Core Valley Lines and new platforms for the South Wales Metro.

But they believe that having the paving on some platforms and not all could increase the risk to passengers who are sight impaired. They believe that those passengers will rely on it being there and with many stations being unstaffed, it would add to the danger if there is no tactile paving.

Guide Dogs Cymru external affairs manager, Andrea Gordon, said: “We welcome the commitment by Network Rail to install more tactile paving, but we want this to happen on all platforms throughout Wales.

“Public transport is key to the independence of blind and partially sighted people, but station platforms pose an obvious danger. We need the correct tactile paving to be installed, so that people can navigate their way safely and with confidence.

“The draft Wales Transport Strategy states that there should be fewer barriers that prevent people from making best use of rail services, including physical accessibility. We believe this should include tactile paving on all platforms in Wales and have submitted our comments to the consultation.”