Blind commuters welcome U-turn on silencing Tannoy at Waterloo station

Plans to scrap Tannoy announcements at Waterloo station have been abandoned following objections from disability campaigners.

South West Trains was due to start a trial next month, silencing the public address system for travel information. The train company said it had received complaints from passengers and locals that the station had become too noisy.

But the plans have been dropped after they were revealed in the Standard last week.

The Royal National Institute Of Blind People welcomed the U-turn.

Richard Holmes, RNIB Regional Campaigns Officer for London, said: “We are pleased that South West Trains has taken the sensible decision to cancel the planned two-week trial at Waterloo.

“Losing the audio announcements would have been seriously detrimental to the many blind and partially sighted people who use Waterloo station to travel to work, visit friends, or to attend hospital appointments. However, we will be watching closely to see what steps are taken next and to ensure that extreme decisions such as these aren’t taken without proper consideration to the likely negative impact on people with sight loss.”

The proposal to silence the Tannoy came just two years after SWT spent almost £3 million on a new system comprising 1,000 speakers, which it said at the time would deliver “clearer” information.

The train company had told passenger groups it was suspending the audio announcements of train information for a trial from October 6. The only exception would have been a broadcast message every ten minutes targeted at blind and partially sighted passengers, followed by a security message.

An SWT spokeswoman said: “We have been working with our stakeholders to develop solutions and we welcome the feedback received so far.

“We will be reviewing the feedback and carrying out further consultation before any decisions are made.”