Blind man who fell on to the tracks at Manchester Piccadilly wins payout

When Abdul Eneser slipped off the side of the platform at Manchester Piccadilly station, he lay terrified with no option but to listen as the rumbles of a freight train drew closer.Eneser, who is blind, had fallen owing to a lack of tactile paving, meaning he had been unable to feel how close he was to the edge of the platform.“When I was down on that track I just thought: this is it,” he remembers. “The person dispatching from the other side of the platform told me that there was a train that was going to come past, and it wasn’t going to stop. It’s a really weird feeling to describe.”Luckily, a minute before the train arrived, he was able to pull himself up on to the platform, suffering injuries to his knees, hands and neck.“It was a very lucky escape for me,” he says, but added: “Every time I go to that station, or anytime I’m near any platform, that comes up. It’s really anxiety-inducing to travel now, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.”Eneser has just been awarded £18,000 in compensation from Network Rail after a three-year legal battle, although the company did not admit liability.The master’s law student at University of Strathclyde had fallen on to the tracks at Manchester Piccadilly platform 14 after passenger assist had failed to meet him off his train and help him through the station after a train delay. He was later told that all the staff had gone home.Abdul Eneser wants all UK train stations and rail journeys to become much more accessible for people with visual impairment. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The GuardianLeigh Day, the law firm, argued that Network Rail had breached its duties under the 2010 Equality Act and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 by failing to make reasonable adjustments for passengers with disabilities, such as tactile paving.In July 2025, Network Rail announced that it had installed tactile paving across the network after another blind man, Cleveland Gervais, died as a result of its absence in 2020.But Eneser wants all UK train stations and rail journeys to become much more accessible for people with visual impairment – and for rail operators to become more proactive about speaking to people with lived experience.“The rail industry has a culture of: let’s react to things rather than minimise risk and look ahead – that was one of my main reasons why I took on this case,” he said.He would like a live-chat feature on the passenger assist app to reach staff members more easily, and a clearly marked passenger assist help button at the entrance to every train station.“The money is a plus, but for me the main reason I did it was to prevent it happening again, both to myself and to other visually impaired travellers,” Eneser said.“This case is about much more than compensation. Poor accessibility in rail travel is not just a one-off issue. This is something that prevents myself and others with visual impairments from travelling with confidence.“I’m not always sure that I’ll be met with the right level of support to complete my journeys. At the best of times, it makes travel stressful, and in the worst-case scenario it can be really dangerous.”