RAIL bosses have been held to account over Colchester Station’s disabled facilities and safety concerns.

In a complaint to Greater Anglia, Colchester councillor Martin Goss also pulled it up over what he says are unmet season ticket pledges and boarded up plug sockets on trains.

Mr Goss, whose Mile End ward includes the mainline station, said there is no lift on the Norwich-bound side of the platform.

He said: “This is simply unacceptable, and, in my opinion, a breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.”

Mr Goss said that side of the busy station generally was also “an accident waiting to happen.”

“Cyclist and pedestrian routes are non-existent.

“It’s not great for cars either," he added.

He said Greater Anglia had been promising shared season tickets “for years” and were included in its franchise bid - but it had not delivered.

Mr Goss added: “Plug sockets on trains have been boarded up since December 2017, if not earlier.

“Again, this was a promise within the franchise agreement and it’s not acceptable.”

A Greater Anglia spokesman said it applied to the Department for Transport for funding for the lift but the request was refused.

He added: “The difficulty we have at Colchester is that it’s not a simple lift install.

“Workers would have to go under the track bed and totally rebuild the ticket office area which makes this a very difficult task causing severe disruption to the station.

“As it’s not straightforward then the project would cost several times the price of a normal lift.”

However, he said Greater Anglia planned to apply for funding for the lift again.

The station does have a lift on the London-bound side and there is a lift on the Norwich bound platform.

But there isn't a lift to the Norwich-bound station entrance/exit.

There is disabled access to all platforms on the station.

The spokesman added Greater Anglia did not feel there was a safety concern around the Norwich-bound side.

“There are clearly marked pedestrian and cycle areas and a pedestrian crossing for access to the short stay car park.

"There are also plenty of warning signs and it’s a low speed road where people should be keeping to the footpaths.”

The firm insists it never promised customers shared season tickets.

The issue of plug sockets not working had been raised with the fleet management team.