London Disabled Access Review

London Disabled Access Review
www.sagetraveling.com/london-disabled-access

www.sagetraveling.com
London disabled access is very good compared to other European
cities making it one of the best destinations in Europe for disabled
tourists.

Getting around London in a wheelchair is easy compared to other
popular destinations such as Paris and Rome, primarily because
every taxi in London has a wheelchair ramp.
• Most of the buses also have wheelchair ramps, however few of the
metro stations have elevators.
• UK disabled access building codes have resulted in most tourist
attraction being accessible to wheelchair users.

London Sage Accessibility
Rating
Cobblestone smoothness 5
Cobblestone abundance 5
Flatness (lack of hills) 5
Proximity of sights to each other 2
Accessible Public Transportation 5
English Spoken 5
Overall Accessibility 5
Quality of sights/town 5
Quantity of sights 5
View Rating Explanation

Accessible buses
• Nearly all of the bus lines have buses with wheelchair ramps (example
shown in the picture on the right).
• The ramps aren’t operational 100% of the time but they work more
often than in other European cities.
• They do a fair job of connecting the tourist attractions and are a great
way to save some money on your trip to London.

Accessible black cabs
• The best aspect of London wheelchair access is that every taxi has a
wheelchair ramp that the driver can extend to the curb (shown in the
photo on the right).
• The ramp leads to a large flat area in between the front seats and the
rear seats.
• The older cabs have a little lower head room than the new cabs, so
electric wheelchair users may want to concentrate on hailing the
newer cabs.

Major sights are wheelchair friendly
• London tourist attractions generally have good disabled access relative
to other European destinations.
• Almost all of the museums have a wheelchair accessible entrance
(although it might not be the main entrance), and the same can be said
for popular churches like St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey.

Major sights are wheelchair friendly cont.
• The gravel at Buckingham Palace and the steep ramp at Parliament
cause some challenges but there is step-free access.
• Even the London Eye is accessible to wheelchair users and other
disabled tourists by stopping the rotation and putting out a wheelchair
ramp.

Flat London
• Wheelchair users will appreciate the fact that almost all of the tourist
areas of London are flat including Trafalgar Square, the theatre district,
the area near the British Museum, and the south side of the Thames
River near the Tate Modern and Imperial War Museum.
• The main exception is in the City of London near the Thames River and
the Tower of London.

Very few cobblestones
• The Battle of Britain during World War II resulted in a large number of
bombs landing in London.
• Consequently, the city had to pretty much be rebuilt, and they did it
with lots of pavement.
• Wheelchair tourists will enjoy the fact that there are very few
cobblestones in London.

UK Accessibility Standards
• UK building accessibility standards are quite good compared to many
other countries in Europe.
• You will generally have a much easier time finding truly accessible
London hotels and most tourist attractions are wheelchair friendly.
• Many of the historical buildings have wheelchair ramps or wheelchair
lifts installed which is unlike disabled access in Paris.

Curb cuts and sidewalks
• Accessibility on London sidewalks is generally very good.
• The sidewalks are well-maintained and wheelchair users will not
encounter much broken concrete.
• Most street intersections have curb cuts for wheelchair users.

No language barrier
• Disabled travelers need to communicate their needs more frequently
than normal travelers which can be a problem in non-English speaking
countries in continental Europe.
• Disabled visitors to London who speak English will not have this
problem and will benefit from no language barrier.

Plenty to see
• London has a wealth of museums, historical buildings, churches, and
other attractions.
• There are easily two weeks worth of attractions to see inside London
and by day trips to Bath, Stonehenge, and Windsor.
• Disabled visitors can spend an entire vacation here without having to
move between cities and switch hotels.

London Disabled Access – Most Challenging Aspects
Tower of London cobblestones
• The largest concentration of cobblestones in London is found at the
Tower of London.
• Several of the historical buildings have steps with no ramps to enter.
• The building holding the crown jewels is wheelchair accessible, but
tourists in wheelchair will have to roll over 200 meters of cobblestones
to reach it.

Spread out
• While some London tourist attractions are near each other (for
example, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Cabinet War Rooms, and
the London Eye), many tourist attractions are spread out.
• It is 10 km (6 miles) from the Tower of London to the east to
Kensington Palace in the west.
• Disabled tourists will need to use public transportation or taxis to get
around the city.

Expensive accessible accommodation
London is an expensive city, particularly if you want a hotel within
walking/rolling distance of the major tourist attractions and in the most
charming neighborhoods.

Need to find the side entrance
• At many of the tourist attractions in London, you’ll need to locate an
accessible side entrance to get in the building.
• The accessible London tourist attractions are better than those in
other European cities about putting out signs directing you to it.

Opening times of tourist sites
• Parliament and Buckingham Palace are great attractions, but only open
during certain parts of the year.
• The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace occurs every other
day during certain times of the year and less frequently during other
parts of the year.

Theatre accessibility
Many of the theatres in London are very old and barely accessible.
Disabled visitors will need to confirm that the individual theatre meets
their accessibility needs.

Accessible transportation from Heathrow airport
• There is no London accessible public transportation that goes from
Heathrow airport to the centre of London.
• You’ll need to take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station,
then transfer to one of the accessible bus lines to get to your hotel.

Call Us: 1-888-645-7920
We look forward to making your accessible dream vacation a reality!
Contact us at info@sagetraveling.com
www.sagetraveling.com/london-disabled-access

London Disabled Access Review

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