Accessibility and inclusion

Everything you need to know about accessibility and inclusion at National Express

Code of practice for disabled customers

This is where you can discover all you need to know about accessibility and inclusion for customers at National Express and how we work to make your journey better.

We are committed to continually improving the service we provide to the millions of customers travelling with us every year. We will always listen to customer feedback to make sure we get things right. We monitor the processes we have in place and amend them as necessary to maintain high levels of service for our disabled customers.

You can contact our Assisted Travel Team on 03717 818181 to talk through your needs (lines open 8am - 6pm, 7 days a week), or email us using our assisted travel form. It isn’t a requirement to book your assistance in advance but it will help us to provide your assistance and ensure you have the best possible experience with us. Please note, seat belt extenders can also be requested via our Assisted Travel Team.

Guide dog Wheelchair lift in use

We are committed to ensuring that every customer is treated with respect by everyone at National Express. Our team are trained to deliver great customer service which includes a commitment to equality and specific disability awareness training.

Our aim is to deliver an outstanding service to every customer, every time and to ensure everyone can make use of our services, as long as it is safe to do so.

We also give advice and guidance to our station customer service teams and drivers on how they can best serve our disabled customers.

Journey assistance cards

We have created a selection of journey assistance cards for passengers. These explain to our staff and drivers any need for assistance or exemptions from requirements, eg, if unable to wear a face covering.

Download journey assistance cards

Information and guidelines for wheelchair users

We welcome feedback regarding the accessibility and inclusion of our services and strive to take this on board to help to continually make improvements. We ensure that all of our drivers, coach station and ticket office teams are reminded to review our policies so that we can continue to welcome customers for a safe and comfortable journey.

We advise that our customers who are wheelchair users book travel in advance, although this is not essential. This will allow us to carry out the following checks:

that the wheelchair is compatible with the space on the coach
that the combined weight of the customer and the wheelchair do not exceed the maximum weight capacity of being lifted by the wheelchair lift
that the locations at which the customer plans to board and alight the coach from are accessible stops at which the wheelchair lift can be deployed
that the specific coach on which the customer plans to travel is not already fully booked

We recommend you contact us on the following local rate telephone number: 03717 81 81 81 (lines open 8am - 6pm 7 days a week) 36 hours in advance of travel. This will ensure we are able to carry out these checks. If you book same-day travel we will make all reasonable efforts to carry out these checks on the day. If these are clear, we will be able to complete the booking.

Arranging assistance

We have a dedicated team to support customers, you can contact our Assisted Travel Team to talk through any assistance needs on 03717 81 81 81 (lines open 8am - 6pm 7 days a week), or email us using our assisted travel form.

Coach Station Facilities

A number of our coach stations feature on the website AccessAble, which lists the accessibility features that are available within our stations. Alternatively, you can contact the Assisted Travel Team for more specific information.

Stops where the lift can be deployed

This list details our most popular stops where the wheelchair lift can be deployed and is not inclusive of all stops National Express serve. If a stop you need isn’t listed please contact our assisted travel team on 03717 818181 (option 3) (lines open 8am - 6pm 7 days a week) or email us using our assisted travel form and we will check for you.

Accessible stops

Digital Accessibility

National Express recognises the importance of making its online services available to all and to design and develop this website to be accessible to as many users as possible.

Where possible this website has been coded to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Guidelines Priority Levels 1, 2 and 3 (Conformance Level "AAA").

National Express will continue to test future updates of this site and remains committed to maintaining its compliance with appropriate accessibility guidelines and serving the widest possible audience for our services.

For questions about our continuing efforts to make web-based information accessible to all users, or to report an accessibility problem on any of our pages, please contact us.

Sunflower Lanyard Scheme

We support the Sunflower Lanyard Scheme.

Living with a Hidden Disabilities can make daily life more demanding for many people, but it can be difficult for others to recognise, acknowledge or understand the challenges faced. The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower suggests happiness, positivity and strength and intends to allow everyone with Hidden Disabilities to choose to be subtly visible when they need to be.

If you have a hidden disability and would like a lanyard, please contact our assisted travel team on 03717 81 81 81 (lines open 8am - 6pm 7 days a week), or email using our assisted travel form. Further information on the Sunflower Lanyard Scheme can be found here .

The Code of Practice

This code applies to all disabled customers and those with reduced mobility. We recognise that disabilities and/or conditions are not always visible. If you have any reasonable adjustments or accessibility requirements please let us know and we will always aim to help wherever we can.

1 - Arranging assistance

2 - Travel with wheelchairs

Access to our coaches

Wheelchair access to our coaches is via a lift located at the front of the coach. Our wheelchair accessible coaches have an extra-large entrance and a flat floor throughout the coach to aid mobility.

We regularly invest in new coaches and all of our fleet now has a wheelchair lift at the front entrance.

Standing on the wheelchair lift

We are not able to permit customers or colleagues to stand on the lift whilst in use. To assist boarding if you are unable to use the steps, we have invested in manual wheelchairs, stored in the luggage hold of each of our coaches. The wheelchair will be used to seat you when the lift is used and provide step-free access onto the coach. Please visit the below section on Travelling in a National Express Wheelchair and transferring to a seat.

Wheelchair users travelling in a coach seat

For customers who can and/or would prefer to transfer from their wheelchair to a coach seat, we can transport lightweight wheelchairs safely stowed in the luggage hold of the coach. A wheelchair can be safely stowed in the luggage hold when:

(i) it is capable of being folded and unfolded
(ii) if it can’t be folded, it can be dismantled and reassembled by the passenger or their carer/companion
(iii) if it has a battery, the battery is a dry fuel cell or gel fuel cell or lithium battery. There is no requirement for customers to remove or do anything relating to the battery or power of the wheelchair when stored in the hold of the coach or when used to travel in the cabin of the coach for the journey duration.
(iv) it has no assistance or auxiliary aids which would make it unsafe for stowage; and
(v) it weighs no more than 20kg.

We will also need to check that the stops at which you plan to board and alight the coach are wheelchair accessible so that the coach lift can be deployed.

We therefore recommend that a customer wishing to transfer from their wheelchair to a coach seat books with us at least 36 hours in advance of travel, by contacting our Assisted Travel team. This will allow us to check that your wheelchair (and ancillary equipment if applicable) is safe for stowage in the luggage hold and that the stops you plan to use are wheelchair accessible and the lift can be deployed.

However, if you book travel on the same day or less than 36 hours in advance we will make all reasonable efforts to complete these required steps within the time period provided.

Wheelchair users travelling in their wheelchairs in the designated wheelchair space

We recognise that..,.The wheelchair space on our coaches is fitted with a seat which can be quickly and easily removed. We recognise that some wheelchair users can, must, or prefer to, travel in a coach seat rather than in their wheelchair. Having a seat in the space means both disabled customers and other customers can use this seat when the space is not required by wheelchair users travelling in their wheelchair.

For those customers who want to travel in their wheelchair, we need to carry out the checks listed in our Wheelchair User Guidelines (available from our Assisted Travel Team or here) to ensure that we are able to provide travel (the “Requirements”). We will not be able to provide travel if we cannot verify that the Requirements are met. We therefore recommend that a passenger planning to travel in their wheelchair makes a booking at least 36 hours in advance of travel by contacting our Assisted Travel Team to give us time to carry out the necessary checks. However, if you book travel on the day or less than 36 hours in advance we will make reasonable efforts to complete these required steps within the time period provided.

When notifying us, we ask that you give us details of the size, make and model of the wheelchair you will be travelling in and any modifications you might have made to the wheelchair so we can make the necessary checks. These checks relate specifically to whether the wheelchair can be safely secured in the wheelchair space on our coaches.

If we have previously confirmed the compatibility of a particular wheelchair, this information will be stored on our database, so we should be able to reconfirm compatibility at the point you call our Assisted Travel Team, or very soon thereafter.

Travelling in a National Express Wheelchair and transferring to a seat

All of our coaches have wheelchairs which are stowed in the luggage hold and are available for passengers to use to board the coach and transfer to a seat using the passenger lift. To board in this way, we will be required to make the checks outlined below prior to your journey

(i) that the stops you wish you board and alight are stops where the passenger lift can be safely deployed.
(ii) that there is space on the coach.

We therefore recommend that a passenger wishing to board the coach using a National Express makes a booking at least 36 hours in advance of travel, by contacting our Assisted Travel Team, however customers can turn up and travel without pre-booking.

Limitations on Travel

While our coaches are wheelchair accessible, the toilets on our coaches are not. Should you have any requirements in this respect, please advise our Assisted Travel Team when discussing your journey. If you need to use the toilet during your journey, ask the driver to make a stop at the next available/appropriate station.

3 - Travel with mobility scooters

4 - Assistance services

Our team and drivers are expected to:
- Recognise and offer reasonable assistance, wherever possible or on request, to our disabled customers and those customers with any accessibility requirements;
- Be flexible, polite and respectful in their response to requests for assistance;
- Respond to specific requests from our Assisted Travel Team, ensuring that particular/specified requirements are met;
- Whenever possible, carry disabled customers’ luggage (or luggage belonging to customers with reduced mobility) to/from the departure/pickup point (maximum weight 20kg).
If you are disabled, have reduced mobility, or a long term health condition which requires a reserved / specific seat we can reserve a seat on the coach for you, if you feel this would be helpful to you during your journey (subject to availability).
We will keep our drivers and station team informed of your specific requirements and ensure that they provide the appropriate assistance.
Our drivers and station team will load and unload your luggage (including your wheelchair and/or mobility scooter if they meet the requirements referred to in section 2 or 3 as applicable above) to and from the coach, but they are unable to assist with items over 20kg.
Our drivers will also offer appropriate assistance when required by providing a steady arm for you to hold while you board and/or disembark a service and/or to assist you to your seat. If you need assistance getting on or off a coach, just let us know by contacting our Assisted Travel Team or tell the driver on the day.
We can only offer assistance in the station or at a stop where we have National Express staff and during the hours we have staff on-site. If you need assistance in the station or at a stop, just let us know by contacting our Assisted Travel Team. We will then let you know if the station/stop you will be using is staffed. If it is, we will do all we can to make sure that a member/s of our team are there when you get on or off your coach (during the advertised opening hours). We will make reasonable efforts to provide this assistance in a prompt and timely manner. To download or view a full list of facilities available to customers at our stations/stops, please see our Facilities Directory
Drivers of coaches travelling to London Victoria Coach Station (VCS) will – when they have been notified to do so – request Mobility Assistance from the Transport for London (TfL) Help Point Team at VCS. VCS is owned and operated by Transport for London (TfL). TfL provides its own Mobility Assistance service for National Express and members of the public with reduced mobility. For information in respect of the mobility assistance available at VCS please visit www.tfl.gov.uk.
We welcome customers who require oxygen carried in hand-held/personal oxygen bottles or portable breathing aids. Unfortunately, we cannot carry any larger canisters for safety reasons.