Campaigners outside Kentish Town Underground Station which is due to be closed for long escalator works

DISABLED campaigners have said the decision to not make Kentish Town tube station step-free while it is closed for up to a year is “embarrassing” and “confidence shattering”.

Members of Camden Disability Action (CDA), a user-led organisation challenging disability discrimination, met outside the station on Tuesday to hand in an open letter to the mayor of London.

The letter demanded a lift to be installed while the works – which will replace old escalators – are going on for the next 12 months.

At a Disability Oversight Panel last month, Transport for London said they did not have enough money to install a lift.

Colin Brummage, CEO of CDA, told the New Journal: “We utterly reject TfL’s findings that it’s too expensive to put a lift in. We throw that question back to TfL. Just how much value do they place on our lives? We matter; our lives matter.

“Justifications around costs are always used to shut disabled people out of society. The long-term strategic view is never considered. What must stop happening is this normalisation that disabled people can just be shoved to the back of the queue and have to wait years, decades even before we’re finally included in our communities if indeed we ever will be. Decisions like this really shatter your confidence to the core.”

CDA’s home at the nearby Greenwood Centre, a pioneering centre for independent living, represents a stark contrast in attitudes towards disabled people.

Mr Brummage added: “It’s a state of the art accessible building. And it’s an important statement about the kind of inclusive society that we want to have. And it’s 200 yards from Kentish town tube station. It’s simply not good enough that our nearest and closest tube station is not accessible. What does TfL recommend that we put on our website on how to find us? It’s embarrassing and shocking.”

Priscilla Eyles, trustee member of CDA, said: “It’s really shocking when there’s been so much investment in the Greenwood Centre. And yet they don’t think to connect the dots and think well, how will people access that centre? “This idea of equating disabled people as this extra expenditure, as if it’s a sort of option – when actually it should be at the heart of any funding or spending decisions.”

One third of the tube network is currently step-free.

A TfL spokesperson said: “The layout and design of Kentish Town tube station is very constrained and on different levels which unfortunately would make it very challenging and costly to introduce step-free access at this station.

“The complexity of the work to replace both escalators within a confined space at this tube station means it would not be possible to accommodate another set of complex works and multiple contractors at the same time. We’re committed to making our transport network more accessible and inclusive.”