Avanti accused of ‘virtue signalling without virtue’ over wheelchair user art

Campaigners have accused one of the UK’s leading train companies of “virtue signalling without the virtue” after it used images of wheelchair users that they say do not reflect the reality of travelling with a disability.

Baraka Carberry, a digital artist, created a new livery for Avanti West Coast, which provides rail links between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland, that shows “scenes of people, culture, colours and joy”. Titled Together We Roll, the images stretch across all seven carriages of the new Evero train, which the company says reduces carbon compared with the old fleet of trains.

One of the designs on the side of the train shows two female wheelchair users, suggesting they are enjoying a journey together. However, each train only has one wheelchair space in standard class (and another in first class), meaning two friends or family members who are wheelchair users cannot travel together in standard class and would have to take separate trains.

Alice Maynard, a lifetime wheelchair user and former Railtrack head of disability strategy, posted on social media about the disparity between the image and the reality of travelling, with just one wheelchair space in standard class on these trains.

Maynard, a business adviser and coach who has also worked for Transport for London and the Department for Transport, told the Guardian it would be preferable to increase wheelchair spaces on trains rather than just having glossy images suggesting that this was the case.

“Don’t be woke, be inclusive,” she urged Avanti. “The images are supposed to be celebratory but they don’t celebrate us. It’s a nonsense. This is virtue signalling without the virtue.”

The paralympian and wheelchair user Anne Wafula Strike, who also campaigns for improved accessibility for disabled people on public transport and went public in 2017 about having to wet herself on a train due to the accessible toilets being out of use, also criticised the gap between the new train images and the reality of travelling for wheelchair users.

“Disabled people feel so disenfranchised at the moment and it’s very difficult to challenge these things,” she said. “What happens if a couple who are wheelchair users want to travel together on one of these trains? When it comes to transport, disabled people’s world is shrinking. It isn’t a level playing field between disabled people and big corporates.”

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “There has not been a reduction in wheelchair spaces on any of our trains and the layout has not been changed either. All our trains comply with current legislation regarding provision for wheelchair spaces onboard.

“However, we are sorry to hear that Alice Maynard was upset by some of the imagery on our Together We Roll train. The wrap design was born out of an idea from our frontline colleagues to celebrate our diversity in our workforce as well as the communities we serve on the west coast mainline, including many of our valued customers who are wheelchairs users. We are proud to be a company that highlights the importance of inclusivity, and this artwork reflects that.”