MARSDEN parents staged a protest over access problems at the village railway station.

They are angry with train operators First North Western for moving services from an easily accessible platform to one which is hard to reach with pushchairs and young children.

Trains travelling from Huddersfield towards Manchester began using Platform 2 a month ago, without the change being announced.

The platform cannot be reached without using a steep flight of cast-iron steps and negotiating a high gap between the train and platform.

Platform 3 - which the train used to use - has easy access and was specially built eight years ago because of the problems on Platform 2.

Twenty-five adults and 20 children descended on Marsden station on Friday to highlight the difficulties of reaching Platform 2.

The protest was organised by Marsden Toddlers' Group.

At 10am, the crowd negotiated their way down the steps to Platform 2.

When the train to Greenfield arrived, they held it up for eight minutes as they lifted their pushchairs and one child's wheelchair over a large gap on to the train.

A ramp fetched by a guard did not help, as the platform was too low.

Fiona Weir, of the toddlers' group, said: "It was very difficult to reach Platform 2. One of the children was in a wheel-chair and nearly all of us had pushchairs." She said that once she had got off on Platform 2 and been stranded at the foot of the steps until someone helped her up.

Lynn Cooper, whose daughter, Chloe, has cerebral palsy, said: "I once fell up the steps trying to carry Chloe in her wheelchair, because the guard wouldn't help. I hurt my back and spent four days in bed."

Dad Stephen Tuck took the morning off work to protest. He said: "My little girl fell down the steps. She could have died."

The parents have also collected almost 200 signatures on a petition for First North Western.

Colne Valley West councillor David Ridgway said: "These decisions have been taken without any consideration for passengers' requirements."

A spokeswoman for First North Western said the trains had changed platforms so services could run safely and on time.

She said the track system at Marsden meant trains could not be run through Platform 3 without delaying other trains.

She apologised for any inconvenience and said the company would look at the matter of accessibility to Platform 2.

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