Service station between Horsham and Crawley set to get new accessible toilet

Pease Pottage services is to build a Changing Places toilet as part of a £1.27m funding package to boost accessible facilities across England.

The Department for Transport, in partnership with Muscular Dystrophy UK, is giving £37,700 to Pease Pottage service station to build the facility for travellers with complex accessibility needs.

Transport accessibility minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “It is hard to overstate the importance of something as simple as an accessible area for the over 250,000 people nationwide who have a severe disability.

“I want everyone to have the confidence to travel by any means so it is incredibly important to work with Muscular Dystrophy UK to provide Changing Places facilities at the majority of service stations in England, including at Pease Pottage.”

Rob Burley, director of campaigns, Care and Support at Muscular Dystrophy UK, added: “We’re delighted that Pease Pottage service station has been successful in applying for funding for a Changing Places toilet.

“Many disabled people travel by car to get from A to B, and knowing a Changing Places toilet is available en route will be invaluable.

“None of this would have been possible without the hard work of our wonderful campaigners like Zack.

“Thanks to everyone working together, we have taken a big step towards ensuring Changing Places toilets will be more widely available to everyone who needs them and tackling the exclusion people face.”

Zack Kerr, Changing Places campaigner, said the new facilities are ‘nothing short of life changing’.

He added: “With these new Changing Places facilities on our motorway network, we will have far more choice of places we can travel to without having to worry about needing the toilet and having to go back home.

Ceri Davies, Zack Kerr’s stepdad, said: “The provision of Changing Places enables and encourages families, friends and carers to go out and about on day trips and holidays without the uncertainty and worry of discovering there are no accessible toilet facilities available.

“Everyone, regardless of age or ability, should be confident of the provision of appropriate, hygienic and accessible toilet facilities which they can use safely and with dignity.”

Changing Places toilets are larger than standard accessible toilets, and have equipment such as hoists, curtains, adult-sized changing benches and space for carers.

There are more than 1,400 Changing Places toilets in the UK, up from just 140 in 2007, but the government is investing more in these facilities to support the more than quarter of a million people who need them across the UK.