‘RECKLESS’ vandals damaged the doors of a lift at Mills Hill train station some 15 months after it was installed to make the platforms more accessible.

The lift at the station is unusable after it was kicked, leaving the inside and outside doors out of line, with the glass in one of the doors also smashed.

According to Network Rail, millions of pounds were spent at the start of last year to make the station more accessible to disabled people, as well as people with pushchairs or other cumbersome items. 

The Oldham Times: The damage to the lift.The damage to the lift.

The cost of repairs to the lift is estimated at £10,000, and it is likely to remain out of action for several weeks.

Phil James, Network Rail’s North West route director, said: “I’m appalled that this careless act of vandalism has cut rail travel off from people with additional needs for whom we worked so hard to improve Mills Hill station.

“This reckless crime affects real people who need step-free access to travel and also taxpayers, as the thousands of pounds needed for repairs will come from the public purse.

“We’re working hard with the lift engineers to get it back in service.”

Chris Jackson, regional director of train operator Northern, added: “I can’t imagine why someone would take pleasure in causing damage to new infrastructure that’s designed to make travel more accessible for all.

“We’ll do everything we can with Network Rail to get these facilities back into operation as soon as possible.”

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Passengers at Mills Hill in need of step-free access can still use the ramp on platform one for travel into Manchester.

But there is no step-free access to platform two for travel to Rochdale.

For information, go to nationalrail.co.uk/stations/MIH/details.html.