Are guardless trains safe?

The issue of the proposed introduction of guardless trains has been highlighted by a shocking experience that I faced when travelling recently with my dog between Truro and Penryn.

I am visually impaired and have a disabled limb. My dog wears a harness over a reflective coat which has the words DO NOT TOUCH WORKING DOG VISUALLY IMPAIRED printed on both sides.

We are used to making the journey and are quite well-known to the rail staff on this local two-coach train.

On this day, we arrived at Penryn and were waiting at the sliding doors to get off. But there was a person on the platform directly opposite where we wanted to alight, and so I asked if she would stand back as otherwise my dog would move between us.

The passenger ignored my request and tried to get on before we got off. The dog moved to

protect me and slipped between the carriage and the platform.

I am pretty certain that if she had been on a lead to a collar, I would have lost her and she might have pulled me with her. That would have been almost certain had not the guard spotted the problem, from where he was standing in his door (a driver looking back, with whatever technology, would not have spotted my dog’s position).

The whole incident shook me up quite badly, and I have now had to take a different approach to our train journeys - public transport is mandatory because I am medically barred from holding a driving licence.

Indeed, this awful experience makes one ask: would a driver-only train have concerns about abuse of safety by those self-centred travellers who want to board before those who wish to alight? P G Remington Hickes, Penryn