TRANSPORT group National Rail Enquiries (NRE) has come under fire for changing online train journey planners to greyscale as a mark of respect following the Duke of Edinburgh’s death as they they are now difficult to read.
The decision by NRE and individual train companies to remove colours from their websites goes beyond Government guidance for the period of national mourning, which only suggests organisations use “black edging or black banners”.
NRE’s Twitter account received a barrage of angry messages following the change.
Users described the decision as “utterly ridiculous”, and claimed it has made train timetables “extremely difficult to read”.
Others claimed the switch is in breach of disability discrimination laws.
National Rail greyscaled their website to mourn the death of Prince Philip and its causing utter chaos for the visually impaired. Its what he would have wanted I guess. pic.twitter.com/zMfFC9ZpBD
— Beeb (@ybees3) April 11, 2021
In response to a passenger asking if there was a way for users to change the website back to normal, an NRE employee wrote: “Unfortunately, I do not believe there is currently”, adding: “I too have been struggling to read while it is coloured differently.”
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group, which runs NRE, issued a statement on Monday which said: “The National Rail Enquiries website has been temporarily greyscaled as a mark of respect following the death of HRH Duke of Edinburgh on Friday.
“We are listening to feedback about how people are using the website and are making further changes today to make it more accessible to all our customers.”
This is just too much @nationalrailenq. @CrossCountryUK website is the same. A lot of people struggle with low contrast text - it would be good if the rail industry could pay its respects without needlessly discriminating against some of its customers. https://t.co/8Fk0mzn5r8
— Keith Barrow (@keithbarrow80) April 12, 2021
It comes as the BBC removed its targeted online form to allow people to complain about “too much TV coverage” of the death of Prince Philip after the number of complaints reached a peak.
The broadcaster halted normal broadcasting across “all networks” on Friday to allow for special news coverage of the Duke of Edinburgh’s passing.
BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Scotland, BBC News, and BBC Alba were broadcasting identical feeds through the afternoon. This news special continued through the night across all five of those channels.
On radio, many of the BBC’s stations were also broadcasting the same feed, although some normal programming seems to have resumed across those networks.
Planned scheduling has been back in place since 2pm on Saturday.
READ MORE: BBC removes Prince Philip form on website as complaints hit peak
The corporation’s decision to axe Friday night staples in favour of pre-recorded tributes prompted so many complaints it added a bespoke banner to its complaints page, allowing people to more easily register their dissatisfaction with the high amount of coverage of the duke’s death.
While the broadcaster would not say how many complaints it received, it is understood the rate at which they were coming in had started to fall.
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